Geisinger Bought From Center Linked to Meningitis Outbreak but says Patients are Not at Risk

It was a misinterpretation of information within the massive Geisinger Health Systems.  Early this month, officials with Geisinger stated they quote "do not utilize products from the New England Compound Center in Massachusetts," but according to the FDA's investigation, Geisinger was one of hundreds that purchased from the company.

Contaminated steroid medications from the New England Compound Center have been linked to a national outbreak of fungal meningitis.  Dean Parry, the director of pharmacy clinical programs at Geisinger says they purchased a very small amount of medication from the company over the last two years.  The good news is they did not purchase any of the steroid shots that are known to be contaminated.

"The ones that have been clearly identified as being infected, we did not purchase any of those. We have not received any of those during any time period," explains Parry.

But now investigators have widened the scope to include other drugs made at the New England Company.  Parry says he does not believe any of Geisinger's patients are at risk and they have not seen any symptoms in any patients of fungal meningitis, "Not that we are not concerned, obviously when you hear things like this there is always a concern, but we've looked so far and we have no indication that there was any problems with any of our patients."

Parry says Geisinger has a strict screening process when choosing drug manufacturers.  He also adds they have cut all ties to the New England Compounding Center