Theft and Diversion of Opiates Are Ongoing Concerns for Urgent Care Operators

It isn’t enough for urgent care clinicians to be more judicious in prescribing opiates for patients in pain. A seamless approach to medication security also has to be in place in order to thwart crooked workers looking to make a quick buck on the backs of addicts in need of a fix. A case in southwest Florida is a painful reminder that anyone with access to addictive drugs could land your business in trouble and put patient lives at risk. A Cape Coral, FL man—the office manager of an urgent care center—was arrested recently on charges that he was selling not only prescription opiates but also illicit drugs out of his employer’s location. Police who raided the suspect’s home say they found cocaine, marijuana and “a pill-making operation.” That led investigators to also remove a number of items from the urgent care center where he works, obviously disrupting the flow of patients and the business, but also casting a negative light on the whole operation. You want to trust your employees—and in the vast majority of cases, you can—but instituting policies and systems that make it as hard as possible to conduct illegal activity associated with the work they do ensures that the real professionals who care for your patients won’t be tainted by the dark intentions of the unethical few.