I have unlimited refills on my meds, but only for a 12 month period. Then I have to get a new prescription. No narcotics or happy pills (damn.) Makes sure I go back at least once a year, though I’m typically see some type of doctor every 4-5 months.
Oh, and even though I can get 99 refills in a 12 month period - my insurance will only pay for 1 refill every 30 days.
Now I have had a prescription lapse on my Singulair - my pharmacist, who I’ve used for 10 years now, called my doc and gave me 3 pills. Just enough to get me in to see the doc. No I will never change pharmacists.
If I were the OP, I’d go to the emergency room. If this is something you need to live, then you don’t miss a day!
My psychiatrist charges for call-in refills to the pharmacy. I’m not sure of the cost-per-med but I know that the only time a patient would have to use this service is if they miss an appointment as she always makes sure (and has her receptionist double-check) that a patient will have enough med refills to last between appointments. She also requires that all patients be seen every three months so the number of refills she gives at one time are limited to this. I was once talking to her about this policy and she told me that her malpractice insurance requires her to see patients this often in order for her prescribing the medicines to be covered.
Working in a family practice physician’s office last summer, I saw the med supply be cut off for a few patients. Generally it seemed like patient’s needed to have been seen within the past six months or year (depending on the condition the medicine was prescribed for) in order for the medicine to be called in. There were a few patients, however, that the doctor refused to call in any more medications for as they either refused to come in or continually missed doctor’s appointments. The doctor and his nurses made an effort though to be really clear to the patients that this is why they refused to refill the medication.
I might be wrong on this and maybe some of the “grown-up” docs around here could help me out but would the refusal to call in a temporary script for 7 days or so or no efforts to work a patient in (excluding the above scenarios) thus forcing the patient to go without a needed medicine be considered abandonment?
I think it would depend on how long it had been since the last time you’d seen the patient. If the patient hasn’t been in or even tried to schedule an appointment for a year, then I think it’s considered that they have voluntarily left your care, especially when you tell them to get rechecked every 3 or 6 months. This may be totally incorrect, as IANAD. In that scenario, it becomes the patient’s responsibility to make an appointment, not the doctor’s.
If someone has been in for all their regular appointments and is a patient in good standing, and you then refused to refill something for a week or so, then you’d be looking at abandonment.
Oh, and I wanted to add that most doctors, even when they’ve cut a patient off, will give you enough to make it to an appointment if you call and schedule one.
Well, this is my general gp and I see her pretty often. Granted, it may not always be specifically for my heart(when I left my old cardiologist in NY I was deemed ‘stable, with meds’) but I would certainly have no objection to being checked out and would complain if there was a need.
Interestingly enough, when I first went to see her, it was to get a refill. All I did was have a regular physical, give her a photocopy of my last doctor’s status reports on me and say I need more of this. And she gave me a script.
Also, I was never contacted at all and told or reminded to get a check-up or see her. Just a call saying no more meds until you see her.