Prescription drug repository program could connect people in need to medication

Minnesotans may be throwing away more than $16 million worth of safe, usable medication every year, but proposed legislation could cut down on that waste and help people without prescription drug coverage, said Rowan Mahon, a pharmacy student at the University of Minnesota, whose advocacy work helped to inspire HF182.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Todd Lippert (DFL-Northfield), would create and administer a prescription drug repository program, a “charitable pharmacy” to connect people in need with safe medications that would otherwise have been thrown out, Lippert said. The Board of Pharmacy would be required to establish the program by Jan. 1, 2020.

Rep. Todd Lippert

HF182 was held over, as amended, by the House Health and Human Services Finance Division Wednesday for possible inclusion in the division bill.

Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska) sponsors a companion, SF66, which awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

In long-term care settings, medications have to be thrown out when a person dies or if their prescriptions change, even if those drugs are packaged in single-use dosages or blister packs, guaranteeing that they have not been tampered with, Lippert said.

Meanwhile, people end up in hospitals for health issues like asthma attacks or hypertension because they can’t afford the medications that could control these conditions, Mahon said.

The bill would create a central repository with a wholesale distributor contracted with the Board of Pharmacy, though health care facilities like physician offices and hospitals could decide to accept donations and serve as local repositories.

People who are uninsured, underinsured or lack prescription drug coverage could access prescribed medications through these local repositories, and would only have to cover minimal handling fees, Lippert said.

Twenty-one other states have similar programs, with Iowa and Wyoming serving as particularly successful examples. They managed to repurpose an estimated $17.7 million and $12.5 million worth of prescription medication, respectively, over the last decade, Lippert said.

Similar language was part of the omnibus bill vetoed by former Gov. Mark Dayton last year.

Funding information is not yet available, as the bill’s fiscal note is pending. It should be available by the time the bill is reconsidered, however, Lippert said.