Intermountain Drop Boxes Yield Over 6400 Pounds of Unused Medications

Buck Stanford, Director of Pharmacy Operations.

Intermountain Healthcare has collected over 6,400 pounds of unused medications in secured medical drop boxes throughout the State of Utah.

The pharmacy drop boxes were created as part of the Use Only As Directed campaign, a partnership between Intermountain and the State of Utah as well as others. The drop boxes were placed among Intermountain community pharmacies in February of 2015. Anyone can place any unused medications into the bins which are then safely destroyed.

Opioid abuse has become a major health concern. Public health officials listed that on average 24 Utah adults died per month in 2014 from accidental opioid overdoses. Also, 74 percent of Utah adults said they received medication from a family member of friend.

Intermountain also focused on patient education to help increase safe use. Labels are placed on packaging and handouts that instruct finishing the medications, instructions about keeping it out of harm’s way of others and safe disposal, and pharmacists wear lapel pins that remind patients not to share medications.

Intermountain has also pledged $300,000 per year for a three year span to the Use Only As Directed campaign which is a collaboration of federal, state, city, county, and businesses.

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,300 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in clinical quality improvement and in efficient healthcare delivery.

For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org, read our blogs at intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs, connect with us on Twitter at twitter.com/intermountain and on Facebook at facebook.com/intermountain.

Media Resources

High resolution image of drop box infographic
High resolution photos of medication drop box at Intermountain Healthcare Salt Lake Clinic's pharmacy: Image 1 and Image 2

High resolution photo of Buck Stanford, Director of Pharmacy Operations and pharmacist, filling a prescription.
High resolution photos from medication drop box event:
1. Buck Stanford, Intermountain Healthcare Director of Pharmacy Operations
2. Angela Stander, Utah Department of Health (UDOH) Prescription Drug Overdose Coordinator

Intermountain Healthcare has collected over 6,400 pounds of unused medications in secured medical drop boxes throughout the State of Utah.