I'm revisiting the topic today because I have yet another gripe about these places. I've noticed that a lot of clinics have started printing a portion of their "pain contract" on the prescriptions. By filling this prescription, you agree to various terms, such as only going to their clinic for prescriptions, only going to one pharmacy, etc. But my favorite is, "You agree to take the medication as prescribed and not ask for an early refill."
What's so completely odd about this is that most of my patients that go to these clinics get seen every three weeks, yet come out of the clinic with a prescription for a narcotic with a month supply quantity. Oh, some of the prescribers will put a "do not fill until such-n-such date" on the prescription, but MOST do not. They contract the patient NOT to ask for an early refill, THEN they give them a prescription which can be filled right away. They tell the patient not to eat the cupcake then set one right in front of them!
I had a patient last year who saw the pain doc every three weeks on the dot. Every three weeks he would give her a script for 30 days worth of Oxycodone 30mg, quantity 300. Yep, she was taking 10 tablets a day. Crazy. AND... to top it off, EVERY time I called to ask what the heck is going on the office would tell me that the doc approved her getting it filled. What was the point of writing it for a 30 day supply? Seriously. I still think there's a lot of funny business going on in these "management" clinics. Yeah, what they manage to do is get your money every three weeks.
3 comments:
That's crazy. I get at most 2 days overlap to fill my scripts. Then again, I go to a reputable doctor who has a really good reputation in a major metropolitan area. I've been a chronic pain patient for almost 20 years and I've had 2 doctors that entire time, with the only reason for having two is moving states. My previous doc was the head of pain doc association for the state, so no slacker there either.
You just don't get it... It is 21 days of therapy and 9 days of salable product to be able to afford to go back to the pain clinic in 3 weeks :-)
How else is a person going to be able to balance their personal budget !
It is home budgeting 101 :-)
Love Steve's comment. A bit old for emojis, so I will just have to use actual words for my appreciation.
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