Jack Teitelman, a 26-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), has seen first-hand the fall-out for veterinary registrants who fail to put adequate systems in place and it’s not pretty. Your program doesn’t have to be perfect, but it must demonstrate seriousness of intent and consistency.

We all know controlled substances are to be handled with care, but Host Nicole Clausen’s guest on this episode of Inventory Nation drives home just how critical it is to mitigate risk – before a breach of compliance occurs! Jack Teitelman, a 26-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), has seen first-hand the fall-out for veterinary registrants who fail to put adequate systems in place and it’s not pretty. Your program doesn’t have to be perfect, but it must demonstrate seriousness of intent and consistency. After all, veterinarians sign a contract with the government when they are granted the right to administer drugs. Fall down in that commitment and … well, it’s a serious mess that could even shut down your practice! 

Fortunately, as CEO at the Titan Group, Jack has developed a special benchmarking expertise when it comes to keeping veterinary practices compliant. He’s sharing with us the essentials everyone wants to have in place if – or when – a DEA inspector shows up at the door. Among other things, he walks us through some of the most common myths about managing controlled substances and clearly spells out which protocols are non-negotiable – like keeping reliable bi-annual logs and putting in place a legitimate three-prong security system (alarm, safe and surveillance camera). The good news? An acceptable controlled substance management system doesn’t have to be fancy. It just needs to be well-considered, steady and serious! And this conversation with one of the best compliance consultants out there is all you need to get started on the path towards peace of mind.

Feeling fully compliant and ready to face the DEA? If not, you might want to take a short risk assessment quiz to determine whether a discovery call is in order! You can find the link here.

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• How Jack migrated from 26 years as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent into carving out a niche consulting on compliance for the underserved vet community.
• Familiarity with the CVS pharmacopeia doesn’t prepare a veterinary compliance specialist for the demands of that specialty.
• If you’re not doing cycle counts – or any counts at all – you’ll fail your DEA or state inspection “from the get-go.” Get a system in place now – or it’ll come back to haunt you.
• Remember: When you sign your DEA registration, that’s a contract with the government that acknowledges you understand every element of compliance. No excuses.
• MythBuster #1: You can make individual Kitty Magic and TDK mixtures without logging them, but giant, multi-use bags of compounds require a log book and tracking. Use discretion.
• MythBuster #2: You do not want to run a vet practice with multiple DEA licenses. It’s a logistical nightmare, requires as many bi-annuals/record sets and carries liability.
• MythBuster #3: Your mobile vet vehicle’s glovebox is adequate securely storing drugs in transit, right? Not really! Establish an appropriately secure system (such as a safe) for temporary storage out in the field.
• MythBuster #4: Logbooks do not have to be officially bound and an expensive dispensary machine is not mandatory. You just have to be deliberate, consistent and comprehensive.
• MythBuster #5: Safes do NOT have to have a double-lock.
• Fun Facts: Jack gives us an inside look at what actually happens to all those controlled substances that the DEA seizes. The controls on agents are every bit as tight (or tighter) than they are for registrants.
• MythBuster #6: DEA 41 forms aren’t for managing all forms of waste:
• Artificial Intelligence and online systems are rendering a lot more tracking data which put veterinarians under the microscope as never before – revealing patterns and gaps.
• Jack’s Top Tip for Regulatory Compliance
• Want to be scared straight? Jack recently helped a vet client settle a DEA case that was based on 300 missing pills. The fine? $5 million. They negotiated that down to $150,000, but the big takeaway is: More than the amount of missing inventory, sloppy record-keeping will trigger a cascade of negative consequences. It becomes a pile-on.
• After years of epidemic opioid abuse the DEA is leveraging huge fines to punish distributors – which makes sense, but disproportionately punishes independent vet practices and small pharma companies for relatively minor infractions.
• This is Not a Drill: It’s critically important to walk your practice through what an actual DEA audit would look like and ensure that everyone in the practice knows the ground rules for how to respond and manage through the process.

• Feeling fully compliant and ready to face the DEA? If not, you might want to take a short risk assessment quiz to determine whether a discovery call is in order! You can find the link here.
• VISN: https://www.veterinaryisn.com/
• Inventory Ally – Inventory Management Software: https://inventoryally.com/
• Free Resources: www.vetlogic.co/education