News | October 1, 2018
Kit Check Closes the Diversion Gap with Launch of Bluesight IRIS and Reveals Which Hospital Employees Exhibit Behaviors Consistent with Controlled Substance Theft
Ava Mutchler
Leading Automated Medication Solutions Provider for Hospital Pharmacies Leverages Machine Learning to Enhance Diversion Identification and Curb Opioid Misuse in Hospitals
WASHINGTON (October 1, 2018) – Kit Check, the leader in automated medication management solutions for hospitals, today announced the addition of Individual Risk Identification Score (IRIS) to its keystone medication diversion platform. The latest feature of Kit Check’s Bluesight for Controlled Substances (BCS), IRIS, enables hospital personnel to automatically identify specific employees that pose the highest risk for controlled substance medication diversion. The new technology leverages machine learning to identify anomalous behavior and curb the theft and misuse of controlled substances, such as opioids, in hospitals.
Diversion of controlled substances by medical personnel is a growing problem related to the nationwide rise in opioid addiction. The results for individuals and hospitals can be severe. However, identifying diversion activity is particularly challenging because medications can pass through many locations and accessed by many people before being administered to intended patients. Bluesight’s IRIS feature can detect who is exhibiting behaviors that are consistent with diversion and allow for appropriate intervention.
Bluesight for Controlled Substances (BCS) is a SaaS-based medication diversion detection and discrepancy resolution solution. Controlled substances are dispensed for administration to patients by a variety of doctors and nurses, and frequently the data related to what was dispensed and what was administered doesn’t add up. Government regulations require these discrepancies to be investigated and resolved. Traditionally, this requires a tedious, manual process that consumes valuable staff time. Additionally, despite the time and effort, staff-driven diversion is rarely discovered. IRIS is a new BCS feature to detect and identify individuals with a higher likelihood of being engaged in diversion.
“Diversion is a tough nut to crack. Successful diverters are often good at covering their tracks and few hospitals are able to look at a comprehensive set of data. Even fewer use multivariate machine learning techniques that can reveal hard-to-find behavior patterns. These factors lead to a diversion gap that inadvertently allows abusers to slip through the cracks,” said Kevin MacDonald, co-founder and CEO of Kit Check. “However, digital fingerprints from medication dispensing combined with location, time, personnel, medication administration and other variables can identify diversion activity that otherwise would go unnoticed. Bluesight for Controlled Substances software in combination with IRIS tell you who specifically shows patterns consistent with medication theft. It is a real break-through in diversion detection and control.”
IRIS relies on Bluesight’s machine learning algorithms, which are applied to large data sets that include medication, personnel, time, location and other variables. The solution was developed in conjunction with clinical pharmacists and augments other Bluesight for Controlled Substances features that today surface discrepancies in controlled substance use documentation and provide streamlined workflows for reconciliation.
Doug Zurawski, PharmD and EVP of sales for Kit Check commented, “Finding diversion was always a haphazard process when I served as a hospital director of pharmacy. We didn’t have the right systems or access to all of the administration data nor did we have the manpower and skill sets required to identify diverters. Standard deviation calculations on medication dispensing led to dead ends. What Kit Check has shown with IRIS is that the data tells the story if you have the right algorithms and you are analyzing a comprehensive set of dispensing and administration data.”
About Kit CheckTM
Kit Check is the leading provider of automated medication management solutions for hospital pharmacies. Our solutions blend powerful machine learning and advanced tracking technology to streamline medication inventory, workflow and auditing processes and help hospital pharmacies cut costs, reduce risk and get more done. To date, our more than 400 US and Canadian hospital partners have tracked over 40 million medications using the Kit Check and BluesightTM for Controlled Substances software. More information about Kit Check and our software solutions can be found at kitcheck.com.
