Can You Fill A Prescription Early At A Different Pharmacy?
You can fill a prescription early at a different pharmacy for the same medication if you get a new prescription from your medical provider even if you still have a supply of medication on hand. That’s the benefit of using EasyDrugCard – there are no restrictions.
If you have a prescription at your local pharmacy you can get a refill at any time when using the EasyDrugCard prescription drug discount card. Unlike insurance, there are no early refill restrictions because you are paying the full discounted price yourself – not your insurance company.
If you filled your prescription at a large chain like Walgreens or CVS you can get a refill at any of their pharmacies nationwide – as long as you stick within the same chain that has your original prescription on file. You would not be able, for instance, to refill a prescription at Walgreens if your original fill was at CVS.
Can you fill a prescription early at a different pharmacy?
There are however filling restrictions regardless of using insurance or a discount drug card on schedule II controlled substances. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration website:
“Prescriptions for schedule II controlled substances cannot be refilled. A new prescription must be issued. Prescriptions for schedules III and IV controlled substances may be refilled up to five times in six months. Prescriptions for schedule V controlled substances may be refilled as authorized by the practitioner.”
Schedule II controlled substances are highly regulated to prevent abuse or harm and have reporting requirements to the DEA by pharmacies. Examples of Schedule II narcotics include: hydromorphone (Dilaudid), methadone (Dolophine), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), and fentanyl (Sublimaze, Duragesic). Other Schedule II narcotics include: morphine, opium, and codeine.
Pharmacists use discretion when filling narcotic prescriptions
Pharmacists are not careless and don’t turn a blinds-eye to consistent early narcotic refill requests. According to Pharmacy Times contributor Jason Poquette, a pharmacist and a 1993 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy. “pharmacists who are repeatedly confronted with early refill requests have a responsibility to say ‘no.’ Those who ignore this issue and repeatedly fill narcotics too soon are being careless with their license and the profession’s reputation.”
If you lost, accidentally destroyed, misplaced, or you simply would like to get an additional supply of your medication before you consumed it all, you can get another prescription from your physician’s office to replace it.
Unlike insurance, with a prescription discount card there are no “refill too soon” restrictions preventing you from getting additional medication.
Remember, when using our prescription drug savings card there are no restriction limitations like there would be with a health insurance plan.
