Fulltiming and Prescriptions

Pain meds are now a different animal. As stated earlier, you can only have a 30 day prescription and pharmacies will not fill prescriptions written by an out-of-state doctor. Many GP's will no longer write the prescriptions because of the paperwork required. I know people in our park here in Texas have a relative fill a prescription at their "home" and send the meds to them here. In this case, their pain doc has written several prescriptions and the relative takes a new one each month to get the meds.

Dale

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input.

We will go fulltime August of 2016 and here's what we've decided to do. Hopefully it works for us!!

Per all the suggestions -

Express Script is the way to go. We currently use them now, so not a big deal to continue.

We'll most likely stay someplace for the winter, so we'll find a primary there and work out the scripts with him.

ALL medical records will go onto a thumb drive and allow us to carry while travelling. This will help if we need to see a Doc on the road.

Thanks again,
-paul

I have to see my heart doc once a year and we also see our GP once a year. Both will send scripts to pharmacies wherever we are. We use Wal Mart I have not yet found an area where I can't find one within an hour of my location. If you go to or call a Wal Mart pharmacy wherever you are they will transfer and fill your refill. We don't use pain meds so that is not an issue. If you are going to stay in one local long enough then you can probably use the express meds mail. Pain meds at least here in Fla. require a written script form a local doc. Good luck and enjoy the fulltime lifestyle.

C-Bears wrote:
If you need pain meds, or what some are referring to as schedule II, you would have to visit a Prompt Care or similar facility wherever you are spending the winter.

When we arrived at our winter spot the DW had flu. It was getting really bad and her back home Doctor wouldn't call anything in. Visit to local prompt care and she got the drugs she needed, didn't have to pay anything, and they billed medicare/sup insurance directly....easy-peasy.

That is a typical story about a typical event. Here is mine. The wife has had 18 surgeries including lumbar and cervical fusions. Her hips are going out now. She takes pain meds daily. Strong stuff sometimes and weaker stuff other times. Just enough to get her through the day. Her doctor of 30 years has had a new rule imposed on him, whereby he must drug test her occasionally just to prove that she has the Oxy in her system and is not selling the drugs on the street.

Last Fall we flew to New Hampshire to visit our daughter in her new house (her first move away from New Mexico) and the sitting on the airplanes aggravated her pain to the point that she went through her allotment of pain meds in just a few days. We did visit a local urgent care facility where she presented her electronic medical charts (she keeps on a USB drive on a medical wristband) to the local doctor. After claiming that Encyclopedia Britannica was an easier read, he gave her 7 pills to finish out the 10 days remaining on our trip. She came out of his exam room crying in pain and disappointment that the doctors are more worried about getting sued than treating her pain.

She works 28 hours a week and tries to live as normal a life as possible given her chronic pain condition. I worry that her lifeline of pain meds will keep our wandering to a minimum. She wants nothing more than to go see this beautiful country when she retires in a couple years and I am presently researching what it will take to make this happen for her (and me as well). I'm sorry if this came off as a rant but "easy-peasy" is so far from the truth of our situation that I thought I might educate anyone listening that sometimes a trivial concern for one person can be a major concern for someone else.

trikepilot wrote:

vermilye wrote:


Another problem is with the Schedule II drugs that can only be prescribed for 30 days & no refills: Link.

That is my biggest concern when we hit the road full time. We think we will have to be back to our hometown at least every 6 months just to get the scrips filled. We plan on staying a month each time at a local RV park to visit doctors, get our teeth cleaned, catch up with old friends, and perform any needed maintenance on the rig. We were hoping to spend winters at different locations around the US but think that the schedule II drug issue will determine our schedule for us instead.

We're in Mesa, AZ for the winter. Lots of 'snowbirds' in the area and a lot have established physician care in the area for the winter months. Yes, it does somewhat limit their travel, but most of them do well having physicians in two areas traveling in between and varying the routes they travel between the two points.

Barb

If you need pain meds, or what some are referring to as schedule II, you would have to visit a Prompt Care or similar facility wherever you are spending the winter.

When we arrived at our winter spot the DW had flu. It was getting really bad and her back home Doctor wouldn't call anything in. Visit to local prompt care and she got the drugs she needed, didn't have to pay anything, and they billed medicare/sup insurance directly....easy-peasy.

vermilye wrote:


Another problem is with the Schedule II drugs that can only be prescribed for 30 days & no refills: Link.

That is my biggest concern when we hit the road full time. We think we will have to be back to our hometown at least every 6 months just to get the scrips filled. We plan on staying a month each time at a local RV park to visit doctors, get our teeth cleaned, catch up with old friends, and perform any needed maintenance on the rig. We were hoping to spend winters at different locations around the US but think that the schedule II drug issue will determine our schedule for us instead.

3 month prescription with 3 refills for a total of 12 months. Walgreen's as been there for us across the country for 10 years. I have 12 prescriptions to be filled every 90 days. Pain meds can only be filled in the state the doctor is located in due to the Affordable Care Act as of last year.

We end up staying in our original home area for 3 or 4 months during part of the summer so we can spend time with kids/grandkids. We have maintained our Doctors there so everything can be taken care of. Our docs are pretty good about keeping our scripts current for a year until we come back in for a check-up.

We do mail order scripts for 90 days at a time. They will send them to whatever address we want and once you get set up with them it takes us about 2 minutes to reorder on line.

vermilye wrote:
While standard prescriptions work OK with 4 90 day refills if you can use the same chain drug store, if you have to transfer them you may find your 4 refills become one. Not every location has a Walmart, CVS, or other chain pharmacies nearby.

Another problem is with the Schedule II drugs that can only be prescribed for 30 days & no refills: Link.

I take prescriptions that require triplicates, and while they cannot be renewed, my doctor does write 90 day prescriptions. I just call or email the doc when I am close to being out and they fax a new prescription in. I'm currently covered by UHC but the same was true under Aetna. Again, I'm using Express Scripts rather than going to a local pharmacy, so YMMV. Note that E.S. will not accept a new prescription unless I'm down to a 30 day or less supply based on the prescription directions.