About Us: Case Studies

Three health care organizations – two acute care hospitals and one health center – wanted to merge into one entity to gain operational efficiencies and improve care. Gates Healthcare Associates (GHA) was engaged to conduct an assessment of the merger plan to ensure that the merger would comply with laws and regulations governing hospital mergers and that it would withstand the scrutiny of regulatory agencies.

GHA´s review dealt with organizational ability to prevent diversion of controlled substances and it studied the security of the environment in which care is provided and medication is dispensed. GHA evaluated the hospital´s policies and procedures for materials ordering (purchasing methods, acquisition, and documentation); receiving; storage (including patient care unit storage); and supervision and management of controlled substances (including distribution and documentation). GHA confirmed the integrity of the narcotic inventory process by reviewing the handling and documentation of expired and wasted narcotics.

GHA´s assessment enabled the merger to proceed by eliminating any potential regulatory issues. The merged entity is now the dominant provider of health care services in its region.