Nashville, TN — HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced that it collected 13,136 pounds of unused or expired medications during its fifth annual “Crush the Crisis” prescription drug take back day on October 28, 2023. HCA Healthcare has now collected more than 67,500 pounds of medication since launching “Crush the Crisis” as an enterprise initiative in 2019.
“At our core, we are people taking care of people, and ‘Crush the Crisis’ is a great example of our dedication to that goal,” said Dr. Randy Fagin, chief medical officer of HCA Healthcare’s National Group. “We are proud to have worked alongside our colleagues, neighbors and local law enforcement teams at more than 130 collection sites to collect unused or expired medication before it could fall into the wrong hands.”
This year, all 15 HCA Healthcare U.S. divisions participated alongside local law enforcement in a “Crush the Crisis” prescription drug take back day to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and the importance of proper disposal of unused or expired medications. An estimated 9 million doses of medication were collected at 132 collection sites across 15 states. HCA Healthcare’s “Crush the Crisis” events were held in alignment with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which collected 599,897 pounds of medication.
HCA Healthcare facility events with the greatest amount of medication collected this year include:
- The Medical Center of Aurora in Aurora, Colorado collected 670 pounds
- Centennial Hospital in Centennial, Colorado collected 602 pounds
- CJW Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia collected 601 pounds
- Medical City McKinney in McKinney, Texas collected 554 pounds
- StoneSprings Hospital Center in Dulles, Virginia collected 525 pounds
Additionally, HCA Healthcare uses data from approximately 37 million annual patient encounters to help continuously improve care. The organization uses the science of “big data” in its efforts to reduce prescription drug misuse and transform pain management, with initiatives in surgical, emergency and other care settings, including:
- Enhanced Surgical Recovery (ESR): a multi-modal approach to pain management using pre-, intra- and post-operative interventions to optimize outcomes. HCA Healthcare’s ESR programs have demonstrated significant improvements in surgical recovery and patient satisfaction.
- Electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS): aims to stem increasing rates of opioid-related addiction, misuse diversion and death by making it more difficult for medication-seekers to doctor-shop and alter prescriptions. Physicians have access to aggregated electronic health records, providing data that will allow them to prescribe opioids judiciously.