Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), a global medical technology company, has announced a new alliance dedicated to help address the rising opioid crisis in acute care settings.

Comprised of top health systems and industry leaders, the alliance is a new initiative stemming from the recently launched BD Institute for Medication Management Excellence. The industry alliance will expand on the key initiatives established by the BD Institute: Opioid Control and Management, End-to-End IV Safety and Medication Availability concentrating on identifying effective ways of tracking controlled substances across the entire end-to-end medication management process with the ability to detect, monitor and ultimately reduce drug diversion. The initiative was inaugurated during the 2016 American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Meeting with the premise of promoting innovation in medication management through collaboration between BD, electronic health record (EHR) vendors and leveraging the insights from customers and industry thought leaders.

"This alliance of remarkably innovative health systems is focused on addressing the challenges of opioid use, including the risk of drug diversion and is a great example of how thought leaders in health care can partner to address some of the most important challenges in our industry," said Ranjeet Banerjee, worldwide president of Medication Management Solutions for BD. "In our efforts to advance the world of health, BD recognizes that drug diversion is a health and safety issue for providers and patients. We believe it's crucial to actively drive collaboration, policy and best practices together with health care providers across the nation to reduce diversion and increase patient safety."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the amount of prescription opioids sold in the U.S. nearly quadrupled since 1999i, costing the U.S. an estimated $55 billionii in health and social costs every year. Acute care providers are on the frontlines of this public health epidemic every day as a result of drug diversion.

"Hospitals are on the frontline of monitoring and working to prevent drug diversion within their facilities," said Perry Flowers, vice president, Acute & Transitional Care at Kaiser Permanente, one of the founding members of the alliance. "Now is the time for health systems and industry to unite to drive innovation that will address this epidemic. Collaboration between our EHR vendor and BD can lead to significant innovation in patient care and medication management. One of these areas is pursuing new ways to address accountability for controlled drugs in hospitals. To that end, we are extremely pleased to join with our industry peers in this initiative."

Debbie Simonson, vice president, Pharmacy Services at Ochsner Health System said, "By bringing industry leaders together we have a significant opportunity to improve how controlled substances in acute care settings are managed. By setting standards and integrating data from the EHR with medication management systems, we will be able to detect, monitor and ultimately reduce drug diversion. With no generally accepted standards for monitoring opiate diversion in U.S. hospitals, we feel it's critical to address this alarming epidemic and partner with visionary colleagues and technology providers in doing so."