It took a federal employee contest for the Department of Veterans Affairs to realize that throwing out medicine constitutes a waste of money. Last spring, President Barack Obama asked government employees to submit their cost-savings ideas to make Washington more efficient. After reviewing 38,000 submissions, the administration announced the winner: Nancy Fichtner, a fiscal program support clerk at the Grand Junction VA Medical Center in Colorado. Her suggestion: give veterans their leftover medication when they’re discharged from the hospital, instead of tossing them away. Currently, this is not allowed because different labeling systems are used for inpatient and outpatient prescriptions. Fichtner’s proposes that a single barcode be created to cover all prescriptions. As Fichtner said, “It’s really a no-brainer.”