The California State Board of Pharmacy recently placed a Sutter Health hospital's pharmacy on a three-year probation, local news outlet Del Norte Triplicate reported Sept. 7.
The probation began July 23 after the state's pharmacy board evaluated sanitary violations reported in 2019, according to the report. Sutter Coast Hospital, located in Crescent City, Calif., has a compounding pharmacy for patients and an infusion pharmacy — the latter of which was not cited and remains operational.
A spokesperson for the Sacramento, Calif.-based system told Becker's the violations have since been corrected.
"Since 2019, we have partnered with the California Board of Pharmacy and have made significant investments at Sutter Coast's compounding facility," the spokesperson said. "These recent upgrades exceed all sterile compounding standards for hazardous drugs, which provide protections for employees and patients."
During the probation, the hospital will be subjected to unannounced visits from the pharmacy board and will be required to provide quarterly updates to the state, five hours of compounding education for pharmacy technicians and pay an undisclosed fine.