From Military.com:
“After Auto Refill Policy Change, Caregivers Can Now Manage
Tricare Patients' Online Pharmacy Accounts”
(A patient is serviced at the KMCC Satellite Pharmacy at
Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Oct. 4, 2022.)
Tricare has begun letting its users add caregivers to their
online Express Scripts pharmacy accounts, a move that could help patients who
are less internet-savvy navigate the refill process and not inadvertently have
their refills canceled. The addition of caregivers to the accounts was
announced Thursday after Tricare and Express Scripts, which manages the Tricare
Pharmacy Program, rolled out a new process in January that requires patients to
log in to their online accounts or otherwise confirm all their automatic
mail-order prescription refills. Caregivers might include family members,
friends or health-care providers, such as a home health nurse, according to the
announcement. Adding them online also means they can act on the user's behalf
in person, such as picking up a prescription from a military pharmacy (check
locally for details) or a retail pharmacy. Adding a caregiver will authorize
the person to manage the user's prescriptions, including ordering, picking up,
checking the status, answering pharmacists' questions and canceling. The
caregiver will also be able to manage the account itself, such as setting up
communication preferences and shipping and billing information.
Tricare, the military's health insurance program for some 9
million service members, retirees and dependents, "understands that you
may sometimes need support in managing your medications," according to the
announcement. "For many beneficiaries who take one or more medications,
adding a caregiver means you can have help managing your prescription, if and
when you need it." Adding a caregiver is totally optional. Users can
continue to manage their own accounts and can remove caregivers. Up to eight
caregivers may be added to an account. Express Scripts notified Tricare users
in December that it would stop automatically sending medications via mail order
unless patients manually confirm each time. Officials said the change was in
part to reduce medication waste and save beneficiaries money. From January
though the end of March, 5% of those receiving automatic mail-order refills
either disenrolled or didn't consent to renew their prescriptions, according to
the Defense Health Agency. Of the patients enrolled in the mail-order pharmacy
program in December, 67% were getting automatic refills. As of March, that
overall percentage had fallen to 65.
How to Add a Caregiver to Your ExpressScripts Online Account First gather some information about
the caregiver you want to add to your ExpressScripts online account, including
their:
Name
Email address
Date of birth
Phone number
To add the caregiver, according to ExpressScripts:
Log in to your online account.
Click on "Account" and choose "Add a
Caregiver."
^ This is long over-due. ^
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