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Old 03-16-2009, 10:45 AM
 
161 posts, read 338,591 times
Reputation: 68

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Hi Folks I thought I'd share some information. If you have access to mail order pharmacies (depends on if your company has agreed to provide this coverage under your health plan )you can save a substantial amount on your monthly charges for prescriptions. Savings seem to be bigger for brand names. The way it should work is that your doctors office faxes in the prescription(s) to the Mail Order Pharmacy it is for a 90 days supply and the Doctor can put down additional refills if this is maintenance medication. Medco I know is a big one. Well for what it's worth I am now finding that Doctors in more rural areas are more willing to do this. My local hospital physicain group in a rather large hospital intitials CH physicians will not call in to Medco for prescriptions. I questioned the office and said "Ok I don't get this...You would call in my Rx to a local pharmacy but you won't call my Mail Order Pharmacy"...mm...Ok I then asked " well could you Fax them ..I have an account so just Fax them" ...their reply was Oh we can't do that....I'm told " You have to call Medco and tell them to Fax us. Then we will fill in the information and fax it back to them...Ok here I am getting working at my pays $7 an hour job (which in this economy I'm glad to have) It took me 8 phone calls going through the story and 70 mintues later and lost pay time, I think I got all the parties talking and communicating so I could get my new prescriptions filled Ok I think this is real bad. Total inefficiency on the part of doctors practices. So I wondered why ? It doesn't violate any federal or state laws...mm....then it came to me.. Do you think the Doctors Offices causing us to do all this extra work is to discourage us from using mailorder which would save us money..I wondered ..Why are they doing this................Me thinks they want us to give up and to force us into using their local pharmacies. and pay more money to the drug companies. I hope I'm wrong. I know from my insurance days local pharamcies tracked names of Doctors and the drugs they prescribed. The Drug Companies would then give the doctors a type of commission for prescribing those drugs.
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Old 03-16-2009, 01:14 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
2,868 posts, read 9,528,936 times
Reputation: 1532
I know my pharmacy offers the same deal as a mail order pharmacy. All I have to do is provide the info to my pharmacist and he gives me the same price as the mail order one. Yes, I do the 'foot work' but if you want that price you have to do what it takes. Doctors don't care who or how you pay for your medicine. Your insurance company does. Do you think it would be in the best interest of the doctors office to just get a fax number from a patient and just fax over a prescription? Not knowing who the hell was the recipient of that fax was? Have you heard of HIPPA? I am sure if your mail order pharmacy wants a doctor to fax a prescription, they must provide a license number or some kind of authenticity to distribute medicine lawfully before a doctor gives them a presription.

Your responsible for you health care...If you want a deal on your meds, you have to do it. Just like cutting coupons or shopping around for a good deal...why do you expect other people to shop around for you? Or do your foot work for the best deal?

If I were you, I would have called my mail order pharm, told them who your doctor was and if they want your business to call your doctor themselves and get the script ...the end you're done.
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Old 03-16-2009, 04:24 PM
 
161 posts, read 338,591 times
Reputation: 68
Sorry to say *Danielle* you Totally missed the point. First of all you have no idea about health insurance. And please do not be degrading here, there are rules about the type of responses you post, Yours was extremely rude. All you had to do was to share your experience about your pharmacist that would have been helpful to some people instead you decide you'll be antagonistic and you have no idea what you're talking about. I like many americans pay for my health insurance every month to my employer. If you had read more clearly you would have noticed that I said " the Mail Order is a benefit of the health insurance plan" For any American who pays for their health insurance which is quite expensive they want to make sure they get the most of their benefits. *Danielle* it has nothing at ALL to do with cutting coupons. HIPPA has to do with who your doctor shares one's medical information with e.g family members. A patient has to give written permission under Hippa for others to talk to their doctor. When a doctor phones in or writes a prescription it has absolutely nothing to do with Hippa.
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Old 03-16-2009, 04:39 PM
 
8,652 posts, read 17,189,204 times
Reputation: 4622
Kelticnomad, when I used a mail order for my meds, I just sent in the script to them. The Dr.'s office would also not call them...If needed they had to call the Dr.'d office.....I don't know why tho. But it was never a problem..and you are right they would call local but not the mail order..
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Old 03-16-2009, 04:51 PM
 
161 posts, read 338,591 times
Reputation: 68
thank you Thank you Houston 3..You are the voice of reason thank you. I have received wonderful feedback here on city day and I believe in helping and not being critical. If one has an experience share it and we all learn something. There are only a few people here who thing they are know it alls LOL. But thank you ...you're experience is valid. The mailorder benefit starting showing up in Employer medical plans in 1984 in the New England area. In the beginning they had a lot of problems because there were long delays in turnaround time. A lot of people gave up and said you know I will just go to my local pharmacy. The illustration in my post was that for individuals that are on maintenance medication the attraction for mail order program is very high. Every employer in America negotiates with the health care insurance company what type of plan design they will offer to their employees. Our plan for example you can only get a 90 day supply through the Mail Order Benefit. If you go to a local pharmacy the plan design will only give you 30 days at time, again which can be inconvenient at the very least for maintenance medication. I think you're right Houston3 it varies with the group of medical physicians. I originally lived 50 miles north in NH. A lovely medical practice there and they would very kindly, you know, No Big Deal fax your Rx to the Mail Order Pharmacy in my case Medco. It just seems in this day and age medical establishments should be trying to save time and money but I think in some cases they are still rattling around in a paper bag. Have a nice day.
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Old 03-16-2009, 05:09 PM
 
Location: somewhere over the rainbow Ohio
2,017 posts, read 5,330,333 times
Reputation: 1541
It would seem Kelticnomad you are more interested in pats on the back then sharing. I don't think Dannielle* was degrading or rude but honest and forthright. I think she made some valid points, whereas your post was an emotional speculation that bordered on topic matter found in The Enquirer.
Not everyone is going to agree with your point of view and you'll probably be disappointed a few times if you are looking to have a ego stroke just for sharing. This is after all a message board.
Pam
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Old 03-16-2009, 05:28 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
2,868 posts, read 9,528,936 times
Reputation: 1532
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelticnomad View Post
Sorry to say *Danielle* you Totally missed the point. First of all you have no idea about health insurance. And please do not be degrading here, there are rules about the type of responses you post, Yours was extremely rude. All you had to do was to share your experience about your pharmacist that would have been helpful to some people instead you decide you'll be antagonistic and you have no idea what you're talking about. I like many americans pay for my health insurance every month to my employer. If you had read more clearly you would have noticed that I said " the Mail Order is a benefit of the health insurance plan" For any American who pays for their health insurance which is quite expensive they want to make sure they get the most of their benefits. *Danielle* it has nothing at ALL to do with cutting coupons. HIPPA has to do with who your doctor shares one's medical information with e.g family members. A patient has to give written permission under Hippa for others to talk to their doctor. When a doctor phones in or writes a prescription it has absolutely nothing to do with Hippa.


Really? You obviously no nothing about HIPPA. It is everything to do with not sharing your medical info with ANYONE but you. I can't even discuss a patient in an elevator of the hospital I work in and you want a doctor to randomly fax a script to a fax number you provide? And your surprised they said no? That could be a fax number to Tom, Dick and Harry next door. Don't you think they need a little more verification then that? Like who is on the receiving end of that fax of YOUR medical info? Like HIPPA requires them to do...

For Consumers

and I qoute...

Who must follow this law (HIPPA)?

Most Health Care Providers—those that conduct certain business electronically, such as electronically billing your health insurance—including most doctors, clinics, hospitals, psychologists, chiropractors, nursing homes, pharmacies, and dentists.


I too pay for my health care and also get the mail order pharm benifit...In no way shape or form do I expect my doctors office to verify my benifits of health coverage. That is MY RESPONSIBILITY. *IF* I wanted to take advantage of my mail order pharm benifit, I have to set it up. I have to do the inital foot work...

Maybe you need to take up the matter with the people who dictate your benifits...your insurance company.

I am not being rude...I really can't believe you expect your doctor's office to sit there and make your phone calls for you. To establish your benifits for you...That is totally not their job.

I am being antagonistic? Look at the title of this thread...

Last edited by *Danielle*; 03-16-2009 at 06:39 PM..
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Old 03-16-2009, 08:23 PM
 
161 posts, read 338,591 times
Reputation: 68
Pam and Bille you are the bestest friends and I know *Danielle* appreciates it so much
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Old 03-16-2009, 08:30 PM
 
161 posts, read 338,591 times
Reputation: 68
Ah gee wilickers *Danielle" relax. It's not like we get paid for writing here or get prizes.....but wait I thought I read something about number of posts and possibly winning a prize..gee gotta check into that.....Yea so great .. Ok so you go on and on..what a waste of energy...but you know "Danielle" I'm so proud of you that you voted for Obama...you rock girl...Update: You know I got a call from the medical office this afternoon to apologize to me...we had a great talk. I guess there was some confusion about Medco. I was glad to share my information with them.........it was great so they went online to Medco and faxed my RX over................ "One small step for man one giant leap for mankind"
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