Ways You Can Save Frequent Trips to the Pharmacy
Rita (Kakish) Gajewski
| 3 min read
Rita Kakish, RPh, is a Blue Cross Pharmacy Operations Manager. She has an incredible wealth of experience working with pharmacy network management and the Medicare Part D program. Currently, Rita oversees building and maintaining pharmacy benefits, monitoring various control reports, direct member reimbursement and COB. She and her husband Tony reside in the metro Detroit area and love to travel.
Most people agree that we need more hours in the day to get things done in our busy world. After working, picking up our kids from school, grocery shopping and running countless errands, we’re looking for ways to spend more quality time with our families. With that in mind, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network pharmacy team has a program to help you spend less time traveling to the pharmacy to pick up your medications. Now you can get your meds synchronized to avoid multiple visits to your local pharmacy. Starting March 15, 2017, in accordance with the medication synchronization legislation which was signed into law by Governor Snyder on March 15, 2016, Blue Cross will provide eligible BCBSM and BCN commercial (non-Medicare) members the convenience of having multiple medications refilled at the pharmacy on the same day. This program may also help you avoid missed doses by making it easier to order and pick up medication refills. This program allows:
- Medication synchronization of maintenance drugs for chronic long-term care conditions, with the exception of:
- Most Schedule 2-5 controlled substances (anti-epileptic prescriptions allowed)
- Select prescription drugs that are limited to certain fill requirements
- Medication synchronization on prescriptions that have authorized refills remaining.
How this program works for you:
- Your pharmacist will be able to help you plan to synchronize your drugs for you to pick them up at your convenience on a single day each month.
- When a Blue Cross or BCN participating pharmacy submits your drug claim that meets the criteria, a prorated, daily cost-sharing rate will be applied to your maintenance prescription drugs.
- The program will allow your pharmacist to dispense up to 29 days of your maintenance prescription drugs.
- Participating pharmacies will collect your applicable cost share for each of your submitted synchronized prescription claim.
If you have questions about any of your medications, you can ask your pharmacist on the day you pick them up. Your medications will be synchronized every month so you can continue a single-day pickup. Your pharmacist will be able to identify any potential issues to ensure you follow the specific medication instructions as prescribed by your doctor. We’re working to provide you the best value to benefit the health of you and your family. About the Author Rita Kakish, RPh, is a Blue Cross Pharmacy Operations Manager. She has an incredible wealth of experience working with pharmacy network management and the Medicare Part D program. Currently, Rita oversees building and maintaining pharmacy benefits, monitoring various control reports, direct member reimbursement and COB. She and her husband Tony reside in the metro Detroit area and love to travel. Photo Credit: Random Retail
