While many psychologists write blog posts about feelings or internal challenges, I find that I am mostly motivated to blog about the common practical issues that many of my clients face. Since I am a Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina provider, a large percentage of my clients use this insurance. BCBC-NC uses Medco to manage their members’ prescription drug benefits. Getting prescriptions filled regularly can be quite a hassle and difficult to stay on top of.
For clients taking prescriptions to treat AD/HD, Depression, or Anxiety, skipping doses or taking medication sporadically can have negative effects on treatment outcomes – in other words, it means that you’re not going to progress in the ways that you’d like. Usually there are a lot of ups and downs and trials that happen BEFORE the decision to start medication has begun. Once the prescription has been given to you by your doc, my short message to you is TAKE IT!
It’s not always easy, and I’ve found out some ways that getting that sucker filled can be much less of a hassle. Medco has a website (www.medcohealth.com) that is available to most holders of BCBS-NC where they can conduct a variety of pharmacy benefit transactions including online access to their mail order pharmacy. You just have to check your insurance cards. Look for "PAID BNCDRUG."
What is VERY cool about this site is that once you are logged in for the first time, you will see all of the prescriptions that you have been filling at your local (real world) pharmacy, and with a few clicks, you can transfer ALL of those prescriptions to the Medco pharmacy.
Yes, there is some initial paperwork involved. For certain medications (like the stimulants prescribed for AD/HD), it will be necessary for you to fax a driver’s license, and it will be necessary for your doctor to mail in a paper prescription. You’ll also have to mail in a form. Yes, it’s a pain, but it’s a necessary evil. But here’s the beautiful part: Once you’ve gone through this hassle, they will ship you three months of your prescription at a time! One hassle for THREE months, not the usual one.
For those of you diagnosed with AD/HD holding BCBS-NC insurance, this will be a HUGE relief, because that monthly obstacle course of calling the doctor, getting the call back that the script it ready, driving to the doctor’s office, picking up the script, driving to the pharmacy, waiting for it to be filled… that’s fraught with potential derailment. And it’s often the case that people with AD/HD don’t make it all the way through. For those of you taking other less protected psychoactive medications (SSRIs, antidepressants), the hurdles aren’t as tricky.
A few tips:
For clients taking prescriptions to treat AD/HD, Depression, or Anxiety, skipping doses or taking medication sporadically can have negative effects on treatment outcomes – in other words, it means that you’re not going to progress in the ways that you’d like. Usually there are a lot of ups and downs and trials that happen BEFORE the decision to start medication has begun. Once the prescription has been given to you by your doc, my short message to you is TAKE IT!
It’s not always easy, and I’ve found out some ways that getting that sucker filled can be much less of a hassle. Medco has a website (www.medcohealth.com) that is available to most holders of BCBS-NC where they can conduct a variety of pharmacy benefit transactions including online access to their mail order pharmacy. You just have to check your insurance cards. Look for "PAID BNCDRUG."
What is VERY cool about this site is that once you are logged in for the first time, you will see all of the prescriptions that you have been filling at your local (real world) pharmacy, and with a few clicks, you can transfer ALL of those prescriptions to the Medco pharmacy.
Yes, there is some initial paperwork involved. For certain medications (like the stimulants prescribed for AD/HD), it will be necessary for you to fax a driver’s license, and it will be necessary for your doctor to mail in a paper prescription. You’ll also have to mail in a form. Yes, it’s a pain, but it’s a necessary evil. But here’s the beautiful part: Once you’ve gone through this hassle, they will ship you three months of your prescription at a time! One hassle for THREE months, not the usual one.
For those of you diagnosed with AD/HD holding BCBS-NC insurance, this will be a HUGE relief, because that monthly obstacle course of calling the doctor, getting the call back that the script it ready, driving to the doctor’s office, picking up the script, driving to the pharmacy, waiting for it to be filled… that’s fraught with potential derailment. And it’s often the case that people with AD/HD don’t make it all the way through. For those of you taking other less protected psychoactive medications (SSRIs, antidepressants), the hurdles aren’t as tricky.
A few tips:
- Start by going to http://medcohealth.com
- Under the login fields, you’ll see First time user, then after that click on “Click here to register.”
- Fill out the info in the light yellow boxes called: (1) Tell us about yourself, (2) Tell us about your Medco member information (your Member number / subscriber ID is your BCBS “Subscriber ID”), and (3) Provide your e-mail address and create a password.
- Click “Register Now.”
- If you get stuck, there is a number on the back of your insurance card called Pharmicist Help Desk. They should be able to help you.
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