A pharmacy technician at Pikeville Medical Center in eastern Kentucky diverted more than 60,000 doses of oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone from the hospital system's narcotics vault and automated dispensing cabinets between January 2016 and early September 2018, according to federal prosecutors. Prosecutors said a failure to maintain accurate and complete inventories and dispensing records enabled the diversion to continue for that period.
The hospital self-reported the diversion and cooperated with a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation. The technician and a spouse pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy to distribute the drugs; the technician was sentenced to 41 months in prison and the spouse to 38 months. The hospital told a local newspaper that no patients were deprived of medication or harmed by the diversion.
In December 2022 the U.S. Attorney's Office in Lexington announced that the hospital agreed to pay a $4.4 million civil penalty to resolve recordkeeping claims. The settlement does not determine any liability, and prosecutors credited the hospital with taking substantial steps to address its problems before the agreement.
The hospital also entered a three-year memorandum of agreement with the DEA that includes inspection, reporting and training requirements. In a statement the hospital said it had taken multiple steps and invested in new technology to better detect and prevent medication diversion.