To provide some context I’ve been on TRT for about 10 mos. 44 yo
Today I called the Dr’s office to ask why my refill was denied, after receiving notification from useless Walgreens (5 days after submitting my refill)
MD office says that beginning 2020 there was “some” change by the FDA in the rules of how doctors prescribe controlled substances and that I will not been able to get a prescription until I see the Dr again.
They didn’t care in contacting me to notify or that my next visit is scheduled in several months.
I checked the FDA website an can’t find anything related.
I’m pretty irritated as there was no notification and I am thinking this office is wanting to rack my debt up again. He is and endocrinologists and the visits are really expensive.
Can anyone confirm this? and provide some advise of where to go?
I have to see my doc in person every 12 months or my refills stop. You are at the 10 month mark and should have a doctor visit within the next 2 months, preferably before the 12 month mark so treatment isn’t stopped.
It seems your treatment has stopped early which might be because of the new law. My advice is make other arrangements unless your doctor can schedule you in.
OK to clarify this wasn’t a new prescription. it was a partial refill for 4 weeks. Do you have get a prescription that was 1 yr? and refill every month?
My last appointment was in November 2019 and previous to that was Jan, Feb , March, May, June , July and Oct 2019
I get a refill every 12-14 weeks, so roughly every 3 months. I have heard some guys with different providers have to refill (CVS/Walgreens) every 30 days. I get my prescription at a Kaiser pharmacy so I get to avoid the retail pharmacies.
I’ve had issues with both CVS and Walgreens, when I had remaining refills on prescriptions. You shouldn’t be having an issue on refills, as long as you haven’t gone past the date of last refill, and as long as there’s remaining refills.
Did your doc call in the script and insurance or Walgreen’s is denying it, or is the doctor’s office denying the refill? I know my doctor will deny scripts if I wasn’t keeping my 3 month check ups, but as long as I keep those, I can get the refill when needed. I don’t have to see him every time I need a refill just have to have my state required 3 month wellness exams that are needed for controlled substance prescriptions. I believe some states allow 6 months in between checks but I could be wrong with that.
I don’t think this is related to a 3 to 6 months check ups since it hasn’t been 3 mos since my last appointment and that wasn’t the reason given by the Dr’s office.
What am questioning in this case is whether or not the FDA had any new rules that came in to effect Jan 2020.
Walgreens said their prescription was expired and that’s why they sent an electronic request for the MD to verify. (Is that what you call a script?)
Which state are you located and where can more info about this state required checks?
My wife did have to have a prescription re sent recently. The pharmacy said they couldn’t take paper prescriptions anymore, had to be electronic. So, maybe that’s it? Otherwise I have no idea and can’t find anything about this change anywhere else.
I haven’t heard of any new laws but it’s a royal pain in the a** every month when I get my refill. I have Kaiser but their pharmacy is on the other side of town so I use Walgreen’s in my neighborhood. There is a Walgreen’s that is literally a 5 minute walk from my house but Kaiser stopped using them and now I have to use the one 3 miles down the road. Makes no damned sense at all. Every…single…month there is some issue. At first it was Walgreen’s requiring a special diagnosis code with the prescription.
I Googled that and apparently Walgreen’s got in trouble with the Feds a while back and now they are extra cautious with their steroid prescriptions. Now that that has been resolved, I often get a message that they are out of stock and end up having to wait a couple of days. With any other medication I’d just ask which Walgreen’s has it in stock and tell them to transfer my prescription over there but they can’t or won’t do it for T. Not sure if that’s a Walgreen’s or state or federal thing. And this last time, for no reason that anyone has been able to explain to me, Kaiser simply didn’t approve it for 10 days.
I called Kaiser, Walgreen’s, and my doctor multiple times but none of them could tell me what the issue was other than it was waiting for prior approval, even though I’ve been on TRT for over a year. Then I called Walgreen’s again and got Jerry, my favorite pharmacist, and he says he’ll check into it and call me back. 15 minutes later there is a message on my phone from Jerry saying my prescription is ready. I have no damned idea what he did but it worked. I really don’t understand why it can’t just auto renew every month like every other prescription.
So this has nothing to do with the FDA? They already put a black label on T so maybe that changes how your prescription works, in your part of town. I do wonder about the future regarding TRT.
That’s what I was trying to figure out since it’s the reason my dr denied the refill. Are you saying you received your cypionate with a black label from the pharmacy?
And I even have one of those newfangled conveyances. Still don’t see why I can use the Walgreen’s 5 minutes from my house. But hell, that’s the least of the problems I have with the prescriptions.
My insurance allows zero payment on prescriptions if I use CVS. Since the CVS 1 mile from my house sucks, and they almost killed my wife because they gave her a prescription she was allergic to, but didn’t check to see that the generic med is still the same as the name brand, I go to the CVS 8.5 miles from my house.
So, whenever you have to make that arduous 3 mile trek to Walgreens, just think of me having to suffer with an 8.5 mile walk to CVS, uphill both ways, in a blizzard.