Prescription Drug Refills

Last spring after wintering in Yuma AZ we started our trek back to the east coast and our first scheduled stop was at Tucson, AZ. We stayed at a very nice RV park just off the interstate (Prince of Tucson) because we could not even get a dry camp spot at the Davis-Monthan AFB RV Park. Our objective here was to play a little golf at the base, do some shopping at the BX and get our prescription drugs refilled. Well all was going just great till we got to the medical facility. Clearly against DOD policy they refused to transfer our prescriptions and the base commander stood firm on his decision to not transfer prescriptions for personnel just passing through his command. So we went on to El Paso and had no problem at all at Fort Bliss. Davis-Monthan AFB is the only base we have ever been to that will not transfer prescription drugs.

FastEagle

I didn't even know we could get refills at other bases, so this is great news. How was the golf?

I beat the one arm, one leg WWII vet by a stroke. The other two WWII vets both waxed me.

FastEagle

Fasteagle,

I do know here at Nellis AFB, that you may get refills from the Satellite Pharmacy. I've heard from our guest at Desert Eagle, they contact their Doctors office, who in return faxes a prescribtion over, or some have even called ( I think those are pre-approved from previous times and are on file at the Satellite office).

I also believe that some have taken their empty bottles in and somehow get just what they need to hold them over, (with Dr approval, I'm sure).
If anyone else has experienced refills, please share. I know that when we are ready to get "On the road again", this information will come very valuable to us.

Keep it safe, stay healthy!
4NT

I'm going to use this space to expand a little bit on what I know and share with you what experience I have with prescription drugs and how to get refills while on the road. In 2003 when we hit the road you could get a written prescription from whom ever your doctor was, take it to any military pharmacy and get a 90 day supply with three refills remaining. In 2003 DOD policy was all three refills could be transferred from one military pharmacy to another. In other words you could get your initial 1st fill at the Hospital at NAS, Jacksonville, FL 90 days later you could show up at Ft. Bragg, NC get registered in the computer at Womak Hospital and get your refill transferred from FL to NC and pick them up on the same day. And you could do this two more times at two other Military Pharmacies. Sometime in 2005 DOD decided this paper trail was too long and limited it to one transfer. Once you have registered into a military pharmacy it is almost as simple as getting it at you home Military pharmacy. We have done this with our prescription ever since we hit the road. The only exception is drugs that are not on the pharmacy list or drugs that have no genic issues. Then you have to go to the tricare mail in service. Which is also easy as they will mail them to you on the road either over night delivery or priority or whatever you designate. We have met lots of people that don't know this and use Wal-Mart who will also transfer prescriptions from store to store but of course now you have another added expense. Some states do not allow cross state line transfers -SC comes to mind - so ask around if you plan on using Wal-Mart.

FastEagle

If you qualify for VA meds, their mail service is also excellent. All you need to do is go on line to MyHealtheVet, go to the pharmacy and click on the refill boxes available. We have them all sent to MyHomeAddress in Emery, SD which forwards them to us with our regular mail. Normal exceptions--the drug must be in the VA formulary, you can get a 90 day supply and you need to see a VA doc for the Rx. You can also play a game of changing your address at your VA to get the drugs sent direct. But the real bennie is that for a 50 percent disabled vet the drugs are free.
I use a combo of VA and Express Scripts (the Tri-Care mail in pharmacy). We gave up Tri-Care Prime when we went on the road because Prime is single provider specific and getting healthcare outside of your region is nearly impossible. Standard is a "point of service" policy.
Glenn