Shoreline

HI PR, For some reason I'm not able to respond on your thread but thought I would explain about partial fills. Your pharmacist has actually gone way out on a ledge risking sanctions and not having his C-2 logs being accurate. Although more often than not we are told that partial fills cannot be done on C-2 medication. This is not true. A partial can be done as long as it's completed within 72 hours. To have his C-2 logs off for over 2 weeks places the pharmacist under the gun. Having an overage of C-2 is just as bad as having a shortage. Dispensing more according to the computer than he actually has on hand is just as bad as being caught short.

When he completes this fill the bottle should either not have a label since these are already billed meds or should have a copy of the original label on it. You have done nothing wrong by excepting a partial fill but the pharmacist is left hanging with his cheeks flapping in the wind.

He can't reconcile his C-2 log as long as this discrepancy remains on the books. So having the owed meds dispensed on the same day you fill your new script does not draw attn. to you, but rather draws attn. to your pharmacist as it looks like he's cooking the books to hide discrepancies.

You shouldn't feel bad about picking up your remaining meds nor should you feel bad about picking up your new script. It's really not his buisness how you got by.

For folks that a pharmacist has been decent enough to allow a partial fill should be picked up as soon as possible so the Rph can reconcile his books, Leaving an IOU for C-2's in his pharmacy can cause him problems not you.

If he billed your insurance for more than you received than he has committed fraud especially since the 72 hour time frame has elapsed. He can't kill the remainder of that script because he has already billed you. He's the one in sticky territory.

Certainly be grateful that your pharmacist was willing to go through the headache and follow up on a partial C-2 and let him know you appreciate it. After this experience he may be a little less inclined to do a partial fill though.

Next time you speak let him know you will pick them up as soon as they arrive so that he can clear his books. In my state C-2 counts have to be done weekly and turned into the Board of pharmacy, the DEA and the store national headquarters. So his inaccurate log will more than likely cause him a problem before it causes you one. It would be best to complete both transactions, the pick of the partial and the new fill with the same pharmacist to prevent another hand in the pot trying to figure out why the log is off.

Partial fills are meant for when the truck is due the next day and they know they can complete the fill. They cannot mix a name brand med and a generic. They have different costs and it creates a problem when billing the insurance. Just like they can't give you twice as many 15 mgs Roxicodone tabs if they don't have the 30mg tabs that were prescribed. They would need an entirely new script to do this.

IF he wrote on the bottle and crossed out the quantity and wrote the number dispensed you have all the proof you need that you have done nothing wrong and the Rph, if he was going to take action should have rebilled the script immediately after the 72 hours time frame had passed and kill the remaining pills you did not pick up, By rebilling he has not committed fraud with the insurance company by billing them for more than you recieved. believe it or not, you are in the cat birds seat at this time.

Just let him know you will pick up the remainder the day they come in so he can reconcile his books.

That remainder has nothing to do with a new script. The day supply was calculated and billed when he filled the original script so you wouldn't be Picking up anything early according to the insurance or the computer.

# of days supply is calculated when each new script is filled so regardless of when you pick up the remainder, your original day supply stays in tact and you can fill when that # has been depleted regardless of when you pick up the IOU.

As you see this gets very complicated and can see why so many patients are told by pharmacists they can't do partial fills on C-2 when in fact there is a legal provision but still leaves the Rph's books inaccurate until the fill is complete.

Take care, Shore