WOONSOCKET, R.I., Dec. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS
Pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Health (NYSE:
CVS), announced today that it has completed the rollout of
time delay safes in all of its 58 CVS Pharmacy locations in
West Virginia, including
pharmacies located in Target stores. The safes are anticipated to
help prevent pharmacy robberies and the diversion of controlled
substance narcotic medications by keeping them out of the hands of
unauthorized individuals. In addition, the safes are anticipated to
help CVS Pharmacy ensure the safety and well-being of its customers
and employees.
CVS Pharmacy expects these time delay safes to help deter
pharmacy robberies – including those involving opioid medications
such as oxycodone and hydrocodone – by electronically delaying the
time it takes for pharmacy employees to be able to open the safe.
CVS Pharmacy first implemented time delay safes in Indianapolis, a city experiencing at the time
a high volume of pharmacy robberies, in 2015. The company saw a 70
percent decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where the time delay safes
had been installed.
"Pharmacy robberies are a challenging issue for every pharmacy and
we are committed to doing all we can to reduce the number of
incidents in our West Virginia
stores," said Dick Dakessian,
Division Leader for CVS Pharmacy. "We have seen that time delay
safes, combined with other security policies and procedures in
place at our stores, can greatly reduce these incidents and are
pleased to roll out this enhanced security measure. These safes
will help ensure that our pharmacies remain a safe environment for
our patients and colleagues."
The time delay function cannot be overridden and is designed to
serve as a deterrent to would-be pharmacy robbers whose goal is to
enter and exit their robbery targets as quickly as possible. All
CVS Pharmacy locations with time delay safes display visible
signage warning that time delay safes are in use to prevent
on-demand access to controlled substance narcotics.
CVS Health's time delay safe program is one of many company
initiatives to help address and prevent prescription opioid misuse,
diversion and abuse.
The company, for example, has expanded its Safe Medication
Disposal Program in West Virginia,
completing the installation of 27 drug disposal kiosks in select
CVS Pharmacy locations in communities across the state, adding to
the five units previously donated to local law enforcement.
In 2020, the company will add 1,000 in-store safe medication
disposal units to the more than 1,800 units currently in CVS
Pharmacy locations nationwide. It will also donate up to 400
additional units to local police departments, in addition to the
1000 units already donated to law enforcement. Together, the
existing medication disposal units have collected more than 1.1
million pounds of unwanted or expired medications, including 7,600
pounds in West Virginia.
Additionally, beginning next year, all CVS Pharmacy locations
that do not offer a safe medication disposal kiosk will begin to
offer DisposeRx packets at no cost to patients filling an opioid
prescription for the first time. According to the manufacturer,
when water and the DisposeRx powder are added to a pill bottle with
unwanted prescription medications, the combination produces a
biodegradable gel, allowing for safe disposal at home.
CVS Health's commitment to helping prevent and address
prescription drug misuse also extends to community education and
increasing access to the opioid overdose-reversal drug
naloxone.
The company is collaborating with Discovery Education, tapping
into their expertise in digital curriculum and content, to enhance
CVS Health's prescription drug abuse prevention education program,
Pharmacists Teach. The program, which has already reached more than
500,000 students and parents across the country, will aim to reach
an additional 1.4 million people over three years following this
investment.
Finally, CVS Pharmacy patients can now access the opioid
overdose-reversal drug naloxone without an individual prescription
at every CVS Pharmacy location nationwide, including all 50 states,
Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. CVS Health has also worked with
Google to help people locate naloxone at CVS Pharmacy and other
locations in their local community using Google's locator tool.
To learn more about CVS Health's efforts to combat prescription
drug misuse, visit our website.
About CVS Health
CVS Health is the nation's premier
health innovation company helping people on their path to better
health. Whether in one of its pharmacies or through its health
services and plans, CVS Health is pioneering a bold new approach to
total health by making quality care more affordable, accessible,
simple and seamless. CVS Health is community-based and locally
focused, engaging consumers with the care they need when and where
they need it. The Company has approximately 9,900 retail locations,
approximately 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy
benefits manager with approximately 102 million plan members, a
dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one
million patients per year and expanding specialty pharmacy
services. CVS Health also serves an estimated 38 million people
through traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health
insurance products and related services, including rapidly
expanding Medicare Advantage offerings and a leading standalone
Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. The Company believes its
innovative health care model increases access to quality care,
delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care
costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the
future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com.
Media Contact:
Joe
Goode, (401) 770-9820
Joseph.Goode@CVSHealth.com
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SOURCE CVS Health