November 2021
The following are several drug diversion news stories that have captured our industry’s attention.
Nurse pleads guilty to illegally possessing fentanyl, court records show
Nurse Melissa Frame pleaded guilty to felony drug offense charges after stealing more than 1,400 vials of fentanyl from North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, NY. Frame worked in the hospital’s cardiac unit, where she would use her credentials to access a dispensing cabinet and assign the drug to different patients, none of whom ever received it.
Following a 14-year career with the hospital, Frame was caught after a routine review of dispense. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the fentanyl she stole had a street value between $120,000 and $150,000.
Former Buffalo General doctor pleads guilty to altering prescriptions
John R. LoFaso, a former anesthesiologist at Buffalo General Hospital in New York, pleaded guilty to charges of illegally altering patients’ prescriptions to get fentanyl for his personal use. The hospital’s pharmacy manager caught LoFaso altering patients’ prescriptions at least six times. Following the investigation, LoFaso was placed in a diversion program for drug offenders, which helped him catch a reduced charge of disorderly
Two sentenced for dealing pain meds in Tri-Cities ‘pill mill’
David Barnes Nay and Lisa Marie Cooper were sentenced to federal prison for conspiring with Dr. Janet S. Arnold to operate an opioid drug ring. Arnold would give her office manager a blank prescription pad to fill out without supervision, then would work together with the two dealers to fill illegal prescriptions for others.
Although Arnold had been indicted by a federal jury in 2018, the extent of her ring was not fully known until the arrests of Nay and Cooper. The prescriptions included up to 27,000 oxycodone pills distributed.
Neurologist arrested on federal charges in sex assault probe
Ricardo Cruciani, a neurologist who focused on rare pain relief, was arrested on federal charges alleging that he was a serial abuser of women seeking help with chronic pain. Over the course of 15 years at healthcare facilities in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey, Dr. Cruciani would prescribe stronger pain medication to sexually assault his patients. If the patients refused to engage in sexual acts, he would send them to other doctors who would prescribe lesser quantities of painkillers.
Cruciani had previously been charged with rape and sexual assault counts in 2018, and further allegations had been made in 2017 against him. His accusers blame his role as chief neurologist at Drexel University’s medical school as a way to take advantage of his victims
81-year-old pharmacist accused of trading painkillers for sexual favors
Pharmacist Martin Brian was charged with distributing opioid painkillers to women in exchange for sexual favors. Following an anonymous tip in April, the DEA conducted an audit of Brian’s Pennsylvania pharmacy. The audit found that it was the largest purchaser of oxycodone and fentanyl in the area.
In a subsequent search of Brian’s home and business, the DEA found evidence that he had traded medication for sexual favors from several women. He has been charged with multiple felony drug counts and sexual extortion.
Texas doctor convicted after prescribing more than 1.3 million doses of opioids, feds say
A federal jury convicted Dr. Parvez Qureshi for unlawfully prescribing more than a million doses of opioids from 2014 through 2016 at a Houston clinic. The U.S. Department of Justice charged Qureshi with prescribing hydrocodone and oxycodone to people posing as patients. The “patients” would then pay in cash. Qureshi made over $1.5 million from these prescriptions, while the clinic generated a total of $4 million, according to the DEA.
Contracted employee delivered narcotics to Lancaster County jail inmates, sheriff’s office says
Amanda Danekas, a medication aide contracted to work inside the Lancaster County (NE) Jail, was arrested for allegedly delivering fentanyl and other narcotics to inmates. Danekas used her contract with a Lincoln-based nursing service to deal narcotics to an inmate she had a relationship with. A former nurse who previously worked with Danekas told investigators that she was known to provide medications without prescription.
Two Colorado nurses admit to stealing drugs from hospital patients
Alicia Nickel-Tangeman and Katie Muhs were charged with fraud and deception for stealing controlled substances from patients under their care. Nickel-Tangeman would gain access to patients’ pain-on-demand devices and divert pain medications from them. Muhs would use a syringe to remove fentanyl from patients’ IV bags. She would then replace the drug with saline. The nurses worked in different facilities in Colorado.
Western Pennsylvania physician pleads guilty to drug diversion, fraud charges
Dr. Yee Chung Ho of Murrysville, PA, pleaded guilty to four counts of drug diversion and one count of healthcare fraud before a federal judge. According to the DEA, Ho would dispense oxycodone from his professional practice, then submit fraudulent claims to Medicare to cover the cost of the narcotics.
ANiGENT honored by home state
The Missouri Biotechnology Association (MOBIO) featured St. Louis-based ANiGENT on its Member Highlight section for November. MOBIO represents several life sciences and technology companies that call Missouri home, and serves to connect, develop, and advance the state’s bioscience community.
MAAP Analytics makes Pharmacy Market Buzz
RxInsider, the leading source for news on the business of pharmacy, featured ANiGENT on its Pharmacy Market Buzz section. Featuring the latest in pharmacy business news and trends, the Market Buzz highlighted the innovation behind MAAP Analytics, including the use of artificial intelligence to provide fast, smart analytics.
DDWatch highlights individuals who promote excellence in the business world. Their stories and leadership experience are what inspires others and move them to action.
Legal repercussions make drug diversion costly for hospitals
Andrew Moskow
Drug diversion is a criminal act. It can lead to conviction, long-term imprisonment, and loss of license. Hospitals can also face significant fines, like the $7.75 million settlement that McLaren Health had to pay to the federal government. More importantly, drug diversion can jeopardize patient health and the safety of other healthcare workers.
Andrew Moskow is an attorney who has been practicing healthcare law for nearly a decade. He believes that when litigating drug diversion cases, it’s important to consider the human element
“Healthcare workers work in very stressful environments,” said Moskow. “They’re on their feet for 12-hour shifts and many of them suffer from chronic pain as a result of their long hours. The stress, anxiety, and depression these conditions already caused have only been made worse by Covid. Because some of them have easy access to the most highly addictive substances known to man, it shouldn’t be surprising when controlled medications are taken.”
The medication theft that follows these stressful conditions becomes harder to track with less resources available. Most of the drug diversion cases that Moskow litigates occur during the waste reconciliation process, which is one reason why it’s hard to track these events before they occur. Therefore, Moskow says facilities must be vigilant and tackle drug diversion proactively.
“Having policies and procedures in place is crucial to avoiding lengthy legal proceedings,” said Moskow. “Having a process in place not only benefits the hospital’s bottom line, but also the staff and the community, which relies on their services.”
These communities are very reliant on their local hospital, but they can also become wary if there are lengthy legal proceedings associated with the facility. Moskow says that drug diversion cases often take months, if not years, to litigate and settle, harming a its reputation in the process.
“In instances where there’s clearly patient harm, any state will enact emergency procedures to settle a case as quickly as possible,” said Moskow. “But the case and its ramifications will still take months to fully resolve. Worse yet, the reputation hit sticks around even longer, keeping patients away.”
Moskow says that patients pay attention to reputation when choosing a hospital. Legal proceedings can create headlines that can scare off patients relying of a facility’s services. These headlines can stick around from some time, and thousands spent in legal fees can turn into millions from lost revenue in wary patients.
“Situations that lead to patient harm get more attention because, not only are there licensing issues or civil litigation, but there are also potential criminal charges against a doctor or nurse,” said Moskow. “That type of publicity has many negative consequences. Hospital leadership should see it as an incentive to have something in place to prevent this.”
Going forward, Moskow thinks drug diversion should be at the forefront of administrators’ minds. Besides millions lost in legal fees, medication theft and lost revenue from a bad reputation, Moskow believes the wellbeing of the staff is the most important thing to keep in mind.
“There definitely need to be more protective measures to prevent diversion,” said Moskow. “For that to happen, the technology needs to get better. But the big thing is, there needs to be far more attention placed on the well-being of healthcare providers.
“Addiction is terrible. It just takes one incident for an upstanding health worker to go down a very bad path pretty quickly.”
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