Read this before leaving the hospital with new prescriptions

As many of you likely know, something as simple as filling prescriptions before leaving the hospital can be challenging. Read this to help ensure you do a better job than I. And, please send in your stories of botched prescriptions to [email protected] or share a comment below.

Do not pick up your prescriptions without opening the bag and ensuring that everything that is supposed to be in the bag is in it. In my case, I wrongly assumed I had everything I needed because the six stickers attached to the bag reflected all the items I was picking up. As it turned out, two of the stickers were for items the hospital pharmacy expected me to pick up the following day without telling me so. In fact, even though the pharmacy did not have the two items in stock, it got the insurer to approve them, preventing me from going to another pharmacy to get them.

Do not assume that there is any reason behind the amount of your copay for each prescription. With Part D, there should be a logic behind copays. With employer coverage, some copays can be larger than the amount the insurer covered and some can be less. I still do not understand why. And, I do not yet know of any way to keep your costs down when prescription medicines are needed immediately.

Do not assume that the pharmacy that got approval from your insurer to fill your prescription but did not have the items in stock will transfer the prescription over to another pharmacy. In my case, the hospital pharmacy would not transfer the prescription to the local pharmacy unless the local pharmacy contacted it. It would not contact the local pharmacy. After an hour on the phone holding to speak with a pharmacist at the local pharmacy, the pharmacist said he would contact the hospital pharmacy. Two hours later he had not. I finally got the hospital pharmacy to cancel the prescription and the local pharmacy to process a new prescription.

Do not assume that an item you are directed to pick up at your pharmacy that is supposed to work in tandem with another item you pick up–a glucometer and test strips–will work together. Always open the package and verify. Though I orally verified that the glucometer was the same brand as the test strips, they were different brands, and the test strips would not work in the glucometer. I should have opened the package to verify.

Assume that the pharmacy will exchange the wrong product, opened, for the correct product. The pharmacist at the local pharmacy agreed to exchange the wrong product for the correct one, acknowledging the pharmacy’s mistake. Notably, the correct product had a $7 copay and the wrong product had a $12 copay, something no one had discussed with me.

Here’s more from Just Care:

• Seven things to do before you or someone you love leaves the hospital
• Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad
• 2022: Medicare Part D coverage and costs
• 2022: Programs that lower your health care costs if you have Medicare
• 2022: Medicare out-of-pocket costs