As medical professionals, you and your employees probably handle a lot of medication and other medical supplies in your practice on a daily basis. What many doctors do not think about, however, is just how common it is for employees to steal medication from the practices that they work for. These are some of the signs that you can look out for to determine if your staff members are stealing medication from your medical practice.
1. You Don't Have a Medical Inventory Control System in Place
In even the smallest of practices, it is is important to implement an inventory control system to help keep track of things like medication. If you do not have one of these systems in place, you are putting your practice at an added risk of medicine theft. Plus, having one of these systems can help you keep better track of billing matters and can help you better comply with state and local regulations. Even if you feel that you can trust your employees, you should still invest in an inventory control software program such as Instant Inventory Service to help you keep track of medicine and other medical supplies.
2. You Seem to Be Running Out of Medication Too Quickly
If you feel as if you are always running out of medication when you shouldn't be, particularly if you are running out of medications that are known narcotics, you should trust your instinct. It's not unusual to run out of pain medication, for example, a bit more quickly than usual every now and then. If this is a constant thing, however, there is a chance that there is a not-so-good reason why.
3. An Employee is Exhibiting Signs of Drug Use
Keep an eye on your employees for the signs of drug use. If you notice that a particular employee begins being tardy for work or starts missing work more frequently than usual, if there are a lot of behavioral changes or if things otherwise seem "different" with one of your employees, then you may want to consider looking into the issue further.
4. One Employee Seems to "Take Control" of Medication Handling
Medicine handling in your practice should never be delegated to just one person. If you find that a particular employee isn't willing to share these responsibilities or always seems to jump to communicate with vendors or access the medical supply room, then you might have something to worry about.
Medication stealing can be a major, common problem in any medical practice. If any of these four signs apply to your practice, then it might be time to do an investigation or make some changes to help prevent the theft of medication.
Share31 July 2015
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