Medication Disposal Products: Deterra Pouches & Mail-In Envelopes Program

Each day more than 200 Americans die from opioid overdose. Prescription opioids play a significant role in overdose and death, and unused opioids are an opportunity for medication diversion, misuse, and overdose. Approximately 71% of dispensed pills from post-surgical prescriptions go unused and often are left unattended and unsecured in patients’ homes for years. These pills may be diverted for misuse by others, as 54% of those who used a prescription medication for non-medical purposes obtained the medication from a friend or relative. Opioid poisoning among children has increased over the last several decades. There is also a significant economic burden associated with pediatric opioid poisoning. Take back events, police stations, and home disposal are methods for medication disposal, but each comes with barriers to access or effectiveness. Activated charcoal deactivation pouches can serve as a safe and easy medication disposal option to complement other available disposal methods. Mail-in envelopes are another easy alternative for safe disposal outside of the home.

• Create a plan for:
  • Identification of patients/families who benefit from easy disposal of their opioid medications
  • Product distribution to patients
  • Product distribution tracking
• Provide education to patients and their families about safe medication storage and disposal practices
• Complete brief follow up surveys to OPEN through an online submission process

• Select awardees and contact by email. Award purchase will be initiated within 2 weeks of notice of project agreement.
• Provide awardees with:
  • Medication products shipped to organization
  • Available online educational materials
• Link for follow up survey.

1. Application Questions
   1. Organization name
   2. Organization location
   3. Name, title, email of project lead
   4. Name, title, email of person responsible for grant administration
   5. Why is it important to distribute medication disposal products to your patient population? What unmet needs will this opportunity help address?
   6. What existing structures does your organization have in place to encourage medication disposal?
   7. Please provide context on patients at your organization: What general services are provided?
   8. Please describe your plan for identifying patients and their families that would receive medication disposal products. 
   9. Please describe your plan for distributing medication disposal products.
   10. How will you educate patients and their families on disposal options? 
   11. How many cases of Deterra medication disposal pouches are you requesting? (Note: disposal pouches must be ordered by case. Each case contains 200 pouches.) Why have you chosen this number?
   12. How many cases of mail-in envelopes are you requesting? (Note: envelopes must be ordered by case. Each case contains 250 envelopes.) Why have you chosen this number?
   13. Acknowledgement: Our organization’s mission is to provide care and prevent harm to patients. We will use the disposal products and resources provided in this grant opportunity towards this intended purpose only.

1. Organization name
2. Organization location
3. Name, title, email of project lead
4. Medication disposal products used [pouches or envelopes]

Pouches:

1. How many disposal pouches has your organization distributed so far?
2. What groups were disposal pouches distributed to? What proportion of pouches were distributed to each group?
3. What strategies for distributing the disposal pouches did you implement?
4. What worked well during the distribution of pouches?
5. What challenges or barriers did you face in distributing pouches?

Envelopes:

1. How many disposal envelopes has your organization distributed so far?
2. What groups were disposal envelopes distributed to? What proportion of envelopes were distributed to each group?
3. What strategies for distributing the disposal envelopes did you implement?
4. What worked well during the distribution of envelopes?
5. What challenges or barriers did you face in distributing envelopes?

Other:

1. What strategies for educating patients and their families on safe disposal did you implement?
2. Do you have any other general feedback about the medication disposal products or partnership with OPEN?

Do we have to distribute all of the disposal products before submitting the end-of-project report?

• No. We hope that the products get used promptly but it is not required to complete distribution by the end of the project period.

If we distribute all of the disposal products, can we request more?

• Yes! Please submit the application a second time to request additional disposal products. Determination on the second round of funding will be made on an individual basis.

Does our organization have to be a surgical center to request disposal products?

• No. If your organization works with patients who receive opioid prescriptions and they could benefit from these disposal products, please apply.

Do the deactivation pouches expire?

• No, the pouches do not expire and can be stored at your organization.

Do the mail-in envelopes expire?

• No, the envelopes do not expire and can be stored at your organization.

Do the mail-in envelopes require shipping costs?

• No, the envelopes include prepaid shipping and will not require any shipping to be paid by your organization or the patients using the envelopes.

How large is a case of Deterra deactivation pouches?

• One case of 200 pouches is 20” x 16” x 11”. One case weighs approximately 27 pounds. 

How large is a case of American Rx Group Mail-In envelopes?

• One case of 250 envelopes is 13” x 11” x 8”. One case weighs approximately 10 pounds.