NASHVILLE, Tenn. / Nov 20, 2024 / Business Wire / HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today announced that it collected 21,137 pounds of unused or expired medications during its sixth annual “Crush the Crisis” national prescription drug take back day. This surpasses last year’s totals and is the most the organization has ever collected during the annual event. In total, HCA Healthcare has now collected more than 88,600 pounds of medication since launching “Crush the Crisis” as an enterprise initiative in 2019.

“I am amazed by the results of this year’s Crush the Crisis,” said Dr. Randy Fagin, chief medical officer of HCA Healthcare’s National Group. “Our colleagues showed up for their communities to help remove unneeded medication before it could fall into the wrong hands. This record-breaking year is a testament to how HCA Healthcare cares for the communities we serve.”

HCA Healthcare facilities across the country partnered with local law enforcement to help communities safely and anonymously dispose of unused or expired medication. An estimated 14.5 million doses of medication were collected at more than 125 collection sites. 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 629,953 pounds of medication.

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

• CJW Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia collected 992 pounds
• HCA HealthONE Aurora in Aurora, Colorado collected 861 pounds
• HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge in Lone Tree, Colorado collected 842 pounds
• Medical City McKinney in McKinney, Texas collected 694 pounds
• HCA HealthONE Mountain Ridge in Thornton, Colorado collected 534 pounds

HCA Healthcare uses data from approximately 43 million annual patient encounters to help continuously improve care. The organization 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.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 187 hospitals and approximately 2,400 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 43 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives.

All references to “Company,” “HCA” and “HCA Healthcare” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates.