NHPCO NewsLine Spring 2021 - 19

Hospice care providers are experts in pain and symptom
management: more than 90% of hospice care patients are
prescribed a controlled pain medication and many are given
narcotic medications for symptom management.
Given these prescribing patterns, it's common for patients to have
unused prescription drugs from medication changes and for leftover
medications to exist when a patient transitions.
The safe storage and proper disposal of these medicines is critical to
preventing the risk of misuse and diversion. While patients may
receive care in a skilled nursing facility, hospital or other setting, much
hospice care takes place in the patient's home, where medications can
be vulnerable to abuse or improper disposal. According to a study
conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
most abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends,
including from the home medicine cabinet.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 continues to complicate patient care and
more than 40 states have reported increases in drug overdoses
attributed in part to the social isolation, stress and economic
uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

The safe storage and
proper disposal of these
medicines is critical to
preventing the risk of
misuse and diversion.

Given their personal relationships with patients receiving medications,
hospice care providers are in a unique position to help prevent the
dangerous misuse of excess opioids, narcotics and other drugs
through educating patients on the importance of permanently
deactivating and destroying unused medications. One such example is
Capital Caring Health, which provides Deterra® Drug Deactivation
System to caregivers to dispose of unneeded patient medications.
Here, we'll discuss best practices for the safe and permanent disposal
of unused medications, some of the common barriers to proper drug
disposal and ways to help staff, patients and their relatives make
smart decisions about medication safety.

Safe Drug Disposal in the Hospice Environment:
Options and Common Barriers
In 2018, the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes
Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities
Act (SUPPORT Act) was signed into law, enabling hospice
employees to dispose of unused controlled substances in
patients' homes. Since then, as reported in a 2020 U.S.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, hospice
care providers have experienced a variety of barriers to

Newsline / Spring 2021

19

https://www.jpsmjournal.com/article/S0885-3924(18)31137-0/fulltext https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/prescription-drug-abusers-pills-friends-article-1.1710292 https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-12/issue-brief-increases-in-opioid-related-overdose.pdf https://www2.deterrasystem.com/l/547442/2021-02-01/hm5fh6 https://www2.deterrasystem.com/l/547442/2021-02-01/hm5fh6 https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/hospice-providers-may-dispose-of-19991/ https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/705938.pdf

NHPCO NewsLine Spring 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Spring 2021