Tips for Ordering Prescription Drugs by Mail

If you have mail order prescription drug benefits use these tips to make sure you make the most out of those benefits.

• Fill out the form for mail order prescriptions completely. The more information you provide, the easier it will be to complete your mail order prescriptions. Remember to submit prescriptions being sent to multiple addresses on separate order forms. Prescription drug orders received without a fully completed order form may be returned to you for the required information.
• Provide a daytime phone number. This is especially important if your medication is temperature-sensitive or high-cost. The mail order prescriptions pharmacy may need to contact you directly to arrange delivery.
• Ask your doctor to request the maximum quantity your benefit allows. Call the number on the back of your ID card if you are unsure of your maximum quantity benefit.
• Ask your doctor to prescribe your medication by its generic name. This will help ensure that you receive the generic medication from your mail order prescriptions service. Dispensing practices require certain medications to have the generic name written on the prescription in order to provide the generic medication.
• Ask that the supervising doctor’s name be clearly indicated on your prescription. The supervising doctor’s name is required on all prescriptions. If you are under the care of a nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant or other mid-level prescriber, ask that the supervising doctor’s name be printed on the prescription; or, you may ask that the supervising doctor sign the prescription.
• If you are submitting a prescription for a controlled-substance medication, send the original prescription signed by your doctor. Faxed or copied prescriptions, or prescriptions signed by a mid-level practitioner (such as a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner) cannot be accepted by a mail order prescriptions service for controlled-substance medications. Mail controlled-substance prescriptions as close as possible to the date that they are written. Schedule II controlled substance prescriptions (for example, Morphine, Demerol, Ritalin and Adderall) are subject to stricter regulations than other medications and are best obtained through your local pharmacy.
• Do not submit prescriptions for compounded medications to the mail order prescriptions pharmacy. The mail service prescriptions pharmacy does not fill prescriptions for compounded medications. Compounded medications require special mixing of ingredients to make a drug dose that is not commercially available. These compounded products often require the added expertise of a compounding pharmacist. In addition, many compounded products have limited or no stability data available, making them inappropriate for the extended-days supply associated with the mail order prescriptions benefit.