Military Pharmacies

Maybe everyone is aware of this but just in case someone can benefit by this and was not aware of it I will mention it anyway. I get my prescriptions that are on the military formulary filled at MacDill and get a 90 day refill as written by my MD's not on base. This winter trip I will run out of some of the pills and we are near Hurlburt Field so I called and asked them if they could fill some prescriptions for me I had on file at MacDill. I was told absolutely and all I had to do was come in and register at the Pharmacy and I could bring the prescription bottle along and with or without the bottle they would call MacDill and get the info from them and the process would take 3 days. I asked if other military pharmacies had this procedure in place and they confirmed it was a procedure all the pharmacies now have. In the past I would call my private MD and have them call in a new script to CVS but with the new TriCare policy if you do not use a military pharmacy or Express Scripts for a med on their formulary you are limited to getting the med twice at some other pharmacy such as WalMart, CVS etc. with a copay and the third time you pay 100%.

I checked in with the local base pharmacist and she said if going someplace and would run out while gone I could request refills based on current listings, ie fill out a request for the rx's needed. She said not an issue to get refills before leaving on trip. Would take a couple of days to complete. Takes that long just to get refills anyhow!

This might be easier than trying to get refills at another pharmacy but is essentially the same, just 1 less stop and wait while traveling.

Thanks so much it sure sounds like a viable option but when I got my 90 days refills at MacDill and asked if I could get an additional refill because leaving the area for about 4 months they told me to get the next refill at another military pharmacy. I will ask again when I get home and see if they have the form you are making reference to. I had Express Scripts and did not care for it as some of my meds I could have on auto refill and some I could not and one of the prescriptions my MD faxed to them was filled with a wrong dosage. Have been using MacDill pharmacy for over a year and I like being able to look at the meds when I receive them and verify they are correct before leaving with them.

Make sure to speak with the PHARMACIST and not one of the techs or civilian volunteers! They do good work but it is the pharmacist who has the final say. It may require you to get the refill after a time period say 30 day or so so that you do not have a whole lot of pills at one time. Also may depend on type of rx! As to a form, really all she said was to submit a letter listing the rx numbers from current listing explaining why the request was being made. We dont travel around a lot of mil facilities so access to refills is limited since they no longer allow tfl refill at wally world or walgreens etc which have national access to your rx listings.

Since we spend 5 months in our RV traveling in Mexico most winters, we have always asked for, and received, a vacation allowance from our base pharmacy, (NAS Fallon) which is an extra 90 day supply.

I have a Pharmacy/Prescription related question. Since I carry other health insurance, TRICARE is seccondary and the rules do not allow me to use the mail order program. We will start to do some extensive traveling soon and just trying to find the best way to handle my meds. All of my scripts are written by a civilian doctor. They are filled at the local krogers (grocery) which I have been told before we start to travel transfer them all to Walmart, better for nationwide coverage. Is there anyone else out there that is in this situation where TRICARE is secondary? Just trying to make sure not only i have meds all the time, but at the best price. And yes I will usually leave with at least a 90 day supply with me.

Thoughts

Bob