An Iowa registered nurse who stole controlled substances from residents and falsified medical records at a nursing home where she was employed was sentenced on May 17, 2024, to 7 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.
The defendant, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by means of misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge, and one count of false statements relating to healthcare matters. She admitted that between November 2020 and December 2020, she diverted controlled substances from residents and falsified related medical records.
Evidence at sentencing also revealed that after the defendant lost her job as a nurse for stealing residents’ medication, she then burglarized 5–6 homes. She was later convicted of impersonating a public official after another burglary in Carroll County in 2021, where she pretended to be a county assessor in order to gain entry into a stranger’s home and then stole controlled substances.
After the defendant serves her 7 months’ imprisonment and pays her fine of $20,000, she must also serve a 2-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
According to estimates, approximately 10–15% of the population in our nation faces challenges related to alcohol or drug dependency. Nurses, as part of this statistic, stand out because they have access to drugs within the workplace. Given that approximately one in ten nurses may experience substance use disorders, it is crucial for healthcare facilities to establish proactive diversion-prevention programs. The consequences of failure to do this include a negative impact on residents’ quality of care, legal and ethical concerns, and potential for high scope and severity citations once a diversion problem is uncovered. Nurses who divert medications have developed a number of ways to conceal diversion. Efforts must identify the types of medications most likely to be taken, signs that diversion has taken place, and signs of impairment.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on preventing, identifying, and responding to drug diversion. Update as needed.
- Train appropriate staff on actions that can be taken to prevent, identify, and respond to any suspicion of drug diversion. Provide education on the impact of drug diversion on residents as a form of abuse and neglect, staff responsibility to report concerns immediately, and the consequences of theft of controlled substances. Document that the trainings occurred, and place the signed document in each employee’s education file. Med-Net Academy offers all clients three PowerPoint training programs in our Substance Use category. Visit MNA to access all three. Additionally, in the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Category of MNA, a program titled Drug Diversion: What Every Facility Needs to Know is available for viewing by all clients.
- Periodically audit to ensure that all controlled substances are accounted for on each shift, and that proper documentation of controlled substances has occurred. Your consultant pharmacist can be included in this effort.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
