"We were excited about the success of our TriStar Division's take back day last year and knew that with HCA Healthcare's scale, we could make an even greater impact by expanding this program to more of the communities we serve," said Dr. Michael Schlosser, vice president of clinical excellence and surgical services at HCA Healthcare. "Every day, hospitals across the country treat patients for opioid overdose in emergency rooms. Take back events are vital to helping prevent drug overdose, controlling illicit drug use and curbing our nation's opioid crisis."

• Enhanced Surgical Recovery (ESR)/ALTernatives to Opioids in the Emergency Room (ALTO in the ER): HCA Healthcare focuses on a multi-modal approach to acute pain management. This means two or more methods or medications are used to reduce the need for opioids to manage a patient's pain while recovering from surgery or in the emergency room. As of August 2019, ESR is live at 140 HCA Healthcare facilities, with the goal to implement in all facilities, in at least one major service line, by the end of 2019. ALTO protocols will be expanded enterprise-wide by the end of 2019.
• Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS): Physicians have access to aggregated electronic health records that make it more difficult for medication-seekers to doctor-shop or alter prescriptions. ECPS is available across HCA Healthcare.

"We are working to create healthier communities by partnering with our colleagues, patients and neighbors and engaging on important healthcare issues such as this one," said Joanne Pulles, vice president of community engagement at HCA Healthcare and president of The HCA Foundation. "The abuse of prescription drugs too often starts when family or friends obtain medications from home medicine cabinets. We urge people to take three simple steps: clean out your medicine cabinet, collect medications that are no longer needed and safely dispose of them at one of our ‘Crush the Crisis' take back locations."

In addition to "Crush the Crisis" events on September 7, more than 20 HCA Healthcare hospitals will host events later this year. In total, approximately 90 HCA Healthcare hospitals will participate. Please click here for more information on HCA Healthcare's "Crush the Crisis" collection sites.

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, comprising 184 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 21 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 percent. HCA Healthcare is a learning healthcare system that uses its more than 31 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.