Miss KT's doctor...grrrrr...

[KTMom91]

After being assured by our insurance co that Miss KT would be covered, no problem, when she got to school, she discovered that there are two states that do not participate in the "Away from Home" program...the one she's in, and the one that's 15 minutes away. So no primary care physician, but Urgent Care and ER visits are covered. However, that doesn't solve the problem of medication refills.

Miss KT is coming home this week for mid-semester break, and made an appointment with her doctor, the same one she's had for years, in order to get a medication refill. Office called and said they needed to reschedule. I yelled. Pointed out that she was 14 hours away, had no way of getting medications and/or a PCP in the state she's living in, and she needed a script. Period.

Unless the doctor is willing to write out a script without seeing her, she's SOL. Somehow I don't think an Urgent Care or ER is going to refill her medications for her.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[hearts and roses]

If you reschedule, is there any way her primary at home will fill the script with refills so you can at least fill them and ship them to her? Seems this not an uncommon problem for college students-we did this when easy child was at school.

 

[cubsgirl]

I hope that they will write the refills since they rescheduled.

It's a tough situation and I don't have a good answer - but sending good juju that doctor writes scripts. H&R has good advice......one would think that doctor's offices are used to this type of situation.

 

[Hound dog]

Have him put more refills on the bottle too, to keep her in medications until the next visit home.

If doctor won't be there ask to see the doctor who is covering for him........I'd be pushy about it since she needs her medications and tell them why.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I know that HERE (being a whole different system...) the university has its own on-site medical clinic, and that clinic will work with your "home" PCP on this stuff - they do it for international students, for example, who aren't covered under Canadian medicare, but it also helps with inter-provincial (as health-care is done at the provincial level).

 

[KTMom91]

It's her Ritalin...she won't take the risperdal anymore because she doesn't think she needs it. Don't know if anyone's covering or if they're just closing down the office while he's gone.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that we can get a 2 month script out of him somehow, since she'll be home at Thanksgiving for my BD and our annual shopping excursion.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Ugh. They don't like handling that one long-distance. And new docs are leery of believing you... '

 

[Hound dog]

Mary, a doctor can't just close down shop. There has to be another doctor covering his patients for him, the staff should know who it is.

 

[susiestar]

Ritalin probably has to be written for only 30 days but there is NO reason the doctor can't write it and have you pick it up and fill it and mail it. You can do this every month as long as she is seen when she is home. they rescheduled so they have to cover the rx at least until the new appointment. So make the new appointment for Thanksgiving or Xmas and have the doctor write the rx each month or give you 2 post-dated rx's if he can't/won't let you pick them up each month or that is difficult for you.

The doctor MUST have someone covering.

 

[crazymama30]

Ruskin can only be written for 30 days but docs csn write mere than one script and date them differently........do not fill untill and then a date a month from the first scrip. Our psychiatrist gives us 3 scrips this way.

 

[crazymama30]

Ritalin is what I meant. This phone is my brown and my nemesis

 

[keista]

by the way you don't even have to pick it up and mail it. If you use a large chain pharmacy, it can be picked up anywhere.

I did this over vaycay. I let them know we were leaving and to cancel the auto-refills. Well, they refilled it anyway. I called them up and and they just transferred it to another pharmacy in another state. Easy peasy.

 

[crazymama30]

Keista, I don't think you can do that with ritalin due to the class of drug it is.

 

[KTMom91]

His main specialty is addiction and recovery, and I think he spends more time on that side of the business than the PCP part. I think he's a jerk, but he's exactly the kind of doctor Miss KT needs...ready to call BS at any time.

Lisa, I'm sure there's someone overseeing, but I don't know if that person will write a refill. I know the doctor that's covering SHOULD, but we've had this issue before; once you say "Ritalin refill" the doctor freaks. Last year, though, she was only three hours away so it wasn't that big a deal.

 

[InsaneCdn]

The standard here is that a covering doctor can refill any "long-term stable medication"... i.e. if she's been on Ritalin for over 6 months without a dosage change in that period... the covering doctor can give a script for exactly what she has been getting. NEW patients, or increases... NO WAY.

 

[DammitJanet]

Mary....they can write ritalin scripts with TO BE FILLED ON dates so you get say three scripts at one appointment and they arent refills but they are three separate pieces of paper. Or...if you have insurance that has a mail order part to your insurance, can you get them to send in the scripts to the mail order pharmacy and then she gets it that way. They would send it to her once a month.

But Im thinking you might want to try the separate scripts. That is the way they are doing it with my Methylin which is like the ritalin and what they tried to do with the concerta but the insurance didnt pay for that. They also do that with my morphine.

 

[KTMom91]

Janet, her doctor usually writes her two, one to be filled on this date and one a month later.

Miss KT just texted me while she's waiting to get on the plane home, and says the script is ready for her to pick up tomorrow. Whew...another bullet dodged.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Yee-Haw!

Wow, that was a wee tad too close for comfort.