Sutter Coast Hospital Pharmacy placed on probation

The California Department of Pharmacy has placed Sutter Coast Hospital Pharmacy on a three year probation, beginning July 23.

 The violation of proper sanitary protocols occurred in 2019 and involved compounding practices and procedures. Compounding medication is a process to fit a unique need of a patient that cannot be met with a commercially available product. The Sutter Coast sanitary violation has long since been corrected.

“The hospital pharmacy is completely safe and exceeds all hygiene requirements. We’ve made significant upgrades to the physical pharmacy,” according to Mitch Hanna, Chief Executive Officer of Sutter Coast.

The violation occurred during the building of the Infusion Center and involved the compounding of medications.

The hospital added the Infusion Center and its pharmacy at a cost of $4 million. Sutter Coast operates two pharmacies for compounding: one within the hospital, the second in the infusion center where hazardous chemical chemical compounds are made. The Infusion Pharmacy was never cited for any violation.

The Sutter pharmacies serves only patients while hospitalized at Sutter Coast.

Sutter Coast Pharmacy will be subject to unannounced visits from the Department of Pharmacy, five hours of education for all technicians who compound, quarterly monitoring reports to the state and the payment of a fine.