CVS long-term care pharmacy pays $15 million penalty for failing to track opioids

Omnicare, which is the largest long-term care pharmacy in the U.S., agreed to pay a $15.3 million penalty for allegedly allowing opioids and other controlled substances to be dispensed without valid prescriptions.

The CVS Health (CVS) unit failed to track limited stockpiles of the medicines that were stored in so-called emergency kits, which are supposed to be dispensed by long-term care facilities on an emergency basis, but only with valid prescriptions, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Omnicare also repeatedly failed to document and report emergency prescriptions.

“Omnicare failed in its responsibility to ensure proper controls of medications used to treat some of the most vulnerable among us,” said DEA acting administrator Uttam Dhillon in a statement. Besides the civil penalty, Omnicare agreed to increase its auditing and monitoring of emergency kits placed at long-term care facilities, but it did not admit to any liability.

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