Technology has and continues to change the pharmacy landscape that we work in, especially in the area of monitoring inventory and reconciliation of medication transactions. Currently available software programs give pharmacists the ability to assess and manage the entire drug supply chain from acquisition to administration to an individual patient. This includes the tracking and evaluation of controlled drug activity for an entire time period versus looking at a slice of activity and extrapolating the information obtained in that 24 hour period to an entire month. Hoping that diversion is not taking place on the dates not audited. In my experience an individual involved in diversion rationalizes and is willing to take a chance that they won't be caught on a routine audit. The methods and resources we had in the past for detecting diversion supported that rationalization.

There is the old adage that a system is only as good as the information it contains. Pharmacy resources would be better spent perfecting and tailoring the available software programs to meet the profile of our individual hospitals. Available programs give us the capability of looking at all transactions and then to use the power of statistics to identify where to concentrate our in-depth audits. I support this change in regulation.