Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Tackling Drug Diversion and Medication Safety in Outpatient Care

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Tackling Drug Diversion and Medication Safety in Outpatient Care · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  This is where health care leadership comes together.
• 0:04
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
• 0:07
  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
• 0:10
  speakers to Chicago April.
• 0:14
  This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
• 0:17
  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
• 0:20
  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
• 0:23
  visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:25
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:26
  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
• 0:29
  in Chicago.
• 0:32
  This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
• 0:34
  Care Podcast. I am thrilled today to be
• 0:37
  joined by a brilliant leader who who's both
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  a pharmacist by background and in a business
• 0:42
  person as well and an entrepreneur. We're joined
• 0:44
  today by Alex Yampolsky.
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  Alex, can you take a moment to introduce
• 0:48
  yourself and tell us a little bit about
• 0:50
  yourself and your career? Then we'll talk about
• 0:52
  trends you're watching,
• 0:55
  advice for leaders, and where you're most focused
• 0:57
  in 2026.
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  Alex, take it away. Thanks, Scott. Thanks for
• 1:02
  the wonderful introduction.
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  So as as you mentioned, I'm a pharmacist
• 1:06
  by training, and,
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  professionally, I grew up within a large health
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  system.
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  And then after
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  a career there, went to business school, kind
• 1:15
  of hoping to do something more,
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  as at an administrative level
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  inside of a health system.
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  And, got bit by the entrepreneurial bug,
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  while in business school. Fortunately, I went to
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  UW Madison,
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  for both pharmacy school and then as well,
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  for business school. And
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  in business school,
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  the ecosystem, entrepreneurial ecosystem, has evolved so much
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  in Madison at that time with Epic and
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  all the little startups that kinda started from
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  that investment money that was coming in. It
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  was very exciting and,
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  made me think that, hey.
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  I see so many things broken in health
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  care.
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  Why should somebody who's never worked in health
• 1:51
  care be the one to fix it? I'm
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  the we know people who work frontline. We
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  know what's broken, and we know what's usable
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  and what's functional and what needs to exist.
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  And I started pursuing a career in, entrepreneurship.
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  So MedServe is now my third company.
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  My first two were telemedicine based companies.
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  The first one I was a part of
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  that I joined, and then we had a
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  exit to Cardinal Health,
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  couple years later. And then the my second
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  company was a company called or is company
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  called Vital Health, which is a
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  online platform for integrative and functional medicine providers.
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  And so if you're a patient looking for
• 2:25
  an integrative and functional medicine doctor, you can
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  get connected with a great one on Vital
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  Health.
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  And, currently, I'm a chief clinical officer at
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  MedServe. And at MedServe, we're revolutionizing medication management
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  in ASCs and outpatient facilities.
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  For those of you who are familiar with
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  the outpatient world, specifically in the surgery centers,
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  but really across the outpatient
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  spectrum,
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  A lot of things are stuck in kinda
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  the archaic stone age when it comes to
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  certain things and operations. So for example, the
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  things we focus on currently primarily are narcotic
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  management
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  and, high value medication management in these facilities,
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  and we help facilities
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  transition from,
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  believe it or not, key locked cabinets and
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  paper logs and tackle boxes and shared keys
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  to a digital solution that's completely automated and
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  takes their entire medication management,
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  and narcotic management and compliance and makes it
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  all digital,
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  traceable, and easily reportable,
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  which is a game changer for either an
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  individual center or an organization.
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  And how has drug diversion
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  evolved over the last several years? I mean,
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  all of us have watched
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  at least a lot of us have watched
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  movies about the opioid crisis where people were
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  breaking into pharmacies to steal drugs and so
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  forth.
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  What does drug diversion look like typically
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  in a practice or a surgery center?
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  I know you do some work with health
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  systems as well. Yeah. What does drug diversion
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  look like today? Because, you know, I mean,
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  you see it
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  on on the news
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  or at least from the movies like Dopesick
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  during
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  the opioid crisis. And I guess we still
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  have an opioid crisis, but when people were,
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  you know,
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  having real drug problems and breaking into drugstores
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  to steal drugs, and I take it that's
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  all locked up today.
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  But but what does it look like today?
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  What does what does drug diversion look like
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  today in a typical situation?
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  So back in my health system days, we
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  had a case where,
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  multiple cases, but this one was where somebody
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  walked into a pharmacy midday with a line
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  of people, climbed on the counter, pulled out
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  a gun,
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  zip tied everybody, and, stole all of the
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  opioids,
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  out of the pharmacy. One of many And
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  and were were they were they were they
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  were they taking or was they a drug
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  run themselves, or is that typically somebody to
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  steal them to resell them? Or we don't
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  know. In those situations, when somebody's stealing large
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  quantities like that, that's going to be most
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  likely for resale.
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  However, what we end up seeing in
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  surgery centers, typically, those are for personal use.
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  And that's where really the story gets I
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  mean, all of this is very, very sad.
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  And in what we see in surgery centers
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  is
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  people don't
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  usually start out in that environment
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  to divert narcotics.
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  They're they have easy access that oftentimes is
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  unsupervised because
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  I mean, if you think about the number
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  of pharmacy staff that are present in a
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  hospital system versus an outpatient facility,
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  it's night and day difference. The number of
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  compliance people, the number of various security checks
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  and balances.
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  So it makes it for an easy environment
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  to be unsupervised
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  and,
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  have unrestricted
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  and uncontrolled access
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  that may not even be documented.
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  So it makes it easy for you to
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  in the moment of weakness, in the moment
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  where you're having the worst day of your
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  life,
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  and things are just coming together in a
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  worst possible way, and that's where you have
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  something in front of you that you take
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  advantage of, and then it completely spirals out
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  of control.
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  Now
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  also in surgical environments and, I I mean,
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  this probably goes beyond that, and it for
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  sure goes beyond that. But in the surgery
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  centers,
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  I like to think about the ripple effect
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  of what happens when a drug diversion case
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  happens.
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  Of course, the person who is addicted to
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  the narcotic that steals it from the facility
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  is impacted. They may lose their license. They
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  may lose their job. They will lose their
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  job. They will potentially get prosecuted.
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  A lot of times it ends up in
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  suicide because these are people whose lives are
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  just coming apart, and they just can't handle
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  it anymore. But there's also a whole lot
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  of patient harm,
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  when medications are being switched a lot of
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  times where instead of getting fentanyl when going
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  through a procedure, you're getting regular saline or
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  worse yet tap water that somebody substituted,
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  that can put you at harm.
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  You can get infections,
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  you can die, or you can just go
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  through a procedure with no pain medication on
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  board. And this happens all of the time.
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  And, unfortunately, Scott, you know, you made a
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  point that, you know, we see this in
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  the news. We see this in,
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  various shows.
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  It is extremely
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  underreported
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  because when you report it, you flag the
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  DEA.
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  You may have you may end up in
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  the headlines in your local newspaper,
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  and nobody wants that exposure or liability.
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  So most organizations,
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  if they can, try to do it quietly,
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  let go of the employee,
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  and,
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  sweep it under the rug so they're they
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  don't make a splash. And then that employee
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  can go from facility to facility to facility
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  and repeat the same pattern over and over
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  and over again, putting everybody at risk.
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  I
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  I I take it in the best situations.
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  You try and get that employee help.
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  I guess you have to you have to
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  report it, but you're trying to get that
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  person help. So maybe they don't lose their
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  job forever, but they get the help they
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  need. I'm not sure.
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  But tell us where you come in. Where
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  does where does MedServe come into all this?
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  Yeah. We're there to help flag and prevent
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  these events.
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  And if there are ever investigations,
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  we're there to make those investigations
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  go easy and seamless for the administration
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  as well as for the auditing body.
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  If you if you think about, again, the
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  level of sophistication in the hospital system, when
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  a DEA officer shows up and they're looking
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  at some data or some reports,
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  typically, pharmacy departments can get those relatively quick
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  by running a report.
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  Typically, they have really good controls. They have
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  cameras. They have,
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  records and log access records and,
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  door access records. And all of those things,
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  they can come bring together really quick for
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  the auditor and be able to investigate it,
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  whether it's a DA auditor or an internal
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  investigation.
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  In outpatient world, that is not the case
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  because so much of the outpatient world is
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  still on paper for monitoring and tracking those
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  things
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  that,
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  it is extremely difficult. And when you go
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  when you take your sweet time to pull
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  all the records, it makes the auditor feel
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  like,
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  hey. What is the level of sophistication here?
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  What is the level of,
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  control? And it makes them question
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  more, trust less, and dig deeper. So our
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  whole goal is making it easy and seamless
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  for clinicians to practice, take away the paper
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  and administrative burden of keeping records that need
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  to be kept, and we automate all of
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  that. Plus, we secure the medications,
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  and
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  we help facilities design processes and implement it
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  in a way that improves safety.
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  And if and when they do need to
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  look into it, everything's cloud based and easily
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  retrievable,
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  on their reporting platform.
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  Thank you. And I can tell why that's
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  so important. It's it's it's almost the the
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  always situation of working with a small to
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  midsize business versus a large business.
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  A large business has all these resources. So
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  when the DEA comes in or they've gotta
• 9:43
  deal with regulators, they've got people.
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  In a small meetings wise business,
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  everybody does everything, and so you're not really
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  prepared for it. So having a real solution,
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  real help on this is is really impactful,
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  isn't it? Yeah. Absolutely. And
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  outside of, you know, the situations where you
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  do get audited, outside of situations where,
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  drug diversion happens or mistakes happen, because that
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  does happen. However, every single day, there is
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  an administrative
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  burden
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  on the clinicians
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  and nursing staff and administrative staff
• 10:15
  to keep things properly tracked and properly documented.
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  Unfortunately, the AAC market is plagued with that.
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  Probably half the facilities are still not using
• 10:27
  an electronic medical record. Even though the changing
• 10:29
  technology is being adopted,
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  and we're seeing change in evolution over time,
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  I'm sure, you know, being involved in the
• 10:36
  surgery center market as long as you have,
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  you've seen it from basically ground zero.
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  So change is happening, but there's still so
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  much time being spent and wasted on these
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  manual tasks that don't need to be there.
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  They can be automated. They can be done
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  more efficiently and safer
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  with technology.
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  And MedServe and many other companies are working
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  to help facilities
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  do things better, faster, cheaper.
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  Thank you. And you've had this great career.
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  I mean, you were,
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  really
• 11:07
  inspiring to to to me and to others
• 11:10
  as well. Talk a little bit about
• 11:13
  what advice would you give somebody trying to
• 11:14
  have an impactful
• 11:15
  and and and terrific career
• 11:18
  where they thrive and they're helping. What what
• 11:20
  what advice do you have for young emerging
• 11:23
  professionals trying to have great careers?
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  Well, I think it's kind of hard for
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  me to think now as a
• 11:30
  somebody in a corporation building a career. It's
• 11:32
  much easier for me to think about as
• 11:34
  an entrepreneur, but I think it probably applies
• 11:36
  across the board.
• 11:37
  My my recommendation would be to find areas
• 11:41
  where
• 11:42
  you feel
• 11:44
  energized and where you feel the joy. For
• 11:46
  me personally, it's building things. It's helping people
• 11:49
  understand
• 11:50
  that
• 11:51
  the value that our solution brings, whatever
• 11:55
  whatever the solution may be, I get really
• 11:57
  jazzed up by that and building something that
• 11:59
  helps or bringing a service that really truly
• 12:02
  helps people. So for me, that's fulfilling. And,
• 12:05
  you know, as most listeners here who are
• 12:08
  in the entrepreneurial world can attest, there's it's
• 12:11
  it's a lot of hard work. There's a
• 12:12
  lot of trade offs in this in this
• 12:15
  life,
• 12:16
  and,
• 12:17
  it better be worth it. And not just
• 12:19
  by the end terminal outcome of all of
• 12:21
  this, but by the journey itself. And,
• 12:23
  you know, I personally still struggle with this
• 12:25
  where it's where am I trying to get
• 12:27
  to versus what am I doing on a
• 12:29
  daily basis and how much am I enjoying
• 12:30
  it and soaking it all in.
• 12:33
  But one of the main advice
• 12:35
  since I would give to people is figure
• 12:37
  out what brings you joy, what gives you
• 12:39
  energy, and do that. Because if that's all
• 12:42
  that you get out of this life,
• 12:44
  it was pretty fun and exciting for you
• 12:45
  to do.
• 12:46
  The other the other thing that, again, kind
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  of from my personal
• 12:50
  experience, it's trying to create and maintain some
• 12:53
  sort of a balance and space
• 12:55
  outside of your career, outside of your business,
• 12:58
  outside of your professional pursuits, whether it's for
• 13:01
  hobbies, friends, family.
• 13:03
  Life goes by pretty quickly, and, it's
• 13:07
  scary to think about maybe waking up in
• 13:09
  five, ten years and looking back and realizing
• 13:12
  you
• 13:13
  didn't do those things. I think about that
• 13:16
  a lot,
• 13:17
  and I
• 13:19
  transparently still struggle with that and putting having
• 13:21
  the right level of balance and the right
• 13:23
  priorities,
• 13:24
  on all of those things. But there has
• 13:26
  to be a harmony
• 13:27
  where everything works together, where you're doing things
• 13:30
  you love, you're spent you're doing it with
• 13:31
  people you really enjoy, and you have, things
• 13:34
  going on in your life outside of work.
• 13:37
  But I love that. And the reality is
• 13:39
  it it's it's like this old adage.
• 13:42
  When you meet somebody and you think they've
• 13:44
  got I've got it figured out and it
• 13:46
  makes you feel intimidated because they have it
• 13:47
  all figured out,
• 13:49
  the reality is
• 13:50
  most all of us are works in process,
• 13:53
  and there may be some small microcosm of
• 13:55
  the world, some small very small percentage
• 13:57
  that is it all figured out, knows what
• 13:59
  they're doing all the time.
• 14:01
  Most of us are are setting goals,
• 14:04
  resetting goals,
• 14:06
  reestablishing ourselves,
• 14:08
  working on our life outside of work in
• 14:11
  addition to our work life and and and
• 14:13
  and work and everything else too. So I
• 14:15
  I love the the clarity and the honesty
• 14:17
  in that. I think it's beautiful, Alex. Hey,
• 14:18
  Alex. I wanna thank you for joining us
• 14:20
  today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. It it's
• 14:22
  always great to visit with you. You you're
• 14:24
  a total inspiration to myself, so thank you
• 14:26
  for joining us today on the Becker's Healthcare
• 14:27
  podcast. Thanks, Scott. Great to be here.