Taking another step to battle the nation's opioid crisis, Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies will provide no more than a seven day supply of the medications to some customers.
The retailers said Monday that within the next sixty days, they will begin imposing the time limit on initial opioid prescriptions for acute pain, along with a mandate that the medications top out at 50 morphine milligrams per day.
In states where supplies are required to last less than a week, Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies will comply.
“We are taking action in the fight against the nation’s opioid epidemic,” MarybethHays, executive vice president of Health & Wellness and Consumables for Walmart U.S. said in a statement. “We are proud to implement these policies and initiatives as we work to create solutions that address this critical issue facing the patients and communities we serve.”
National pharmacy retailers have increasingly been proactive in addressing the wave of opioid addiction that has decimated communities across the U.S., providing services ranging from counseling to sites and methods that allow for the safe disposal of medications.
CVS Health said in September that it would limit opioid prescriptions to seven-day supplies for new patients with particular acute conditions.
And while Walgreens pharmacies provide kiosks where people can dispose of unused medications, and some CVS Health pharmacies also have disposal boxes, Walmart has gone a step further providing packets that enable patients to safely toss out unused opioid medicines at home.
Another change coming to Walmart and Sam's Club will be a requirement as of Jan. 1, 2020 that controlled substances have e-prescriptions, a format that makes it more difficult to alter or copy a script, while also making prescriptions easier to monitor.
