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Medco - Prescription Cancellations

Medco • 30 Days Same Price As 90 • Unilateral Cancellations • Prescription Delays • Wrong Prescription • General complaints --- News • Medco Settles Fraud, Kickback Charges for $155 Million • Judge Upbraids Medco • Pharmacy Benefit Managers Scrutinized • Medco Settles State Lawsuits

Nelly of Cape Canaveral FL (1/3/04):
I sent in 4 prescriptions for 90-day supply of 3 stimulants and one antidepressant on 12-13-2003. I got the one for the antidepressant on 12-23-2003 which was sent through the US mail. I kept waiting for the other 3 medications to arrive which they usually send by UPS. My young child and I both suffer from ADD. My fourth grader takes one antidepressant and two stimulants for his treatment. I take one antidepressant and one stimulant for my treatment.

Since I am a college professor, my child and I have been off work/school until Jan. 5th 2004. We ran out of stimulants and have been trying to cope mentally without them un till we got our new supply of meds. Everyday, we tried not to leave our home since UPS requires an adult signature before delivering our meds. Finally on Jan. 2, we got two letters in the mail stating to call their offices about our meds, because they have not been able to reach us by phone. The letters were mailed by them on Dec. 26th. I called on Friday, Jan. 2nd and talked to Angeli at ex. 5171. She told me that because my doctors office was closed until Jan. 5th and they could not reach me, they cancelled all three of our meds and that now I had to get duplicate prescriptions for all three of them.

They said they did not have a phone number where to reach me but I stated that I put down both my home and work number on every RX order since they require them on their RX order forms. They did not offer me any excuses about why they did not have my number. Can they legally cancel people's prescriptions? My God, in this case, they are playing with the state of people's mental health.

This practice of cancelling people's RX's especially, controlled substances needed by people to be productive at work, concentrate so they can drive safely or be productive at school sounds like a good cause for a class action suit. I explained that my son and I had a doctor that was located 2 counties away from my home and the drive was 80 miles one way to travel to his office. Also that, I usually only visit my doctor once every three months. Also, that my doctor could not legally call in any new prescriptions since all three drugs were controlled substances and that he also never mailed these types of RX's to his patients. Also that this situation puts me in a bind since I needed to return to work and my son needed to return to school on Jan 5th without any RX's and this would severely effect my son's and mine ability to focus and be productive at work and at school.

I was given an emergency number to call to explain my situation but was also told that even after calling the number, there was no chance that they could fill my prescriptions without new ones. I did not call since I thought it would be a waste of time for time for me, not to mention the additional emotional upset this would cause for me.

My husband and I have decided to skip work on Monday Jan. 5th 2004 and travel to my doctor's office to try to get this situation straightened out in person and hopefully avoid any more runarounds from Medco Health. My husband has decided to come with me so that he could drive us safely and offer me some emotional support.

This is not the first time they have messed up the RX's for my family. Incidently, they have been filling the same three RX's for myself and my son for the last four years from the same exact doctor. I just don't understand why they need to call the doctor every time to verify the same three RX's each time before they fill them. It is very unfortunately that my insurance, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida Federal employee Plan employs them as our only mail order option. I feel like I do not have the consumer choice to deal with anyone else.

My God, since Federal Employees are the largest group in the US, I would think they had a lot more power to get their employees better service then this. I could get my Rx's filled locally at a higher price and only at a 30 day supply only at one time because of its controlled substance status. This situation poses an additional hardship as far as money, and additional travel time to my doctor is concerned.

Mary of Oceano CA (12/31/03):
12/6/03 sent 2 "triplicates" for 90 ea. to Medco Health.

12/15 called to follow-up since the pills had not arrived and only had 2-day supply left. I was told that the prescription was "cancelled" because the doctor had not responded to numerous calls for clarification and they didn't have time to keep dealing with it. I asked why I was not notified and was told they don't do that. I asked what the clarification was that was needed, she knew nothing. I immediately called my doctors office to relay the info. Doctors office said they had not been contacted or faxed at all by Medco.

Doctor wrote me 2 new triplicates that I had to drive 15 miles to pick up, and requested that I call Medco and see about getting the cancelled "triplicates" sent back, because the doctor said these had to be kept track of. Upon calling Medco back I was told that the prescriptions were being processed and would ship out 12/17/03. I asked how that could be when they cancelled them the day before. I was told whatever the problem was had been resolved.

In the meantime, I had to go to two local pharmacies to get the meds filled. When the 12/17 shipment did not arrive by 12/29 I called Medco again to follow-up. I was told they were due to ship out Jan.5 2004. When I asked why and relayed all this history, she knew nothing, however their records now reflected the pharmacist had gotten clarification, for what they couldn't say, and a fax renewing the original prescription. I found this very entertaining at this point and so did my doctor. Obviously someone is very creative with their record keeping.

Damage Resulting: Had to pay additional month's supply at retail rate until mail order arrives. This entailed 4 hours of time, driving to doctors office to pick up "triplicates", having to go to 2 different pharmacies to get meds filled, return trip to pharmacy while they contacted my insurance to explain problem for override prescription. I am not wanting any personal remedy, but would like it known for the record that this is very shabby record keeping for a large mail order pharmacy. (Scary)

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