Corporate Compliance

Review controls for drug storage, counting, and safekeeping

Healthcare Auditing Weekly, March 22, 2005

Last week we discussed the steps auditors should take to ensure the effectiveness of their organization's drug purchasing controls. This week, we'll go over how to review controls for drug storage, counting, and safekeeping. Follow these five steps for a successful audit:

  • Verify that the pharmacy segregates controlled drugs in a locked room and properly adds these to controlled substance logs as required by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

  • Review the procedures for counting and safekeeping controlled drugs

  • Ask the pharmacy whether it performs occasional counts of non-narcotic drugs to verify the accuracy of the perpetual inventory

  • Review procedures for stocking shelves with the drugs

  • Make sure the pharmacy properly labels shelves and includes sufficient space for storage

    The above tip is an excerpt from the book "Hospital Auditing and Monitoring: Sample Programs for Key Risk Areas." Copyright 2004 by HCPro, Inc. This book is a step-by-step, practical manual that offers sample audit programs for the most troublesome areas that a hospital must audit. The binder and CD-ROM are filled with actual audit programs used by auditors and compliance officers in the field. Click here for more information or to order your copy today.

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