WOONSOCKET, R.I., June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of an
ongoing commitment to helping build healthier and safer
communities, CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today announced the completed
installation of time delay safe technology in all 355 Georgia CVS
Pharmacy locations, including those in Target stores. The safes are
anticipated to help prevent pharmacy robberies and the potential
for associated diversion of controlled substance
medications—including opioid medications such as oxycodone and
hydrocodone—by electronically delaying the time it takes for
pharmacy employees to open the safe. In addition, the safes are
anticipated to benefit the safety and well-being of CVS Pharmacy
customers and employees.
"As the opioid epidemic – which has been compounded by the
COVID-19 pandemic – continues to impact all 159 Georgia counties, we must think of innovative
solutions to stop criminal behavior and protect Georgians," said
Attorney General Chris Carr. "The
newly-implemented time delay safes will help protect those behind
the counter and prevent medication from getting into the wrong
hands. I commend the leadership of CVS Pharmacy for installing this
technology that will act as a deterrent for criminals and will stop
diversion from stores."
CVS Health first implemented time delay safe technology in 2015
in CVS Pharmacy locations across Indianapolis, a city experiencing a high
volume of pharmacy robberies at the time. The company saw a 70
percent decline in pharmacy robberies among the Indianapolis stores where time delay safes had
been installed.
Since then, the company has introduced time delay safes across
18 states and the District of
Columbia, resulting in a 50 percent decline in robberies at
CVS pharmacies in those local communities.
"While our company continues to focus on moving the country one
step closer to a post-pandemic world by increasing access to
COVID-19 vaccines, testing and other measures to help create
healthy communities, the misuse of prescription drugs also remains
a focus," said Tom Moriarty, Chief
Policy Officer and General Counsel, CVS Health. "Time delay safes
reduce the theft and diversion of opioid medications and brings
added security to our stores which creates 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 in Georgia
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
and diversion.
Through its Safe Medication Disposal Program in Georgia, for example, the company has
installed 135 drug disposal units in select CVS Pharmacy locations
and donated 37 units to local police departments in the state. To
date, there has been 63,000 pounds of unwanted and expired
medication collected in Georgia.
Presently, the company supports nearly 4,000 safe medication
disposal units in CVS Pharmacy locations and through local law
enforcement organizations nationwide. Together, these existing
medication disposal units have collected more than 2.5 million
pounds of unwanted medications that might otherwise have been
diverted, misused, or ended up in the water supply.
Additionally, CVS Pharmacy locations that do not offer a safe
medication disposal kiosk offer DisposeRx® packets at no cost to
patients filling an opioid prescription for the first time.
According to the manufacturer, when warm water and the DisposeRx
powder are added to a container, the combination breaks down
medications—including powders, pills, capsules, tablets, liquids or
patches—to a non-divertible biodegradable gel, allowing for safe
disposal in the trash at home.
CVS Health's commitment to helping prevent and address drug
misuse and diversion also extends to community education and
increasing access to the opioid overdose-reversal drug
naloxone.
Our Pharmacists Teach Program connects volunteer CVS pharmacists
with local students to encourage conversation and teach youth about
the dangers of prescription drug misuse. Since 2015, our
pharmacists have volunteered their time and delivered curriculum to
nearly 600,000 teens and parents across the country. We've
partnered with Discovery Education to expand the reach of
Pharmacists Teach into more classrooms with a no-cost digital
prevention program called Dose of Knowledge. This program provides
standards-aligned resources to educators and pharmacists across the
U.S. and strives to empower educators and pharmacists to address
substance misuse and educate students to make good decisions for
the health and well-being of themselves and their community.
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 community using Google's locator tool.
With its national reach and local presence, CVS Health has been
working hard to help address opioid misuse and diversion with an
enterprise-wide approach. To learn more about CVS Health's efforts,
visit the company's Opioid Response website.
For downloadable time delay safe photos, please visit the Media
Resource Center.
About CVS Health
We are a diversified health services company with more than
300,000 employees united around a common purpose of helping people
on their path to better health. In an increasingly connected and
digital world, we are meeting people wherever they are and changing
health care to meet their needs. Built on a foundation of unmatched
community presence, our diversified model makes us an integral part
of people's everyday health. From our innovative new services at
HealthHUB™ locations, to transformative programs that
help manage chronic conditions, we are making health care more
accessible, more affordable and simply better. Learn more about how
we're transforming health at www.cvshealth.com.
Media contacts:
Tara
Burke
(203) 212-1059
Burket1@CVSHealth.com
Joe Goode
(401) 378-5220
Joseph.Goode@CVSHealth.com
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SOURCE CVS Health