Latest news with #Hy-VeePharmacy
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pharmacy fined $1,000 for medication-dispensing error
The Hy-Vee Pharmacy at 410 N. Ankeny Blvd. in Ankeny, Iowa. (Photo via Google Earth) An Ankeny pharmacy has been fined $1,000 for dispensing the wrong medication to a customer and then failing to report the incident within the required timeframe. The Hy-Vee Pharmacy at 410 N. Ankeny Blvd. in Ankeny was charged by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy with incorrectly dispensing a prescribed medication to a patient and with failing to properly record all medication errors in its quality-control reports. The board alleges that on July 24, 2024, a patient went to Hy-Vee to pick up her prescription for Aimovig, a drug commonly used to treat migraine headaches. A pharmacy technician pulled the patient's will-call bag with the printed receipt but retrieved the wrong medication from the refrigerator. The pharmacy technician incorrectly provided the patient with Ajovy, another drug often used to treat headaches, that was prescribed for another patient, according to the board. The pharmacy did not discover the dispensing error for five days, when the second patient arrived to collect her prescribed allotment of Ajovy. It was then discovered that the Ajovy was missing, while the Aimovig — which had theoretically been given to the first patient — was still sitting on the shelf. Upon realizing what had transpired, the pharmacist in charge immediately called the first patient to determine whether, as suspected, she had mistakenly been given the Ajovy. The patient reported that she had, adding that she had disposed of the Ajovy, believing it to be an old prescription she had been given in error. Upon investigation, the board determined that the pharmacy did not report the medication error in its Continuous Quality Improvement report within the required timeframe of 24 hours. The board and the pharmacy recently agreed to a settlement that requires the Ankeny store to pay a $1,000 civil penalty and to provide all of its pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with a board-approved continuing education course on patient safety and the prevention of medication errors.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Yahoo
Pharmacy worker loses license after conviction for stealing drugs
The Iowa Board of Pharmacy oversees state-licensed pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Iowa. (Photo by Getty Images; logo courtesy the State of Iowa) An Iowa pharmacy technician who was allegedly captured on video stealing prescription medications from a customer has agreed to surrender her license. According to the Iowa Board of Pharmacy, on Feb. 6, 2024, the Hy-Vee Pharmacy in Altoona filed documents with the board last year alleging a state-licensed pharmacy technician, Mary Ellen Kopaska, 45, of West Des Moines, misappropriated controlled substances from the pharmacy. A subsequent investigation revealed Kopaska was caught on security video 'removing prescriptions from patient prescription bottles.' Given the formal charges against Kopaska, the allegation presumably refers to the removal of prescription medications from the bottles. Board documents indicate Kopaska, 'without admission of wrongdoing or guilt,' agreed to surrender her license for the 'admitted violation' of state regulations. The license revocation took effect on Jan. 15, 2025. The board has stipulated that Kopaska can apply for reinstatement of her license in two years. Criminal court records indicate that in February 2024, Altoona police charged Kopaska with theft and prohibited acts involving controlled substances. Police alleged she admitted to taking five Hydrocodone pills from a patient's bag while working in the pharmacy, with the video showing her placing the drugs in her left pants pocket. According to police, she claimed that at the end of her shift she took the drugs home where they were later flushed down the toilet. In July 2024, the simple misdemeanor charge of theft was dismissed as part of a plea agreement, and Kopaska pleaded guilty to the charge of prohibited acts. She was fined $1,000 and sentenced to two years of probation. She was also granted a deferred judgment in the case, which will result in the criminal conviction being expunged from court records after the successful completion of probation.
