US: New Report Finds Travel Nurses at the Center of an Alarming Drug Diversion Trend

Protenus announces The State of Drug Diversion in America: Special Report

Protenus, the leading healthcare compliance analytics platform empowering healthcare to eliminate risk, announced a special mid-year report that details some of the emerging trends around drug diversion within hospitals and health systems, factors that are fueling the problem, and actionable steps to help healthcare organizations combat drug diversion, while also protecting their employees, patients, and reputation.

The report, The State of Drug Diversion in America, covers an alarming drug diversion trend which surfaced in the first half of 2022, a look ahead at what the healthcare industry can expect in 2022 and beyond, technology’s impact on drug diversion surveillance, and key elements for an optimal drug diversion prevention program.

So far in 2022, there has been an upward trend in contract staff, or travel nurses, diverting drugs across multiple states. Because so many nurses are now working as travelers, it’s much easier for them to outpace investigations and start diverting in another state before allegations against them become public. Continued heavy reliance on travel nurses to fill the staffing shortages driven in part by staff burnout could spell more risks for hospitals’ and health systems’ organizational reputations and finances as well as the safety of their patients, workforces, and communities at-large.

According to the report, technology has shown to be a vital tool in the fight against drug diversion. Robust artificial intelligence can monitor up to 100% of medication use transactions and surface controlled substance events that matter so diversion teams can operate more efficiently. Advanced analytics and machine learning can also detect drug diversion faster, helping to stem the damage and mitigate risk.

“In healthcare compliance analytics today, healthcare organizations need to be proactive.  Technology exists that can quickly detect early warning signs of possible drug diversion and prevent future incidents from occurring, empowering hospitals and health systems to reduce risk organization-wide,” said Nick Culbertson, CEO and Co-Founder of Protenus.

The State of Drug Diversion in America: Special Report is available at: https://www.protenus.com/state-of-drug-diversion-report

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