H&S Pharmacies

Before C2 Keep, John and his staff relied almost entirely on their pharmacy management system to meet controlled substance compliance requirements. While the process was workable, it required significant manual intervention to reconcile mistakes and locate the specific records they needed. “There are certain things that we had trouble keeping accurate, even when it was tied into the pharmacy management system,” John explained. “There wasn’t a perfect point of record that we could look back on and evaluate controlled substance usage.”

For John, the biggest concern was being prepared for an unexpected DEA audit or Board of Pharmacy inspection. “The meat and potatoes of every single DEA audit is inventory reconciliation,” he said. “And if you’re not a very tech-savvy person, that can be pretty time-consuming to reconcile your dispensing through your pharmacy management system.” As a pharmacy owner, DEA audits can be intimidating because even one record-keeping issue can lead to serious consequences. “Those audits can be intimidating, very time-consuming, and a little scary if you’re the pharmacy owner,” John emphasized.

Given the increasing frequency of regulatory audits and the difficulty of preparing for them through disconnected workflows, John knew his controlled substance compliance process needed a better foundation.

John’s introduction to C2 Keep came through a colleague who had faced a similar compliance challenge. After going through a strenuous regulatory audit, that colleague turned to C2 Keep and had nothing but positive feedback to share. That recommendation encouraged John to take a closer look. “Given our concern with DEA audits locally, we decided that we needed something a little bit more firm to keep track of our controlled substance usage,” John explained. He was looking for a single source of truth for controlled substances, one that could help his team manage daily activity while staying prepared for audits.

John also had one major requirement: C2 Keep needed to integrate with his pharmacy management system without creating duplicate work. “My biggest concern was how the software would interface with our pharmacy management system,” he said. “I was worried that there was going to be a lot of duplicate data entry.” Instead, C2 Keep delivered the connected workflow John needed, giving his team stronger controlled substance visibility without adding another manual logbook process.

The transition to C2 Keep was simple for John and his team. The platform’s ease of use and ability to integrate with existing workflows made adoption smooth and efficient. “It is everything you need and nothing that you don’t,” John said. “It was very intuitive for me to learn how to use it and for me to teach my pharmacists as well.” Setting up the integrations with their pharmacy management system and wholesaler was also straightforward. “The integrations with our wholesalers, with our pharmacy management system, were extremely easy to establish,” John explained. “Roland and his team have done a great job making sure that those connections work.”

Even after implementation, C2 Keep continued to provide the support John and his staff needed. When questions came up, the team was available to help troubleshoot and walk them through the solution. That ongoing support helped John feel confident that C2 Keep was not just a software tool, but a partner in strengthening his controlled substance compliance program.

As a pharmacy owner, John places a great deal of trust in his team when it comes to properly handling and recording controlled substances. Still, he recognized that even honest mistakes can create uncertainty. When pharmacists asked how to edit an incorrect value after it had been recorded, John saw the value in C2 Keep’s built-in accountability. “You can’t. That’s the point, which is really nice,” he said. Instead of creating gray areas, C2 Keep gives John a clearer and more reliable record of activity.

With C2 Keep, John now has a single source of truth where controlled substance activity is accurate, organized, secure, and easy to verify. “What you see on your computer screen is what you actually have on the shelf,” he said. “In the event of a DEA audit or Board of Pharmacy inspection, I feel very confident in the number and that I can speak to every single transaction or tablet that we have on hand.”

Beyond maintaining complete and accurate dispensing records, John also appreciates how C2 Keep makes it easier to track wasted, damaged, and expired inventory. While that may seem like a small detail, it is an important controlled substance record-keeping requirement that can be overlooked in day-to-day pharmacy operations. “Based on some conversations we have with the DEA, one thing that they really like to keep track of is damaged or expired inventory, and that is something that most pharmacy management systems can’t do,” John shared. With C2 Keep, John can quickly access a digital record showing which drug was involved, what happened, when it occurred, and which staff members were involved.

For John, one of the greatest benefits of C2 Keep is audit preparedness. During DEA audits, regulatory officers often require pharmacies to reconcile controlled substance inventory and provide records from specific time periods. Searching through a pharmacy management system or paper trail can be tedious, especially when records are spread across multiple locations or workflows. Because C2 Keep organizes John’s dispensing activity, damaged and expired inventory, reports, and files in one centralized location, the process is more efficient and easier to explain. “In this day and age, the scariest thing that any pharmacy owner can go through is a DEA audit, a full-scale DEA audit,” John said. “Having something in your back pocket that allows you to speak with confidence as to what your inventory and drug usage has been is worth its weight in gold.”