WOONSOCKET, R.I., Oct. 16, 2018 /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 55 CVS
Pharmacy locations in Washington,
DC. The safes will help prevent pharmacy robberies and
combat the ongoing opioid epidemic by helping to prevent diversion
of controlled substance narcotic medications by keeping them out of
the hands of unauthorized individuals. In addition, the safes will
help CVS Pharmacy ensure the safety and well-being of its customers
and employees.
Controlled substance narcotic medications that are sought after
by robbers, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, are now stored in
safes using time delay technology in every CVS Pharmacy in the
District of Columbia. Time delay
safes help deter pharmacy robberies 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 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
pharmacy robbery incidents in our Washington, DC stores," said Roger Francis, Division Vice President of CVS
Pharmacy. "In other parts of the country we have seen that time
delay safes, combined with the other security policies and
procedures in place at our stores, can greatly reduce these
incidents. We are pleased to roll out time delay safes here
in the District of Columbia to
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 highly-visible
signage to inform the public that time delay safes are in use to
prevent on-demand access to controlled substance narcotics.
The implementation of time delay safes across all CVS Pharmacy
locations in Washington, DC is the
latest in a series of measures put in place by CVS Health to help
combat prescription drug abuse in the District. CVS Health's
commitment to preventing and addressing prescription drug abuse
extends to community education, efforts to encourage safe disposal
of unused medication and increasing access to the opioid
overdose-reversal drug naloxone. The company's Pharmacists
Teach program brings CVS Pharmacists to schools across the country
to talk to students and parents about the dangers of prescription
drug abuse. More than 405,000 students across the country,
including more than 400 in the District, have participated in the
program.
CVS Health has also completed installation of three safe
medication disposal units in CVS Pharmacy stores in Washington, DC. Nationwide, 750 safe
medication disposal units have been installed in CVS Pharmacy
locations, adding to the more than 900 units the company has
donated to law enforcement agencies. In total, the company has
facilitated more than 1,650 units nationwide, which have collected
more than 480,000 pounds, or 217 metric tons of unwanted
medication. Increasing community access to safe medication disposal
helps rid homes of unused medications that could otherwise be
diverted, abused or contaminate the water supply if disposed of
improperly.
About CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy, the retail division
of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), is America's leading retail pharmacy
with over 9,800 locations. It is the first national pharmacy to end
the sale of tobacco and the first pharmacy in the nation to receive
the Community Pharmacy accreditation from URAC, the leading health
care accreditation organization that establishes quality standards
for the health care industry. CVS Pharmacy is reinventing pharmacy
to help people on their path to better health by providing the most
accessible and personalized expertise, both in its stores and
online at CVS.com. General information about CVS Pharmacy is
available at http://www.cvshealth.com.
Media Contact:
Amy Lanctot
(401) 770-2931
Amy.Lanctot@CVSHealth.com
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SOURCE CVS Pharmacy