Case Study: Mount Sinai achieves proactive, automated drug diversion detection and prevention with Imprivata FairWarning

Mount Sinai Health System’s Story of Drug Diversion Monitoring

Mount Sinai Health System, one of New York City’s largest integrated health systems with over 25,000 employees and 3,800+ beds, faced a major challenge in 2014 when an internal tip revealed that a pharmacy director had diverted more than 200,000 doses of oxycodone over five years. Although no patients were harmed, the incident threatened the system’s reputation and exposed gaps in manual auditing, accountability, and diversion detection across its hospitals and ambulatory sites.

In response, Mount Sinai formed a drug diversion task force and adopted Imprivata FairWarning Drug Diversion Intelligence to automate near–real-time monitoring, streamline multidisciplinary investigations, and strengthen compliance and staff education. The automated program increased visibility across multiple hospitals, enabled faster investigations and collaboration with prosecutors, improved policy compliance, and sustained proactive surveillance through crises like COVID-19—helping Mount Sinai shift from reactive remediation to ongoing diversion prevention.

Mount Sinai

Raymond Shelton

HIPAA Security Officer