I saw my doctor yesterday, among other reasons to get a prescription. I’ve , been taking this medication for some time, and it’s a Schedule II controlled substance, so the scripts aren’t refillable and I have to get a new triplicate every month. But now for the first time I had to sign a disclaimer stating that I was aware of narcotic tolerance and other possible risks (not entirely appropriate since my med is a stimulant, not a narcotic), and also that I was not attempting and would not attempt to obtain additional “narcotics” concurrently from another practitioner.
Is this some new rule or law, or has my MD just decided to be extra-careful on his own account?
As far as a schedule II being non-refillable, that’s nothing new - it’s a federal DEA reg. The triplicate blanks, however, are generally a state law. The disclaimer sounds like a lot of the “pain contracts” that I’ve seen lately - - as long as you and your doctor are on the same page (“taking for some time”) I’d ignore it as simple CYA on the doctor’s part.
In some pain practices, the contract provisions serve to weed out the druggies very quickly. No “lost prescriptions”, “stolen prescriptions”, and the like.
It’s a shame that it’s necessary, but that’s the power that some of these drugs have over people. It’s horrible. People steal pain pills from their own family members.
My wife and I happen to take the same controlled substance, at the same strength. I have to go into my doctor’s office every month and sign for a new prescription. She gets several refills on hers, and can call in when the refills run out. The pharmacy doesn’t say a word. We’re on the same insurance plan, too, BTW, so that isn’t a distinction.
If there is a law or regulation covering this, doctors apparently have a lot of leeway in the way they interpret it.
I have schedule II drugs and ge them refilled via the phone. I get refills good for six months and then if I need it, then he’ll refill them, via phone, for another six months.
The doc makes me come in once a year, for routine checks on my blood pressure.
Then your doc is not following standards for prescribing schedule II drugs.
Patients maintained on schedule II medication should be seen every 3 months, and if that frequency falls below every 6 months, Medical Boards tend to discipline doctors for that behavior.
I’m also unaware of any schedule II drug that can be refilled by phone, or filled for any period longer than one month. Federal law requires a new prescription be written every month. In emergency situations, some pharmacies will accept a phone refill, usually accompanied by a fax of the prescription. But they require the actual copy of the prescription within 3 working days. (In 25 years of practice, I only needed to do that once for a patient.)
Or do you mean you have to call the physician’s office every month, and he refills it then?
If not, are you sure you’re on a schedule II medication?
There’s all sorts of things that go on. When I was a floater, I saw things that made me shiver, including not following regs on C-II prescriptions.
I was hollered at a lot for following the regs – my answer always was, “If your doctor or pharmacist is willing to break the law for your convenience, what would they do to keep themselves out of trouble?”
I hate it when nurses leave C-II prescriptions on the voice mail. As a tech with all sorts of knowledge about the drugs, I can’t take a verbal order (in this state), but the people who are authorized to call drugs in don’t have to know anything about what they are doing! (Not a general put-down towards nurses, they can very often make my day when I can get one on the line without having to leave a message, but anyone who has had to deal with the clueless kind can attest to what I’m saying.)
If that’s what’s going on, you’re probably wrong about the schedule of your medication. As Qadgop already said, CII’s have to be written out each time they’re refilled, no refills allowed and no telephone rxs allowed.