Taking your prescription on time and keeping a health condition under control is difficult. While on prescription medication, you may run out of it unexpectedly. You can obtain an emergency supply whether you’ve forgotten to bring them during your vacation or you’ve failed to call your drugstore and get your supply for next month.
Inform Your Doctor Right Away
The most immediate thing to do is to call your doctor and inform them about your situation. If you can’t book yourself an appointment with them, you can ask if they’ll call the pharmacy for a prescription for you. There are times when your medicine comes with refills; this means that your doctor gave the pharmacy permission to have multiple dispenses of your medication. Call your doctor ASAP to get your refill, especially if you’re in an ongoing outpatient rehabilitation treatment.
Contact the Pharmacy a Week Before
There are plenty of things that might go wrong before trying to get a refill. It’s either you were running out of refills for your given prescription or having your prescription expire before you get all the needed refills. There are times when insurance policies suddenly change. Your insurer may not cover the medicine you need anymore, or authorization might be required before having it covered again. However, calling your pharmacy a week ahead gives them enough time to resolve any issues.
Ask for an Emergency Supply
Not many patients know that you can get a 30-day emergency supply while waiting for the appropriate refill if you suddenly run out of medications before the doctor has given you a refill. Most of the time, only patients with severe and chronic conditions are given this advantage. Such conditions include high blood pressure (hypertension), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), seizures, heart conditions, and high cholesterol.
Avoid Peak Days When Visiting the Pharmacy
If you want the pharmacist’s attention and the whole staff, it’s best to avoid visiting during peak hours. Not only will it save you time, but the experience will also be more pleasant and convenient on both ends. Some patients aren’t entirely aware of when peak days mostly are. The busiest days are usually weekend mornings and afternoons, Mondays, holidays (includes the day before and after), and the beginning of each month.
Acquiring Emergency Prescriptions During a Natural Disaster
Many people go without their usual prescribed medications once a natural disaster strikes. Authorities may issue evacuation orders on such short notice. In flooding or power failures, people may leave the current supply of medicine abandoned or destroyed.
Most states will permit pharmacists to provide a 30-day supply of prescriptions for an emergency, even in a natural disaster. Contact your pharmacist if you lost or ran out of your medications while you’re still at home. Evacuees may have to shift prescriptions to a different pharmacy until they can go back.
Getting medications shipped to you or a drugstore that conducts mail-order services may help you if flooding or other conditions hinder you from reaching a pharmacy. Once the situation is over, you can transfer back to your original drugstore.
Request a Longer Prescription
If you have a problem remembering to refill every month, try asking your doctor to write you a longer prescription, such as one that lasts 90 days instead of the usual 30-day supply. Insurance should cover an extended supply of medication, but keep in mind that you’ll have to make sure your insurance will provide coverage. This will limit your effort and time in replenishing prescriptions annually.
Try Home Delivery
Checking with your pharmacy first to see if they offer home delivery options may be worthwhile if you or a family member is limited to home use. Regular home delivery could be helpful if you regularly run out of prescriptions due to lack of immediate access to a pharmacy or because a medication needs to be from a partner drugstore.
Utilize Pharmacy Apps
Asking the pharmacist to refill a prescription is a thing of the past. Today, several significant pharmacies offer mobile apps and online account management tools that let you access and manage medications with a couple of simple clicks. Some also accept scanning your prescription bottle’s bar code from your phone’s camera for a refill submission.
After getting these tips in mind, make sure that incidents like that never happen again. Mainly because of the risks it gives and what it might do to your health. Travel wisely, have a backup supply, and plan to refill your prescription every start of the month while saving the extra ones for emergencies to make sure you don’t run out.
