Prescription Refills

To arrange for a prescription refill, call your pharmacy and give them the prescription number from your old bottle. The pharmacist will then call us for authorization, and your refill will be ready when you arrive at the pharmacy.

To save time, please don’t call our office directly to request a routine medication refill unless you believe some change in the medication dosage or quantity is required. Calling us directly will only delay your refill.

“Why won’t you authorize my refills for more than three months at a time?”

We’ve never written refills for more than three months. Why? Because the FDA has decided that medicines designated as “prescription” should be available by doctor’s prescription only, with close physician oversight. If a patient can have unlimited refills for a year or more, there is no supervision taking place, which puts patients at risk of developing all sorts of insidious health problems and complications.

We make it a high priority to try to keep up with the health status of every one of our CFM patients, even the ones we haven’t seen for a while. We have many patients to think about, so we have systems to remind us to think about each of them regularly. One way we do this is by monitoring all prescription refills personally. This serves to jog our memories about which patients are taking which medicines, who is due for a checkup, and so forth.

Another very important reason why we like to remain “in the loop” when our patients refill their prescriptions is because sometimes prescribing information changes, such as dosage recommendations, contraindications, etc.

Sure, it takes a lot of doctor and staff time for us to look over your record before we authorize your refills on the phone (or by mail), but we’re willing to spend that extra time because we think that’s the right way to take care of our patients. Sometimes it means a minor inconvenience for you, but… aren’t you glad you have a doctor who cares?