HCA HealthONE Collects 2,886 Pounds of Medications During Annual "Crush the Crisis"

Denver, CO – HCA HealthONE announced today that it collected 2,886 pounds of medication during HCA Healthcare’s sixth annual “Crush the Crisis” prescription drug take back day. Held in alignment with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, nine HCA HealthONE facilities partnered with local law enforcement to help bring awareness to the dangers of prescription drug misuse and help the community safely and anonymously dispose of unused or expired medication.

 The HCA HealthONE facilities that helped collect the greatest amount of medication during the event this year include:

• HCA HealthONE Aurora (formerly The Medical Center of Aurora) collected 861 pounds
• HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge collected 842 pounds
• HCA HealthONE Mountain Ridge (formerly North Suburban Medical Center) collected 534 pounds

 “I am extraordinarily proud of this year’s HCA HealthONE Crush the Crisis,” said Dr. Melissa Miller, director of pharmacy services at HCA HealthONE Aurora. “The results from this year’s event are truly a testament to our system showing up for our patients and our community. There is no question that the disposal of these unused medications will make for a safer, healthier community.”

 In total this year, HCA Healthcare collected 21,137 pounds of unused or expired medication, the most the organization has ever collected during the annual event. Since launching “Crush the Crisis” as an enterprise initiative in 2019, HCA Healthcare has now collected more than 88,600 pounds of medication.

 As a part of HCA Healthcare, HCA HealthONE uses data from approximately 43 million annual patient encounters to help continuously improve care. HCA Healthcare uses the science of “big data” to help 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, including decreases in opioid usage.
• 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 to help them prescribe opioids judiciously.