The citation, issued on Tuesday, said that Store No. 3467 on Wilmington Avenue in Dayton last year waited two months to file a report with the board notifying it of the loss of 785 tablets of Alprazolam, a controlled substance also known as Xanax, and another 645 doses of Buprenorphine, a synthetic opioid also known as Suboxone that is used to treat pain as well as opioid-use disorder.
The citation also said that last May — the same period when store officials believed the controlled substances were being stolen — a loss-prevention specialist interviewed a technician trainee in the pharmacy who admitted to being addicted to illicit fentanyl. She also confessed to coming to work under its influence.
“CVS Pharmacy #3467 did not report this information to the Board,” the report released Tuesday said.
CVS said it would address any problems at the store.
“We work with the Board of Pharmacy to resolve any allegation raised from inspections at CVS Pharmacy locations and have policies and procedures in place to support prescription safety and security,” a spokeswoman, Amy Thibault, said in an email.
The pharmacy board has the power to fine the CVS stores, or even suspend or revoke their licenses. So far, it has only held hearings into one — Store No. 2063 in Canton — in a process that began in November and is expected to conclude early next month.
Tuesday’s citation is at least the 15th issued against an Ohio CVS since 2020 for safety issues that could be due to understaffing.
“Corners are cut to dispense prescriptions,” a staffer at CVS Store No. 10246 in Toledo told inspectors in 2022.
Inspectors also have found expired or adulterated drugs on CVS shelves, unsanitary conditions, improperly filled prescriptions and improper instructions for patients. They also found that some CVS pharmacies were so swamped that delays in filling prescriptions extended to weeks and even a month in one instance.
During a November hearing into problems at the Canton CVS, a pharmacy technician described what happened after she helped close that pharmacy in late 2021. As she went to her car, she was surrounded by a group of customers who were angry over having to endure long waits without getting their prescriptions.
“One gentleman was trying to get antibiotics for his son and he was very, very upset,” the technician, Haille Stanick, testified.
During the hearings, an attorney for CVS emphasized that the problems found at the Canton store occurred at the height of the pandemic, when pharmacies had to contend with extra demand for vaccines at the same time that many employees were reluctant to face the public in a healthcare setting.
However, CVS employees have told the Capital Journal that CVS managers have refused to increase staff hours even when employees are available and that they’re forced to undertake unnecessary tasks aimed at generating extra revenue when they’re behind in filling prescriptions.
Nor do CVS’s problems seem to be isolated to the stores that have been cited by the board of pharmacy.
After the Capital Journal on Tuesday published a story about developments in the hearings regarding the Canton store, four readers in Ohio responded with emails complaining of problems in their areas. Three more from other states — New York, Massachusetts and California — also complained of CVS understaffing.
Thibault, the CVS spokeswoman, said the problem is industry-wide.
“Regarding staffing, it’s well-known that there’s an industry-wide shortage of health care providers, including pharmacists, and we’re committed to ensuring there are appropriate levels of staffing and resources at our pharmacies,” she said. “In response to feedback from our pharmacy teams, we’re making targeted investments to address their key concerns, including enabling teams to schedule additional support as needed, enhancing pharmacist and technician recruitment and hiring and strengthening pharmacy technician training. These changes began in November and rollout throughout 2024.”
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