Sacramento’s Sutter Health settles feds’ drug violations probe at two facilities
Sutter Health agreed to pay $3.2 million to settle federal allegations that its flagship Sutter Medical Center in midtown Sacramento and a Fairfield surgery center violated the federal Controlled Substances Act, officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced.
The settlement resolved allegations by the Drug Enforcement Administration that the Sacramento-based health care system failed to maintain proper records and safeguards to prevent the theft and diversion of controlled substances, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Investigators identified at least 628 violations across the two facilities, including failures to report drug losses, maintain accurate records, complete inventories and implement effective controls against diversion among federally registered prescribers.
“DEA registrants play a critical role in protecting the public and that responsibility starts with strict compliance,” said Bob P. Beris, the DEA’s special agent in charge at its San Francisco field office.
“DEA holds registrants accountable and in turn, expects them to keep the public safe,” Beris said in the statement Tuesday.
According to the settlement, the investigation at Sutter Medical Center began after the death of Dr. Jessie July Budzinski, a pediatric anesthesiologist, at the 29th Street hospital on Dec. 19, 2020. The health system did not comment on the death, but the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office said it was ruled accidental.
The DEA launched an investigation the next month at the hospital’s pharmacy on Capitol Avenue and identified 360 violations, primarily tied to failures to properly track controlled substance orders and report losses to the feds.
A separate December 2019 DEA investigation at the health system’s Fairfield Surgery Center on 2700 Low Court found 268 violations between 2016 and 2019, including recordkeeping failures, incomplete inventories and lapses in diversion controls.
In a statement Friday, Sutter Health said it cooperated fully with the DEA and was “committed to safeguarding medications and protecting our employees and patients.”
“We continue to prioritize enhanced documentation, training and security measures, and the use of advanced technology to detect and prevent diversion,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Under the agreement, which resolves the matter with no findings of wrongdoing or liability, Sutter must comply with additional monitoring and reporting requirements.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to hold health care providers accountable for failing to effectively guard against the diversion of potentially dangerous controlled substances,” Eric Grant, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, said in a statement.
The Bee’s Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
