HCA Midwest Health collects and discards nearly 600 pounds of medications during sixth annual "Crush the Crisis"
Overland Park, Kan. — HCA Midwest Health today announced that its hospitals collected more than 600 pounds of medications during its 6th annual “Crush the Crisis” national opioid take back day on Saturday, October 25, 2025. The event aligned with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day to raise awareness about the danger of opioid misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of unused or expired medications. HCA Midwest Health is Kansas City’s largest healthcare provider.
The community participated in the event by dropping off unused and expired medications at Belton Regional Medical Center, ER of Independence, Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Menorah Medical Center and Overland Park Regional Medical Center’s ER of Shawnee. Law enforcement agencies were onsite to collect discarded medications.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 80,391 people died from drug overdoses in 2024, and 68% of all overdose fatalities involved opioids.
“I am incredibly proud of our health system collecting more than 600 pounds of discarded medication this year,” said Eric Benink, MD, chief medical officer at HCA Midwest Health. “At our core, we are people taking care of people, and our annual Crush the Crisis take back day is a powerful reflection of that commitment. I am grateful to all of our colleagues and local law enforcement partners for helping us to create healthier tomorrows for our communities.”
As an affiliate of HCA Healthcare, HCA Midwest Health and its family of hospitals are part of a health system that also uses the science of “big data” to reduce opioid misuse and transform pain management, with initiatives in surgical, emergency and other care settings, including:
- Enhanced Surgical Recovery (ESR): a multi-modal approach to pain management using pre-, intra- and post-operative interventions to optimize outcomes. HCA Healthcare’s ESR programs have demonstrated significant improvements in surgical recovery and patient satisfaction, including decreases in opioid usage.
- Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances (EPCS): aims to stem increasing rates of opioid-related addiction, misuse diversion and death by making it more difficult for medication-seekers to doctor-shop and alter prescriptions. Physicians have access to aggregated electronic health records, providing data that will allow them to prescribe opioids judiciously.
This year, all 15 HCA Healthcare U.S. divisions participated in a “Crush the Crisis” opioid take back day at 110 collection sites across 17 states resulting in a record 19,846 pounds collected and discarded, approximately 13.6 million doses, of unused or expired medications.