When Keeping Medication Safe May Lead To Increased Liability

In a country that is still struggling with an opioid epidemic, and where there are enough rules and laws regulating the dispensing of medication to fill a tome, it makes sense that medical providers across the nation are turning to technology to monitor who is accessing narcotics and medicines. Federal and state laws require that healthcare facilities and providers store certain medications, and most importantly controlled substances, in locked cabinets. As technology has advanced, it has become commonplace for such cabinets to be secured by fingerprint or facial recognition access, and guidance recognizes cabinets secured by such biometric access systems as meeting the definition of a "locked" system. However, if you are a medical provider with employees located in Illinois, Texas or Washington, your use of biometric medical cabinet locks or dispensaries, such as the Pyxis or Omnicell systems, could lead to greater liability if you are not taking certain steps.