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i Steve my name is Sxxxxx… I am on disability I am on Social Security I am on Medicare and I also have freedom Health as a subsidiary… anyways I’m not sure how to go about this so please bear with me… we have a hurricane coming our way I am in Florida and right now regardless of which way it goes we are going to get hit by the hurricane at some point… our area should get hit by Monday (September 11)… I have a prescription from my doctor to be filled on September 13th… I called my insurance company, they told me to go ahead and get it filled early but I would have to clear it through my doctor and the pharmacist so I called my doctor they said they refuse to change the date on my prescription and that I would just have to discuss it with my pharmacist and there should be a protocol for hurricanes for people to have their prescription filled early… I called the pharmacy that I have been dealing with for the past 3 years or more this particular one for 3 years and they refuse to fill my prescription… I called back the manager of the store and he refuses to help me also… I don’t know what to do… I’m worried that we’re going to lose power and on the 13th I will not be able to fill my prescription… could you please help me do something before everybody closes down due to the hurricane and then there be nothing I can do about it… I don’t know how much more to explain but if you have any questions please get back to me.
A week ago I posted this https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=21849 Doing the MATH where I suggested that in the Houston area of 2.3 million that some 23,000 chronic pain pts could be running out of their medication for each day local pharmacy services are not available… AND… I got this comment on this post …
“You make a good point however with what we see of so many coming out to help I think your conclusion is patently unfair.”
I received the above email tonight from a pt in FLORIDA… IMO… first of all it is ILLEGAL for a prescriber to POST DATE a controlled prescription.. the law states that a prescriber must DATE the prescription on the date written… however.. it is legal for the prescriber to put a DO NOT FILL BEFORE MM/DD/YY… that does not appear what this prescriber did.
Also this prescriber may be also guilty of PATIENT ABANDONMENT… KNOWINGLY throwing a pt into cold turkey withdrawal…. besides pt abuse.
The hurricane IRMA with 185 MPH winds (CAT-5) is headed for Florida and projected landfall is Sunday 10th… what do you think that status of available services will be within 3 days after IRMA comes ashore
Hurricane Irma damage could be “potentially catastrophic” – National Hurricane Center deputy
Knowingly denying a chronic pain pts their medical necessary medications is – IMO – PATENTLY UNFAIR !!
Filed under: General Problems
After working g with patients in withdrawal from Antidepressants that has been my biggest concern about the hurricane. People have no idea the nightmare they could be facing die to this!!
In a Florida emergency all meds except C2 Narcotics can be refilled for 30 day supply.
C2s can be done for 3 day emergency supply IF Pharmacist can contact doctor for oral RX.
Laws:
PRESCRIPTION NEEDS:
EARLY REFILLS Must be ALLOWED by Ins. companies; also,
(2) If the Governor issues an emergency order or proclamation of a state of emergency, the pharmacist may dispense up to a 30-day supply in the areas or counties affected by the order or proclamation, provided that: (a) The prescription is not for a medicinal drug listed in Schedule II appearing in chapter 893. – –**OTHER CONTROLLED Meds can be emergency filled as they as not excluded by this rule. REPORT ANY PHARMACIST refusing to help you.
LAW:
The 2017 Florida Statutes
Title XXXII
REGULATION OF PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS
Chapter 465
PHARMACY
465.0275 Emergency prescription refill.—
(1) In the event a pharmacist receives a request for a prescription refill and the pharmacist is unable to readily obtain refill authorization from the prescriber, the pharmacist may dispense:
(a) A one-time emergency refill of up to a 72-hour supply of the prescribed medication; or
(b) A one-time emergency refill of one vial of insulin to treat diabetes mellitus.
(2) If the Governor issues an emergency order or proclamation of a state of emergency, the pharmacist may dispense up to a 30-day supply in the areas or counties affected by the order or proclamation, provided that:
(a) The prescription is not for a medicinal drug listed in Schedule II appearing in chapter 893.
(b) The medication is essential to the maintenance of life or to the continuation of therapy in a chronic condition.
(c) In the pharmacist’s professional judgment, the interruption of therapy might reasonably produce undesirable health consequences or may cause physical or mental discomfort.
(d) The dispensing pharmacist creates a written order containing all of the prescription information required by this chapter and chapters 499 and 893 and signs that order.
(e) The dispensing pharmacist notifies the prescriber of the emergency dispensing within a reasonable time after such dispensing.
History.—ss. 19, 27, ch. 86-256; s. 3, ch. 89-77; s. 59, ch. 91-137; s. 6, ch. 91-156; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 30, ch. 93-211; s. 24, ch. 2016-230.
IF NARCOTIC- Pharmacist MUST get oral RX and permission from doctor for 3 day supply.
(f) A prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule II may be dispensed only upon a written prescription of a practitioner, except that in an emergency situation, as defined by regulation of the Department of Health, such controlled substance may be dispensed upon oral prescription but is limited to a 72-hour supply. A prescription for a controlled substance listed in Schedule II may not be refilled.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0465/Sections/0465.0275.html
The 2017 Florida Statutes
Title XVII
MILITARY AFFAIRS AND RELATED MATTERS
Chapter 252
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
View Entire Chapter
252.358 Emergency-preparedness prescription medication refills.—All health insurers, managed care organizations, and other entities that are licensed by the Office of Insurance Regulation and provide prescription medication coverage as part of a policy or contract shall waive time restrictions on prescription medication refills, which include suspension of electronic “refill too soon” edits to pharmacies, to enable insureds or subscribers to refill prescriptions in advance, if there are authorized refills remaining, and shall authorize payment to pharmacies for at least a 30-day supply of any prescription medication, regardless of the date upon which the prescription had most recently been filled by a pharmacist, when the following conditions occur:
(1) The person seeking the prescription medication refill resides in a county that:
(a) Is under a hurricane warning issued by the National Weather Service;
(b) Is declared to be under a state of emergency in an executive order issued by the Governor; or
(c) Has activated its emergency operations center and its emergency management plan.
(2) The prescription medication refill is requested within 30 days after the origination date of the conditions stated in this section or until such conditions are terminated by the issuing authority or no longer exist. The time period for the waiver of prescription medication refills may be extended in 15- or 30-day increments by emergency orders issued by the Office of Insurance Regulation.
This section does not excuse or exempt an insured or subscriber from compliance with all other terms of the policy or contract providing prescription medication coverage. This section takes effect July 1, 2006.
History.—s. 29, ch. 2006-71.
Excellent information pertaining to the law & prescriptions. Thank you for taking the time to post this information!
So even thought Gov Scott is ordering people get their ALL their scripts filled EARLY before they evacuate, this doesn’t include controls and doesn’t override rules as he has declared a state emergency in all the televised briefings I have been seeing?
I said somewhere else today, what about the pain patients? No one can hand out schedule 2 meds, doctors are closed as well as pharmacies, ya think ER’s are going to help? This was in response to a photo someone put on of a methadone clinic opening up to help those addicted get their meds. A good thing for them, but what about pain patients? There meds could be floating in the homes somewhere. What do they do?