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Trends: PCPs putting mail-order fill decision in patients’ hands

Medicare & Reimbursement Advisor Weekly, November 6, 2009

Two hundred twenty-six out of 752 primary care physicians (PCP) and internists that MRAW polled this month confirm that their practices are now giving their Medicare patients mail-order prescription forms to complete at home and mail with payment to the PBM. For example, a geriatrician’s practice in Wenham, MA, instructs his Medicare patients to send the form to CareMark to handle payment and medication delivery for 30- and 90-day supplies. This means that more elderly patients will be responsible for filling orders. The change in policy is mostly due, said about one-fifth of the 226 doctors, to PBMs losing prescription orders from the physician’s office, which added staff time. A smaller number of physicians, 16, said the move begins to give patients greater involvement in their healthcare, medications, and finances.

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