Analytics, machine learning help spot drug diversion at Piedmont Athens

For 20 years, Russ Nix worked in the public safety and law enforcement arenas; while working as an undercover narcotics officer, he saw the impact of the growing opioid crisis and addictions to other medications. Now, Nix works as a drug diversion specialist at Piedmont Athens (Ga.) Regional Medical Center, a job he pitched to the 360-bed hospital and got. Drug diversion is the taking of medications outside of the hospital or pharmacy and it is primarily done by inside personnel, such as a nurse or physician and most likely a pharmacist. Piedmont Athens became a pilot site with Invistics, a vendor of advanced healthcare inventory visibility and analytics software that uses machine learning technology and analytics to detect opioid and drug theft across the hospital--the program was funded via a grant to Invistics in 2017 from the National Institutes of Health. "What was most impressive is the software not only detected known diversion cases faster than current methods, it also highlighted recent cases under investigation," Nix says.