Ask the Pharmacist: May/June 2019

Q: It seems like I am going to the pharmacy every week to get one of my parents prescriptions filled. Is there a way to get them all at the same time, once a month?

A: Everyone is busy these days, we spend so much of our time running errands that we do not have enough time for the fun or relaxing activities. I am sure if you could make one trip to the pharmacy each month you could find something better to do with the time you save.

To help you achieve this, most pharmacies offer a service called “medication synchronization” or med sync for short. It saves patients time, money and hassle when it comes to their prescription drug refills. It also can go a long way toward tackling a national health problem and reducing the country’s overall medical costs from patients not taking their medications properly. Poor adherence may be the most deadly, most costly, and yet most preventable action that can keep patients healthier.

Many patients and families have multiple medications and getting all those refills can require several trips to the pharmacy each month. Now through a med sync program your pharmacy team can work with your insurance plans so that all of your refills are available for pickup on the same date.

The pharmacy can check with you each month to see if there are any changes in the medications and will also contact you when all of the prescriptions are ready for pickup.

Our patients currently enrolled in this program love it. A new national survey reinforces that, finding that 83 percent of patients signed up for med sync services say that they are very helpful in managing their prescription refills, according to Langer Research Associates.

A pharmacy’s med sync program can help patients take their medications as prescribed, prevent them from running out of medication and provide you with more time to enjoy living.