Between January 2022 and December 2023, hospitals wasted more than 16 million injectable units — equal to 24% of all dispenses of controlled substances, according to Bluesight.
Fentanyl and hydromorphone accounted for 47% of waste events, the medication software company said in a diversion trends report. Waste events risk drug diversion, the July 11 report said, and the 16 million wasted units led to $38.6 million in lost costs.
Bluesight analyzed more than 127 million controlled substance transactions at 794 hospitals to assess diversion monitoring and investigation timelines. The company found improved diversion monitoring efforts, fewer discrepant transactions and more efficient investigations.
Variances, or discrepancies between the amount of a drug ordered and the amount administered to a patient, mostly happened in nursing departments (77.7%), anesthesiology (11.8%) and pharmacies (5%).
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