CALIFORNIA PHARMACY DISPENSING ISSUE

Hi Andy, how often do you change your patch & how many are in a box? In the past have you had any problem getting all 4 boxes at one time? When do you see your pm dr again? Sorry for the questions, just trying to figure things out.

How long have you been getting the 4 boxes every 30 days? The reason I am asking is 4 boxes is 60 days worth of treatment. I am surprised your dr writes your script that way, a pharmacy would fill it or your insurance approving it. Typically it's 2 boxes for a 30 day script. They don't allow for a patch that may come off either.

The 3 boxes you got on 7-30 is your fill which is what a pharmacy goes by, not the date the script is written. The 3 boxes are considered 45 days of medication. I've had this happen to me when the pharmacy did not have my medication on hand & it throws things off. I suspect what is happening is the pharmacy is looking at prior dates your scripts have been filled. I would go to the pharmacy & get a printout of your medications that has been filled this year.

This is the only thing I can think of.

straydog said...
How long have you been getting the 4 boxes every 30 days? The reason I am asking is 4 boxes is 60 days worth of treatment. I am surprised your dr writes your script that way, a pharmacy would fill it or your insurance approving it. Typically it's 2 boxes for a 30 day script. They don't allow for a patch that may come off either.

The 3 boxes you got on 7-30 is your fill which is what a pharmacy goes by, not the date the script is written. The 3 boxes are considered 45 days of medication. I've had this happen to me when the pharmacy did not have my medication on hand & it throws things off. I suspect what is happening is the pharmacy is looking at prior dates your scripts have been filled. I would go to the pharmacy & get a printout of your medications that has been filled this year.

This is the only thing I can think of.

Hi. No, my prescription is for 4 boxes per month. The amount has never been an issue, and isn't the issue now.

I've been in PM a long time, had this same prescription around a decade, and used the same pharmacy the whole time.

Because of a combination of factors, including the patches never supplying anything near the stated amount for the entire 3 day/72 hour period they're worn I have to stagger them. I guarantee the prescription is 4 per month, it has been for many years.

If it was a 60 day supply it would actually work in my favor, as I'd only need about 2.5 boxes for a 38 day period, and wouldn't run out by 8/29 since 4 boxes have been dispensed since 7/23.

My doctor has been highly involved in my treatment and the dose and timing of wearing the patches was arrived at during a thorough process of titration and evaluation, and testing out different options, but as I said the amount itself isn't the issue.

I didn't bring up the date the prescription was written because it's irrelevant, every date I've mentioned is related to pharmacy dispensing.

7/23 is the date 1/4 of the prescription was dispensed for cash payment while waiting for Prior Authorization approval from insurance. On this date I was informed about the 1 month window.

If I had enough $ to purchase the entire prescription on that date I would have, but things have been tight lately, and it didn't make sense to fork over all that $ when the insurance was going to kick in a few days/week later.

7/30 is the date the insurance coverage kicked in, and it covers the entire prescription every month for several months into the future. The pharmacy dispensed 3/4 of the prescription at this time.

8/22 is the original date I was given for the next 1 month cycle.

8/29 is the newly proposed date for the next cycle that I was given recently.

7/23 - 8/22 = 1 month

7/23 - 8/29 = 38 days

I hope this clears things up.

I know I was so happy when I saw the CDC backing off a bit on their recommendations. I thought maybe things would get a little easier for chronic pain patients but that’s not what I’m seeing in my area.

At my last appointment I was told they had to get all patients down to 120 MME. I was told I was over so they took away my med that I took when things got out of control so I didn’t have to resort to the ER. The last time I had to go to ER was 3 years ago so it worked great. I only got 6 pills per month and when I added it up I was at 106 MME. I still have a long acting med and a short acting med so I suspect they wanted me on less meds which is great if that works.

Two months prior, the pharmacy decided after filling my meds every 28 days for the past 10 years they wouldn’t fill til day 29. My doctor filled all patients meds at day 28 to give us a couple of extra doses in case something happened and we needed them. They even called the pharmacy and said the pharmacy wouldn’t budge. With the pharmacy and the pain doctors office both having issues within 2 months of each other seems suspicious.

What is going on? Today I picked up my meds and the girl said I was lucky to get them because they had just enough to fill mine. She said they are out of 90% of C2 meds right now! What?? It makes me a little worried. I’ve been on these meds for 20 years and never seen things like this.

So your problem with the patches doesn’t surprise me but I feel for you. It’s scary not knowing if you’ll get your meds. I am surprised your insurance company is paying for 4 boxes per month. Maybe your doctor explained in the beginning why you needed that many. Anyway I’m curious to see how many others are having issues.

One thing I know is my doctors office has never had issues with that rescue med til just now. They wouldn’t be doing this unless they felt they had to. The government needs to back off our health care and let our doctors make the decision as far as what is right for their patient. They’ve given power to the pharmacists that they shouldn’t have in my opinion. I sure hope this isn’t happening all over. Good luck with your patches!