TRICARE Patients' Deadline To Switch (from CVS) Pharmacy Is Dec. 1
By: Karen Jowers, November 29, 2016
It happens at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 -- CVS leaves the Tricare retail
pharmacy network and Walgreens returns.
Tricare patients who now use CVS should transfer their prescriptions to another
pharmacy in the Tricare network, because if you have a prescription filled at a
CVS pharmacy after Dec. 1, you'll pay full retail price. You can file a claim
for partial reimbursement of the cost, but since CVS will be considered an
out-of-network pharmacy, Tricare will reimburse only 50 percent of the cost.
The change also affects CVS pharmacies located within Target stores.
Express Scripts, Inc., the Tricare pharmacy contractor, announced Sept. 30 that
they have reached a new network agreement with Walgreens, and that CVS
pharmacies would leave the network.
Walgreens isn't the only place you can get prescriptions refilled. Express
Scripts has agreements with a number of other pharmacies, including other
national chains such as Rite Aid, grocery chains such as Safeway and independent
pharmacies.
The new network will have more than 58,000 locations nationwide, according to
Express Scripts. You can
<https://www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE/pharmacy/findpharmacy.shtml> locate a
pharmacy on the Express Scripts Tricare Pharmacy Program site. At
https://www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE/pharmacy/findpharmacy.shtml. On Dec. 1,
the CVS locations will be removed from that site and Walgreens locations will be
added.
There are a number of ways to transfer the prescription to a new pharmacy, such
as:
* Take your prescription bottles to the new pharmacy, where the pharmacist
will contact your previous pharmacy.
* Call the new pharmacy and ask them to get your prescription drug
information from your previous pharmacy.
* Ask your doctor to send prescription information to the new pharmacy.
There are other pharmacy choices, too, such as using military pharmacies, or
using the Tricare Pharmacy Home Delivery. Find out if your prescription drug is
eligible for the home delivery service by calling 855-778-1417.
For those with other health insurance plans that are the primary payer, if you
get the prescription filled at CVS, Tricare treats the balance of the claim
after the other health insurance pays the same as it would a normal
out-of-network claim, subject to deductibles, cost shares and copayments,
depending on the plan, according to a Defense Health Agency official.
Walgreens previously was a part of the Tricare Pharmacy Network, but left
Tricare in 2011 in a dispute over drug discounts.
For more information, visit the
<https://www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE/index.shtml> Tricare Pharmacy Program
site (https://www.express-scripts.com/TRICARE/index.shtml).
Karen Jowers covers military families, Tricare, quality of life and consumer
issues for Military Times. She can be reached at
<mailto:kjowers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> kjowers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
SOURCE: Military Times article at
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/tricare-patients-deadline-to-switch-pharma
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