Turning Medication Waste Into Hope: Why We Are Grateful for RoundtableRx
For many uninsured and underinsured patients, receiving a prescription is only the beginning. The medication may exist, but that does not mean the patient can afford it.
At Aslan Health, we regularly meet people who must choose between their medications and necessities such as food, rent, transportation, and utilities. We are deeply grateful that Minnesota has a program helping patients overcome this barrier.
Through RoundtableRx, safe, unused medications are given a second opportunity to help someone in need. Its work has become an important part of the care we provide at Aslan Health—and an extraordinary resource for patients throughout Minnesota.
What is RoundtableRx?
RoundtableRx is Minnesota’s nonprofit medication repository program. It collects eligible, unopened, unexpired medications that would otherwise go unused or be destroyed. Pharmacists carefully inspect those medications before making them available through participating clinics and pharmacies across the state.
This creates a safe, regulated pathway for turning medication waste into medication access.
The program is made possible through the work of RoundtableRx’s staff, pharmacists, volunteers, donors, healthcare partners, and participating dispensing sites. Together, they help ensure that safe medications reach Minnesotans who might otherwise be unable to afford or continue their treatment.
A growing impact across Minnesota
According to the RoundtableRx FY2026 Annual Report, the program:
- Received more than 4.4 million donated medication units.
- Dispensed more than 2.1 million medication units.
- Provided more than $2.1 million in medication value.
- Served 1,071 new patients during the year.
- Reached 1,945 patients through the program.
- Worked with 64 dispensing partners across Minnesota.
The value of medications dispensed more than tripled from the previous year. For every dollar RoundtableRx spent, it distributed more than four dollars in medication value.
Those numbers represent much more than medication inventory. They represent people who were able to begin treatment, continue taking an important medication, or avoid a potentially dangerous interruption in care.
We are grateful that this resource is available to Minnesotans, regardless of whether they live in a major population center or a smaller community.
Bringing a statewide resource to our local community
Aslan Health is honored to serve as a RoundtableRx dispensing partner. Through this partnership, eligible patients in St. Cloud and the surrounding area can benefit from Minnesota’s medication repository program while remaining connected to their local healthcare team.
During the past 12 months, Aslan Health has tracked 1,058 prescriptions dispensed through the RoundtableRx program. Every one of those prescriptions began with someone choosing to donate medication rather than allow it to go to waste—and with RoundtableRx doing the careful work necessary to safely place it into the hands of a patient.
When an eligible medication is available, an Aslan patient may be able to receive it at little to no medication cost. At Aslan Health, refills of medications obtained through RoundtableRx are currently $5 per medication after the patient’s initial appointment.
Availability is never guaranteed because RoundtableRx depends on donated inventory. Available medications and quantities can change, and our providers must determine whether a medication is medically appropriate for each patient.
When the right medication is available, however, its impact can be extraordinary. Some medications would otherwise cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. In one case, RoundtableRx helped Aslan obtain approximately nine months of a specialty lung medication valued at roughly $120,000 for an uninsured patient.
That represents far more than financial savings. It can mean improved breathing, greater independence, uninterrupted treatment, and renewed hope.
More than medication distribution
RoundtableRx helps patients remain connected to the healthcare professionals who know their needs and can monitor their treatment. Instead of simply receiving a prescription and being left to figure out how to afford it, patients can work with their healthcare team to explore lower-cost medications, assistance programs, and available RoundtableRx options.
This partnership reflects one of the questions we try to ask in every aspect of our work:
Is it best for the patient, or is it best for me?
RoundtableRx gives us another way to put the patient first. It helps connect affordable healthcare with affordable access to treatment.
Thank you, RoundtableRx
We want to express our sincere gratitude to RoundtableRx and everyone who makes its work possible.
Thank you to the individuals and healthcare organizations that donate eligible medications. Thank you to the pharmacists who inspect them, the volunteers who help process them, the staff who manage the program, and the supporters who provide the funding needed to keep medications moving throughout Minnesota.
Because of their work, safe medications that might otherwise be destroyed are reaching people who genuinely need them.
RoundtableRx plans to develop a statewide home-delivery pharmacy during 2026–2027. This could make donated medications even more accessible to Minnesotans who live in rural communities, lack reliable transportation, or do not live near a participating dispensing location.
We are grateful that Minnesota has this program, and Aslan Health is honored to help make it available to patients in Central Minnesota.
If medication cost is preventing you from receiving care or following your treatment plan, please talk with your Aslan Health provider. We cannot guarantee that a particular medication will be available, but we will help explore realistic and affordable options whenever possible.
All appointments are $75.
Aslan Health
1400 W. St. Germain Street
St. Cloud, MN 56301
320-297-6800
Source: RoundtableRx FY2026 Annual Report, covering July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026.