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Posted 11/17/2014 4:17 PM (GMT 0)
I am prescribed hydrocodone. I usually get it filled every 28 to 30 days at Walgreen. We were on the other side of town yesterday and went to another Walgreens and they said I am eight days too early. I guess they counted the extra day or two for most of the year. I am not out but neither do I have an right day supply. Will my Walgreens possibly fill it or is this a new thing? What does the law say? Can anyone give me some insight or advice?
Posted 11/17/2014 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like it might be your insurance kicking it back. What insurance do you have?
Posted 11/17/2014 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
Blue cross blue shield. I just talked to them and they don't show anything being run through at all.
Posted 11/17/2014 5:01 PM (GMT 0)
If you fill early during any 6 month window, the number of days you filled early are automatically added to the total quantity of days of medication supply you should have on hand.......
ie- you fill a 30 day script on January 1- this should leave you with medications to get to Jan. 30 but you fill your second script on January 28 instead. You now have 32 days of medications......At the end of February you also fill on Feb 25th (not a leap year), but were not due to need a refill until March 2.......so the insurance company and the pharmacy are looking at your last fill dates for the previous 6 months......each day that you fill early is added to the total amount of days of medications you should have for that 6 month window. It is expected that you should have enough medications to get you to the correct day that your next fill is due.....there is no reason not to have them if you are taking them as prescribed.
I believe that every state has a prescription monitoring system in place now, so they look at your last 6 months to a year fill dates and count out the 30 days from the original fill date, that gives them the next due date. If they are showing you can not fill for 8 days, then you will get the same response from other pharmacies that you are attempting to fill too early, and going to multiple pharmacies within or outside the chain is going to send up an alert....

Post Edited (mrsm123) : 11/17/2014 10:05:11 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 11/17/2014 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
After 28 days it can be filled. Anything earlier than 28 days will not. If you're over and the insurance company also agrees than the pharmacy must fill it. If they are out of stock they obviously can't fill it either.

Also pharmacies are kicking many meds back because insurance either doesn't pay enough for the pharmacy to profit or they pay the pharmacy late which means the pharmacy isn't getting paid for months for 1 script.

How do I know this? I fill my meds at a Ma & Pa pharmacy and they can't fill my Percocet script because my insurance doesn't pay for it until 90 days later. So as customers come in to get meds filled, they see which insurance companies pay the most and how quickly. They can say "Out of stock" to whomever they want. It's a business at the end of the day.
Posted 11/17/2014 5:51 PM (GMT 0)
Pharmacies have their own computers too, and they may be counting the days that way, not through insurance. If you've been filling early and don't have enough left, it might look like you are taking more than allowed. My doc's new prescriptions all say "Do not fill before ..."

jpjr - Is there a website that shows which insurances don't pay promptly? I know doctors complain about some insurances like that. It's time to be signing up for new policies.
Posted 11/17/2014 6:06 PM (GMT 0)
It's very frustrating. After talking to the insurance company I think I'm going to do mail order. At least then I just mail in my rx and don't have to be treated like a criminal.
Posted 11/17/2014 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
Alcie, no website that I'm aware of. The guy at my pharmacy let me see his computer screen and showed how long it takes for insurance to pay and how much they will pay. They are right next door to the Pain Management office so they have scripts coming through the door for 8 straight hours which gives them the right to fill those scripts that pay them more. My insurance company was one that paid 90+ days so they denied filling it by saying they are out of stock.
Posted 11/17/2014 7:48 PM (GMT 0)
My doc writes my script as a 22 day one, but tells me to make it last 30 days. That way I can fill it early whenever needed. I go to a small pharmacy, been dealing with same pharmacist for years. She knows me etc. so I have never experienced any of the issues I have seen here. I feel bad for everyone having to go through such a PITA to get a script rightfully filled.
Posted 11/17/2014 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
I might be wrong, but I don't think you can get pain meds from a mail-order pharmacy.
Posted 11/17/2014 11:03 PM (GMT 0)
Not all states allow it from what I have been told. Not sure about sched II though.
Posted 11/18/2014 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
When I called the insurance company they said I could.
Good news though, went to the Walgreen pharmacy I usually use and asked if I could pick it up tomorrow and they said no problem. Keeping my fingers crossed
Posted 11/18/2014 6:33 AM (GMT 0)
My insurance allows a refill after 75% of the medication is gone. That comes to every 25th, 26th day. My appointments are every 28, 29 days so I don't go into that 25th, or 26th day for most months. The only time I have used that was for vacation and it came in handy as I was out of state and needed my meds shipped to me.
Posted 11/18/2014 7:00 AM (GMT 0)
It's not the same rules for class II meds and the insurance company cannot trump the DEA regulations which are getting tighter on the 30 day refill. Mrsm gave you the guidelines that are in place. It's not viewed as month to month but in 6 months increment and pushing to fill it after they told you that you should have a week plus of meds accumulated could throw a red flag on you quickly.

If you haven't read my Walgreens debate thread and look at the website with the new criteria points you have to meet you might want to do that and somewhere there's a video released for pharmacists showing how to "catch " possible diversion and abuse and filling early was one of them.

I would leave it until it's close to the time they say. Better to tough out a few days then lose the ability to fill any narcotics by getting flagged.
Posted 11/18/2014 4:08 PM (GMT 0)
Perhaps I did not explain it clearly enough.........the insurance companies and pharmacy monitoring look at your last 6 months of fill dates.
If you have a prescription that you fill for the first time ( pain medications) on June 30.......but in the successive 5 months, you fill each month 3 days early-
June 30 -original fill date
July 30 would be your next due date
August 29th would be the next date you were due
September28th would be your next date
October 28th would be your next date
November 27th would be your final fill date if you filled every 30 days.

Instead, you fill on the original date, but each month after that, you fill 3 days early......
The insurance and pharmacy count the number of days that each prescription is supposed to last to give you your next due date...
If you fill early, those remaining days of meds would alter those next fill dates because each time you fill early, you WOULD still have those three days of meds on hand.....for the next 5 months, you fill three days early, so at the end of the 6 month window, you should have 15 days of extra medications on hand.......so they can delay the fill date from 30 days to 45 because you should already have those medications at your disposal.
Posted 11/18/2014 4:36 PM (GMT 0)

rocckyd said...
I might be wrong, but I don't think you can get pain meds from a mail-order pharmacy.

Unless that pharmacy is in Taiwan! nono
Posted 11/18/2014 4:52 PM (GMT 0)
You need to call your mail order pharmacy and ask if they will fill your pain meds, but, in the USA I don't think you can get these filled by mail order.

If you live up near Canada you might be able to fill it in Canada, but you might not be able to bring them back into the USA.

Wish I could help you, but filling a pain med script early is a no, unless you need it over a Holiday...and since Walgreens is open on most Holidays again you will not be able to get you scripts early.

Ask your doctor about a possible break thru pain medication...
Posted 11/18/2014 7:07 PM (GMT 0)
I plan on it. I've been on same med forever and same strength (7. 5) for two years and have never asked doc for early refill. I've never had problem filling it on day 28 or 29 in all that time. I had no clue that I was required to have those pills. Those are the few I use for when things are really bad. I guess I know now though. Is this all due to the fact that they just reclassified this med?
Thanks all
Posted 11/18/2014 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Just remember it's 28 days and always have enough meds left for at least 29 days. I usually drop my meds off and pick them up 24 hours later. I have to use Walgreens for my BT meds and I use the drive through, he checks stock and asks when I want to pick it up and I say tomorrow. Walgreens is flagging all kinds of stuff now.
Posted 11/19/2014 2:18 PM (GMT 0)
I got my meds. I dropped the scrip off Monday and said I would pick up Tuesday night and they said no problem despite the other pharmacist flagging it. As far as the mail order goes they say they do it but the rx has to be mailed in.
Posted 12/6/2014 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
I always visit my doc once a month and she is only in the office 2 days a week. I get a couple different scripts and hand them all in at o once and usually have to wait 4-7 days for one....sometimes it throws everything off but I think it's ok. Nobody says anything anyway.
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