Prescription Refills

Our Policy

Fees for prescriptions and medication refill s vary depending on the amount of work involved.

Often we will require an office visit before refilling your medication. If it seems safe to do so, we will refill your prescription for a week or two if an immediate appointment is not possible.

How to Avoid Refill Requests

When we know you will be on a medication for a long time, we will give you a prescription with a one-year refill at the time of your visit. If you keep a copy of the prescription and always use the same pharmacy, you should not need to call the office for a refill.

Prescription Refill Requests Require Care and Attention

When you ask us to refill a medication, we consider these issues:

• The maximum length of time for which a drug can be refilled is one year.
• With any long-term drug, we require an office visit at least every 12 months. Sometimes new information comes out on a drug, sometimes less expensive drugs become available, sometimes side effects need to be checked for, and usually the condition for which you take the drug needs to be monitored.
• There are a large number of drugs which are relatively safe for short-term use but not for long-term use.
• We check to make sure that we did, in fact, prescribe the medication. On occasion, patients will call in for a refill of a medication prescribed elsewhere. We don't refill medications we haven't prescribed.
• Topical corticosteroids or topical antifungal agents are not refilled routinely. If the underlying condition has not resolved, the drug is often not the correct agent for the problem.
• Some drugs are subject to state regulation, such as phentermine and other drugs for weight loss. These require physical monitoring and cannot be refilled without it.
• Some drugs have addiction or habituation potential.
• Some drugs such as lithium, valproic acid and others require periodic blood levels to prevent overdosing.
• Other medications, such as for hypertension, may require a physical examination to ascertain effectiveness of treatment before a refill.
• Patients who are taking testosterone require an examination and a PSA every six months. Patients taking estrogen and other female hormones require an examination every year to monitor for adverse effects.
• Sometimes a costly drug can be substituted for the drug requested. Substituting desiccated thyroid, for instance, for Synthroid or levothyroxine can save a good deal of money.
• People on certain drugs, such as atorvastatin and other cholesterol lowering drugs, will require periodic laboratory testing and may require periodic dosage adjustment.

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