Imagine discovering you can save $100 per fill on that medication you’ve been paying for every month. You’re elated and start thinking of all the things you can put that money toward from now on.
The only thing standing between you and a four-figure pay raise is getting a new prescription for that cheaper but equally effective drug.
Should be a no-brainer, right?
Yet some people perceive the process of getting a new prescription as daunting. They’re too busy. It’s too confusing. They’d rather not mess with it, or they put it off unnecessarily.
In reality, requesting a new prescription is pretty simple. All you need to do is contact your physician’s office or other prescriber with the name of the new drug, its strength and quantity, and the pharmacy where you’d like it dispensed.
Sure, it doesn’t always happen overnight. Medical practices are busy places. Chances are you’ll leave the request on a voicemail. It may take a couple of follow-up calls or emails. And you’ll want to confirm with your chosen pharmacy that the new script was called in.
But it’s an effort worth making, as we see members saving hundreds of dollars or more per year by following our proposed savings suggestions.
Or Just Press the âEasy’ Button
After watching some savings opportunities go unrealized—often due to required new prescriptions—Rx Savings Solutions decided to do something about it.
We launched the Contact Prescriber feature last fall, which automates the process of requesting a lower-cost, therapeutically equivalent prescription. With one click by the member, Rx Savings Solutions:
- Facilitates the prescription change with the pharmacy and/or prescriber
- Tracks the progress until the new prescription or new medication is confirmed
- Notifies the member when the prescription is ready for pick-up or delivery
Already, Contact Prescriber is achieving the desired results:
- Members spend an average of 79 seconds from start to finish
- Requests are successful 85 percent of the time (15 percent unsuccessful due to prescribers requiring a new appointment, member out of refills, etc.)
- Members and plans are saving an average of $361 and $385 per year, respectively, as a result of the transactions
Contact Prescriber is available as an add-on to the standard Rx Savings offering. A downloadable, pre-formatted prescription request letter to providers is available to all members, with or without Contact Prescriber
