If you needed to know what the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act of 1996 was, would you crack open an encyclopedia? Of course not. That same logic should be applied to outdated or legacy drug diversion monitoring systems when leading-edge technology that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning exists. Wouldn’t it be great if you could save time, labor, and resources while reducing false positives and ultimately preventing future compliance violations from occurring?
The tangible costs of doing nothing
When it comes to compliance—especially for critical issues like patient privacy and drug diversion—inaction can be costly.
According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a healthcare data breach was $9.77 million, maintaining healthcare as the most expensive industry for data breaches for the 14th consecutive year.
These breaches often go undetected for extended periods, typically taking 213 days to identify, surpassing the average of 194 days across other industries. The prolonged exposure increases the risk of sensitive patient information being compromised, leading to significant financial and reputational damage.
The costs of doing nothing go far beyond financial penalties. Data breaches often lead to lawsuits, government fines, loss of patient trust, and operational disruptions that can take years to recover from.
Drug diversion incidents in particular can result in direct financial loss, expensive investigations, regulatory scrutiny, and damage to an institution’s reputation.
A single drug diversion event can cost hospitals hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, compliance fines, and increased insurance premiums, not to mention the cost of staff turnover and retraining when breaches of trust occur.
Across the industry, healthcare organizations that delay investment in compliance and security measures often face costs that far exceed the price of modernization. In an environment where margins are already thin, the true price of inaction is measured not just in dollars, but in risk exposure, reputational damage, and operational instability.
Getting buy-in and budget for replacing legacy systems
What does it take for healthcare organizations to introduce systemic change? Most likely, healthcare compliance offices make the switch when the benefits of an old system, one that is familiar and comfortable, no longer outweigh its costs, which can come to include data breaches, clinical drug diversion, and other elements of noncompliance.
Healthcare compliance analytics that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning let organizations do more even with fewer resources. The system monitors 100% of all accesses to alert the compliance team to suspicious behavior, identifying individuals who are violating policies and providing drug diversion training to prevent future compliance violations.
Don’t wait for a crisis to switch tools
Leaving a legacy system behind—the system that just a few years ago might have been the latest and greatest—is not easy. Capital has been invested; people have invested time—sometimes years—in learning to use the system and its upgrades, working with vendor staff, training hospital staff, and so on; and increasingly scarce resources have been devoted to it.
No one wants bad headline news generated by a crisis to be the tipping point that convinces the C-suite and other leaders to make the shift to a next-generation technology. Instead, mitigate risks by equipping your compliance team with the necessary resources and technology now, so you never have to find your organization calculating the cost of its legacy program.
At the same time, we know that the threats that compliance offices face are challenging and come from many different actors, both internal and external, and that the only way to ensure you are ensuring compliance is to go with the best new technology. Long ago, people liked the term “space-age technology.”
Thanks to Elon Musk and NASA, that term is here again: space-age technology, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and subject matter experts are the best barriers preventing your organization’s sensitive data and controlled substances from being breached or stolen. This advanced technology, the keystone of Protenus analytics, serves as an extension of your team, allowing you to better protect your patients, your workforce, and your organization.
Are you ready to leave your legacy system behind and look toward the future of healthcare compliance analytics?