Re: RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

[Guest guest]

I am not sure if you have your regular Doc writes the script or if you have a Psychiatrist write them. We have a psychiatrist write our scripts.

I have two son's, one with AS and the other with ADHD. The son with ADHD is on Vyvanse, and the AS son is also on controlled substance (daytrana patch). Our Psychiatrist treats both of them and does so every 3 months for a med eval (if both are stable). Our scripts for the controlled substance are written for the full 3 months, our Doc will not post date the scripts, but he does note on the script that it cannot be filled until after a certain date, he also numbers the scripts 1,2 & 3 (mostly to help me know which is next to be filled). In the past have been in a hurry and on the way out the door have grabbed a script to be filled, arrived at the pharmacy only to be told this particular script cannot be filled until the date the Doc has written, so this tells me the pharmacy is doing their job by reading the entire script, so this does work. So, I guess my advice here is see if you can find a Dr. closer to home, maybe a Psychiatrist as they do med management and evals, or suggest to your current Dr. to put a do not fill until date on your script. The mail order pharmacy seems to not be a good solution, especially due to the insurance and you being a busy parent. We have Medicaid and it is also impossible to get a script filled early. If you have tried different solutions and your still not able to get your Doc to budge, I would call the insurance company and ask how they can help with the med issue.

Hope this helps,

Dawn

[Guest guest]

Hey,

What does your Caremark rep say? I have dealt with Caremark for my other child's hemophilia and the rep would bend over backwards to help us. Unfortunately, insurance made us switch who we got our factor from, but I miss, our Caremark rep. I realize that hemophilia medicine is not a controlled substance, but we can only get so much at a time. I would talk to your rep and see what he/she can do for you.

.

Hi everyoneI would sure appreciate some feedback about RX refills...My son is on Vyvanse. The doctor lives almost an hour from my house. They will not write refills on the prescription because it is a controlled substance. They will not postdate any scripts. Because of this, and for insurance coverage, I cannot call to request the refill until days before it is out. At that point, the dr's office needs about 24-72 hour turnaround within the office, and i can either pick it up or have it mailed to me. Can't really get to the office to pick it up because I work 10 hours a day!The fisrt time we faced this issue, he lapsed 5 days and BOY, at that point, did it become apparent how much Vyvanse was helping!! I never want him to lapse again!I explained all this to the doctor and begged for post dated scripts but he wouldn't do it. He said the best he could do was write the current prescription and again for mail-order, which would allow us 90 days at a time instead of 30.I started with the mail order. It took just under 2 weeks to get it going and have it in my hand.SO...my question...how the heck do I get the next supply?If I call 2-3 weeks ahead of time to get the new RX to mail in, they won't give it to me because it's too soon, and IF they do, my insurance will probably say it's too soon. On the other hand, if I wait until the week of, there is no way to receive the RX in the mail myslef, mail it to Caremark, and have the meds in time.WHAT DO YOU ALL DO?????Please share!ThanksLori Lashley

[Guest guest]

Thanks Dawn. Glad to know mail order does work AND that your doc

is willing to write a ‘don’t fill until’ date. Sounds like that’s what I need!

Perhaps he can write it that way for the mail order company. I sure hope so!

Believe it or not, this is the psychiatrist. He’s the closest

one who will see kids my son’s age!

Lori

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of azucarmama68@...

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:07 AM

Subject: Re: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

I am not sure if you have your regular Doc writes the script or if

you have a Psychiatrist write them. We have a psychiatrist write our scripts.

I have two son's, one with AS and the other with ADHD. The son

with ADHD is on Vyvanse, and the AS son is also on controlled substance

(daytrana patch). Our Psychiatrist treats both of them and does so

every 3 months for a med eval (if both are stable). Our scripts for the

controlled substance are written for the full 3 months, our Doc will not post

date the scripts, but he does note on the script that it cannot be filled until

after a certain date, he also numbers the scripts 1,2 & 3 (mostly to help

me know which is next to be filled). In the past have been in a hurry and

on the way out the door have grabbed a script to be filled, arrived at the

pharmacy only to be told this particular script cannot be filled until the date

the Doc has written, so this tells me the pharmacy is doing their job by

reading the entire script, so this does work. So, I guess my advice here is see

if you can find a Dr. closer to home, maybe a Psychiatrist as they do med

management and evals, or suggest to your current Dr. to put a do not fill until

date on your script. The mail order pharmacy seems to not be a good solution,

especially due to the insurance and you being a busy parent. We have Medicaid

and it is also impossible to get a script filled early. If you have tried

different solutions and your still not able to get your Doc to budge, I would

call the insurance company and ask how they can help with the med issue.

Hope this helps,

Dawn

[Guest guest]

Thanks Melody.

That’s actually the problem—for this med, refills can’t be

written. It has to be treated as a new RX every time. It’s funny, both replies

I’ve gotten have suggested getting a different doctor or one closer to home.

He’s the only psych that will see a 7 year old and he’s an hour away!! No fair!

He’s through Phoenix Children’s Hospital, whose outpatient docs stopped

accepting Aetna, my insurance, so now I have to pay out-of-pocket to see him

too. Grrr

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Melody Kalomiris

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:04 AM

Subject: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

You

should call your mail order pharmacy and ask them how they ordinarily handle

this. ask them if you need to call them and ask for a refill, ask if they

will contact your doctor to request refill approvals, etc. I work with

Kaiser for my mom’s rx and they will allow me to order refills 30 days in

advance for a 90 day refill. In addition, when it is refill time, I just

call and place the order and then they contact the prescribing doctor to

request approvals. Sometimes, I have to continually follow up to make

sure the doctor has responded. I have also worked a little with

drugstore.com and it works pretty much the same way except they will

automatically refill rx (needs no phone call from me) and they will contact the

prescribing doctor.

I

am wondering if your doctor will grant a refill without seeing your son every

90 days. Don’t know what the med laws are where you reside. If your

doctor isn’t willing to work with you, perhaps you can find a doctor who will.

Regards,

melody

[Guest guest]

I am wondering if your pediatrician would be willing to take

over filling the rx now that a workable med has been established?

(assuming he/she would be closer to where you live) good

luck. It’s not that we don’t already have enough battles

between the kids, the teachers, school administration, insurance companys, etc

etc etc. would hope the doctor would be a little more willing to help as

much as they can.

Regards, melody

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Lori Lashley

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:52 AM

Subject: RE: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

Thanks Melody.

That’s actually the

problem—for this med, refills can’t be written. It has to be

treated as a new RX every time. It’s funny, both replies I’ve

gotten have suggested getting a different doctor or one closer to home.

He’s the only psych that will see a 7 year old and he’s an hour

away!! No fair! He’s through Phoenix Children’s Hospital,

whose outpatient docs stopped accepting Aetna, my insurance, so now I have to

pay out-of-pocket to see him too. Grrr

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Melody Kalomiris

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:04 AM

Subject: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

You

should call your mail order pharmacy and ask them how they ordinarily handle

this. ask them if you need to call them and ask for a refill, ask if they

will contact your doctor to request refill approvals, etc. I work with

Kaiser for my mom’s rx and they will allow me to order refills 30 days in

advance for a 90 day refill. In addition, when it is refill time, I just

call and place the order and then they contact the prescribing doctor to

request approvals. Sometimes, I have to continually follow up to make

sure the doctor has responded. I have also worked a little with

drugstore.com and it works pretty much the same way except they will

automatically refill rx (needs no phone call from me) and they will contact the

prescribing doctor.

I

am wondering if your doctor will grant a refill without seeing your son every

90 days. Don’t know what the med laws are where you reside.

If your doctor isn’t willing to work with you, perhaps you can find a

doctor who will.

Regards,

melody

[Guest guest]

Exactly Melody!! I asked the psych if we could do that, and he

wouldn’t agree to it, because he wanted to continue to see him at least every 6

months to continue to make the determination of what he should be on. I didn’t

ask the pediatrician though if he would just write the darn scripts for the 6

month period—good thinking! J

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Melody Kalomiris

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:20 AM

Subject: RE: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

I am wondering if your pediatrician

would be willing to take over filling the rx now that a workable med has been

established? (assuming he/she would be closer to where you live)

good luck. It’s not that we don’t already have enough battles

between the kids, the teachers, school administration, insurance companys, etc

etc etc. would hope the doctor would be a little more willing to help as

much as they can.

Regards, melody

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Lori Lashley

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:52 AM

Subject: RE: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

Thanks Melody.

That’s actually the problem—for this

med, refills can’t be written. It has to be treated as a new RX every

time. It’s funny, both replies I’ve gotten have suggested getting a

different doctor or one closer to home. He’s the only psych that will see

a 7 year old and he’s an hour away!! No fair! He’s through Phoenix

Children’s Hospital, whose outpatient docs stopped accepting Aetna, my

insurance, so now I have to pay out-of-pocket to see him too. Grrr

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Melody Kalomiris

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:04 AM

Subject: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

You

should call your mail order pharmacy and ask them how they ordinarily handle

this. ask them if you need to call them and ask for a refill, ask if they

will contact your doctor to request refill approvals, etc. I work with

Kaiser for my mom’s rx and they will allow me to order refills 30 days in

advance for a 90 day refill. In addition, when it is refill time, I just

call and place the order and then they contact the prescribing doctor to request

approvals. Sometimes, I have to continually follow up to make sure the

doctor has responded. I have also worked a little with drugstore.com and

it works pretty much the same way except they will automatically refill rx

(needs no phone call from me) and they will contact the prescribing doctor.

I

am wondering if your doctor will grant a refill without seeing your son every

90 days. Don’t know what the med laws are where you reside. If your

doctor isn’t willing to work with you, perhaps you can find a doctor who will.

Regards,

melody

[Guest guest]

This is nuts. I work as a pediatric neurologist and it is just as much of a hassle to me as a doctor as it is to you as the patient. On the day folks are seen I write two scripts and tell people to always keep one month ahead. If I remember, I always mail two so I am ahead of the game. I don't post-date them, I just write them both on the same date, dated exactly the same. (This is California, so maybe the law is different somewhere else.) I tell people that as soon as they reach for that new script in the cupboard to call/fax/email my office for their next one. Then they easily have 4 weeks lead time....

All the doctors care is that you are not selling the drugs, abusing them, etc. So, we just roughly keep track of when the family got the last script and when we are mailing the next one, etc. Now the pharmacy, that is another story. Your insurance company will not allow you to fill the "next prescription" until your old one is just about up. So, those are the folks that are sticklers. It isn't even the pharmacy, it is your insurance company that makes up that rule. Another way I get around this crazy problem is if someone is on Concerta 18 mg each morning I tell the family "gee.... if he gets worse we could always go up to 2 pills per day, so I'm going to write it for 2 pills per day. That way, it makes it easier to get refills from the pharmacy and worst case you end up a month ahead" This works most of the time. Sometimes, the insurance company will deny it and say "if you need two of the 18's per day, it is cheaper to write one 36 mg per day instead" and I have to re-do it. Most of the time this doesn't happen though.

Good luck!

Debra Balke

( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

Hi everyoneI would sure appreciate some feedback about RX refills...My son is on Vyvanse. The doctor lives almost an hour from my house. They will not write refills on the prescription because it is a controlled substance. They will not postdate any scripts. Because of this, and for insurance coverage, I cannot call to request the refill until days before it is out. At that point, the dr's office needs about 24-72 hour turnaround within the office, and i can either pick it up or have it mailed to me. Can't really get to the office to pick it up because I work 10 hours a day!The fisrt time we faced this issue, he lapsed 5 days and BOY, at that point, did it become apparent how much Vyvanse was helping!! I never want him to lapse again!I explained all this to the doctor and begged for post dated scripts but he wouldn't do it. He said the best he could do was write the current prescription and again for mail-order, which would allow us 90 days at a time instead of 30.I started with the mail order. It took just under 2 weeks to get it going and have it in my hand.SO...my question...how the heck do I get the next supply?If I call 2-3 weeks ahead of time to get the new RX to mail in, they won't give it to me because it's too soon, and IF they do, my insurance will probably say it's too soon. On the other hand, if I wait until the week of, there is no way to receive the RX in the mail myslef, mail it to Caremark, and have the meds in time.WHAT DO YOU ALL DO?????Please share!ThanksLori Lashley

[Guest guest]

I use to use Caremark and once you are established (as you are now), the RX can be ordered any time during that last month of the 90 day RX. It takes about 4 days by mail. It is only with the initial start-up that it takes a few weeks to get you in the system, verify your RX and fill it and send it out to you. In the future, you can just call as late as a week ahead and have it in your mailbox with in the week ~ that was my experience with them and it does make a difference where your located in relation to the warehouse the RX is shipped from. Hope this helps! Kate

From: l8elucretia <l8elucretia@...>Subject: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse) Date: Friday, January 22, 2010, 9:37 AM

Hi everyoneI would sure appreciate some feedback about RX refills...My son is on Vyvanse. The doctor lives almost an hour from my house. They will not write refills on the prescription because it is a controlled substance. They will not postdate any scripts. Because of this, and for insurance coverage, I cannot call to request the refill until days before it is out. At that point, the dr's office needs about 24-72 hour turnaround within the office, and i can either pick it up or have it mailed to me. Can't really get to the office to pick it up because I work 10 hours a day!The fisrt time we faced this issue, he lapsed 5 days and BOY, at that point, did it become apparent how much Vyvanse was helping!! I never want him to lapse again!I explained all this to the doctor and begged for post dated scripts but he wouldn't do it. He said the best he could do was write the current

prescription and again for mail-order, which would allow us 90 days at a time instead of 30.I started with the mail order. It took just under 2 weeks to get it going and have it in my hand.SO...my question...how the heck do I get the next supply?If I call 2-3 weeks ahead of time to get the new RX to mail in, they won't give it to me because it's too soon, and IF they do, my insurance will probably say it's too soon. On the other hand, if I wait until the week of, there is no way to receive the RX in the mail myslef, mail it to Caremark, and have the meds in time.WHAT DO YOU ALL DO?????Please share!ThanksLori Lashley------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Dr. Balke, you are awesome! Will you talk some sense into my

doctor? (j/k)

Maybe I will bring this email to my next appointment and he’ll

realize there is a way he can help us without worry. We certainly aren’t

looking to abuse it! We just want our son to thrive! That is the whole point of

medicating him in the first place, right? Why would a doctor put a patient in a

situation to have a lapse? UGH

Well thank you for sharing! 4 week lead time would be a Godsend!

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of Debra Balke

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 1:28 PM

Subject: Re: ( ) RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

This

is nuts. I work as a pediatric neurologist and it is just as much of a

hassle to me as a doctor as it is to you as the patient. On the day folks

are seen I write two scripts and tell people to always keep one month

ahead. If I remember, I always mail two so I am ahead of the game.

I don't post-date them, I just write them both on the same date, dated exactly

the same. (This is California, so maybe the law is different somewhere

else.) I tell people that as soon as they reach for that new script in

the cupboard to call/fax/email my office for their next one. Then they

easily have 4 weeks lead time....

All

the doctors care is that you are not selling the drugs, abusing them,

etc. So, we just roughly keep track of when the family got the last

script and when we are mailing the next one, etc. Now the pharmacy, that

is another story. Your insurance company will not allow you to fill the

" next prescription " until your old one is just about up. So,

those are the folks that are sticklers. It isn't even the pharmacy, it is

your insurance company that makes up that rule. Another way I get around

this crazy problem is if someone is on Concerta 18 mg each morning I tell the

family " gee.... if he gets worse we could always go up to 2 pills per day,

so I'm going to write it for 2 pills per day. That way, it makes it

easier to get refills from the pharmacy and worst case you end up a month

ahead " This works most of the time. Sometimes, the insurance

company will deny it and say " if you need two of the 18's per day, it is

cheaper to write one 36 mg per day instead " and I have to re-do it.

Most of the time this doesn't happen though.

Good

luck!

Debra

Balke

-----

Original Message -----

From: l8elucretia

Sent: Friday, January 22,

2010 7:37 AM

Subject: ( )

RX Refills (ie. Vyvanse)

Hi everyone

I would sure appreciate some feedback about RX refills...

My son is on Vyvanse. The doctor lives almost an hour from my house. They will

not write refills on the prescription because it is a controlled substance.

They will not postdate any scripts. Because of this, and for insurance

coverage, I cannot call to request the refill until days before it is out. At

that point, the dr's office needs about 24-72 hour turnaround within the

office, and i can either pick it up or have it mailed to me. Can't really get

to the office to pick it up because I work 10 hours a day!

The fisrt time we faced this issue, he lapsed 5 days and BOY, at that point,

did it become apparent how much Vyvanse was helping!! I never want him to lapse

again!

I explained all this to the doctor and begged for post dated scripts but he

wouldn't do it. He said the best he could do was write the current prescription

and again for mail-order, which would allow us 90 days at a time instead of 30.

I started with the mail order. It took just under 2 weeks to get it going and

have it in my hand.

SO...my question...how the heck do I get the next supply?

If I call 2-3 weeks ahead of time to get the new RX to mail in, they won't give

it to me because it's too soon, and IF they do, my insurance will probably say

it's too soon. On the other hand, if I wait until the week of, there is no way

to receive the RX in the mail myslef, mail it to Caremark, and have the meds in

time.

WHAT DO YOU ALL DO?????

Please share!

Thanks

Lori Lashley