Do You Have Problems With Prescription Renewal?

L

Lon

Well-known Member
Location
Central California
I take a couple drugs that I will take for the rest of my life but have to call the doctors office continually to get them to respond to the pharmacy request for renewal. It's irritating.
 

My hubby has the same problem,Lon. We both started going to our local Tribal Health facility back in 2010 when we first retired as we had a gap in health insurance until we got Medicare and could be seen for a flat fee of $50.00. Plus they had a brand new state of the art facility and great providers. But then the turnover in providers became an issue for me and I switched to a Sutter facility and provider. At one time,my doc could write a script for a one year supply of meds and I would only have to worry about it once a year. Now 3 months is the max and then it has to be renewed. Now that I think of it,that must be since I started on Medicare. Anyway,hubby takes several meds and is constantly having to wait for it to be renewed and ends up having to call over and over again.Meanwhile,the pharmacy is faxing them requests but it seems they are ignored. I am signed up for My Health Online with Sutter and had one of my scripts need a renewal a few weeks ago. I went into Safeway on a Sunday to pick it up and that`s when they told me it had to be renewed and they would send a request to my doc. By the time I got home,I had an email from my doc saying she had approved the refill. On a Sunday. I was very impressed!
 
Lon, I personally don't because I'm not taking any prescriptions at this time, but a friend of mine has been struggling with this problem for months now. Not only does his doctor's office not respond to the pharmacy in a timely manner, according to him they can't seem to get the prescriptions right either. So he ends up arguing with the pharmacy too, and having to apologize later. He recently switched from Walmart to Walgreen's and says that so far, the situation has improved. I hope that continues, because he is 80 years old with lots of medical issues and sure doesn't need that extra stress and aggravation in his life.
 

Nope!

I use an online pharmacy that contacts my PCP when I need a renewal and he updates it on the computer. At first I was worried so I took the option of getting and maintaining a ninety day supply of medications up front, in case of a SNAFU. So far no problems, my new shipment arrives like clockwork every ninety days. I still like the security of knowing I have a rolling ninety day supply on hand at all times.
 
deesierra said:
Lon, I personally don't because I'm not taking any prescriptions at this time, but a friend of mine has been struggling with this problem for months now. Not only does his doctor's office not respond to the pharmacy in a timely manner, according to him they can't seem to get the prescriptions right either. So he ends up arguing with the pharmacy too, and having to apologize later. He recently switched from Walmart to Walgreen's and says that so far, the situation has improved. I hope that continues, because he is 80 years old with lots of medical issues and sure doesn't need that extra stress and aggravation in his life.
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My sister was having a lot of similar problems when she was using the Wal-Mart pharmacy, too. I convinced her to switch to Walgreens and she's had no big problems there. They also have a drive up, so it isn't such a major project for me to go and pick up her meds for her. Her doc's office is a a bit of a problem, though; they seem to forget to either call in a renewal, or respond to the pharmacy's request. Aggravates me to death.
 
When I was working, Walmart would claim they never received the refill authorizations and they were lying. From my experience, they were the worst when trying to call in Rx's or refills. If you are having issues about refills, call your doc and talk to them and see if they can authorize more refills at a time for you. A lot of meds have to be authorized every month, a lot don't.
 
I do with one drug and it's a very aggravating to have to call the doctor's office, speak to the nurse and then wait until the pharmacy calls to tell me that I can pick it up. I always thought that if I had the Rx, then why isn't that considered to be his or her's approval. Why does the doctor have to fax the Plan D insurance another approval form?
 
debbie in seattle said:
When I was working, Walmart would claim they never received the refill authorizations and they were lying. From my experience, they were the worst when trying to call in Rx's or refills. If you are having issues about refills, call your doc and talk to them and see if they can authorize more refills at a time for you. A lot of meds have to be authorized every month, a lot don't.
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I don't think Wal-Mart is so much lying, as it is that they are just inefficient and don't give a red rat's you know what about their customers. The pharmacist there was OK, but the other people behind the counter were just putting in time and clearly bored with the whole thing. I think they just thought it was too much trouble to really LOOK and see if they had the authorization.
 
I WISH we could deal with a local pharmacy. We are required to use a mail order service and I really hate it. We have to order at least 2 weeks in advance which can be an issue since, as DH's Parkinsons progresses, the drugs and doses change and the appointments don't always coincide with a renewal. I don't want to give the mail order co. my credit card number either since I am afraid they will just automatically send the next refill without us releasing it. Then we are stuck with drugs we cannot use and have paid dearly for - there are no returns. It would be SO much easier to use a local drug store but we don't have any choice. DH's employer recently changed to a new mail order provider so perhaps it will be easier this year.

I must say that I have nothing but praise for our Parkinsons specialist and her staff - a 2 hour drive north of us. They have been terrific and patient with the mail order group. Bless them!
 
My husband's doctor tends to take his time responding to renewal requests from Walgreens. Sometimes he responds by end of business, sometimes not until next day. I always take that into consideration when I submit for refil
 
My current doctor is very fast and efficient with renewals, within hours. Three years ago I c hanged doctors for just this reason. The forgetful
doctor's assistant would not call the pharmacy and this annoyed me. Not a well run office. I told the doctor in an email and he defnded his staff.
I am glad I left. They didn't even have a computer or postage stamps.
 
I use an online pharmacy and so far no problems with my doctor authorizing refills for a 90 day period. For short term meds my Humana plan uses Walgreens and then if it becomes a regular med it is switched to their 90 day online program. Very fast and so far all my meds are free. One of them changed tiers so I would owe for it and the doc switched to another one in the "free" tier for me. He understands I need to watch my money. Very lucky to have him.
 

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