New England Compounding Center Recall Update

We want to provide any Spaulding Rehabilitation patients and their families with the latest information regarding the ongoing investigation into drug contamination at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham. According to recent updates on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) websites, a patient from elsewhere is being evaluated for possible meningitis that could be linked to an epidural injection of the steroid triamcinolone acetonide produced by NECC. This latest case is in addition to those patients across the country who developed fungal meningitis following injections of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate manufactured by NECC. 

This is a difficult and tragic situation for patients and families in so many states. At this time, we have no indication that any Spaulding Rehabilitation patient has received tainted medication from NECC.

• We want to assure any patients and families that no hospitals or clinics in Spaulding Rehabilitation have purchased methylprednisolone acetate from NECC, so this does not affect our patients who have received steroid injections.
• Spaulding Rehabilitation hospitals have purchased other types of compounded medications from NECC. Per Mass DPH, CDC and FDA recommendations all NECC products were immediately removed from all patient care areas of the hospitals and clinics. This recommendation was out of an abundance of caution from regulatory agencies. Spaulding Rehabilitation facilities are no longer using any medication compounded from NECC. At this time there is no evidence that any of the other NECC injectable medications that our patients received prior to the recall were tainted. 

You may have received a letter of reassurance or informational call from your Spaulding provider. Please know that your Spaulding providers are kept up-to-date with the most current information available and should be contacted if you have any concerns.

A multidisciplinary team of experts at Spaulding Rehabilitation continues to closely track information from the FDA, CDC, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Massachusetts Hospital Association, and we will keep you informed as additional information and recommendations become available.  For further details about the situation we recommend visiting the FDA website or the CDC website. We also want you to know that Spaulding Rehabilitation is not at this time experiencing drug shortages related to the suspension of operations at medication production facilities. Our focus remains on ensuring safe and uninterrupted service to all our patients.

Please do not hesitate to contact your Spaulding provider with any questions or concerns.

Stephanie Nadolny
Vice President of Ancillary Services

Jaye Hefner, MD
Associate Medical Director for Quality and Information Technology

Karen Nelson
Vice President of Quality, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs