Part 2: Expert Insights on New ASHP Drug Diversion Guidelines

Drug Topics®: Along the lines of automation and AI, how long do you think it would take for hospitals to be able to implement it?

Yoder: It can happen very rapidly. I think it's more about committing to using those technologies and understanding the benefits of the different applications that are out there.

We have one very simply called the drug diversion application, which I guess the name says what it does. And the implementations can be quite short. So, on the order of 40 hours of time, 40 or 50 hours of time for a health system to implement a timeline of 6 to 8 weeks or so. But having the processes and the people that go around it and how you're going to use it is another important piece of that implementation as well.

I would say a technology is not in and of itself a solution. But if you have it kind of bundled together with those other activities, it becomes a really, really powerful tool to find diversion proactively, and really, over time move towards prevention of that, ultimately, to help your care providers and your patients. Because good care providers deliver good patient care.

Drug Topics®: And you will be presenting on a panel along with key pharmacy leaders, can you give us a snippet of this upcoming event?

Yoder: Yeah, so we put together a webinar with Becker’s Healthcare. That includes customers of ours, as well as consultants that we've worked with in this space to really talk about more about what they see is going to change. These are my opinions about what we think is going to change as these guidelines get updated. They will speak to that from their perspective.

And also, it's really exciting to hear from customers who are doing this stuff day to day and in the pharmacies, in the hospitals all across the country. Because they have great stories and great information that's very helpful for everyone who tunes in, so that's on April 28, sponsored through Becker's healthcare.

The expert panel webinar is now available on demand! Watch the webinar here.

This is a story from a customer of ours. So, I mentioned this 100% transactions review. And so, we have customers that are using our applications to do that. And they're kind of running them alongside, or have run them alongside, older technologies that are doing these 10-20% spot checks.

And we've had multiple examples where customers have basically found drug diversion because they're reviewing all 100% of the transactions that their previous methods wouldn't have found. They're actually able to act on those findings rapidly and intervene and drive better outcomes for their employees.

This is an exciting thing to see because that's why we do what we do. And it's a really good proof point that newer technologies can actually help, not only help you achieve the 100% transaction review, but also execute on the higher-level vision of helping your employees earlier and eventually preventing drug diversion before it happens.

Drug Topics®: Thanks for watching. For more expert interviews, visit DrugTopics.com.