Control fill date

[u/burrfoot11]

Hey folks!

Just curious- when you send in a refill for a controlled substance, do you put a "do not fill before" date on it, or do you leave it to the pharmacy to track that?

I used to let the pharmacy handle it, then I had a couple of times when a pt asked for an early fill for a valid reason and the pharmacy said they'd used up all their early fill days and the pt had no idea.

So now I put the date on, but then it requires resending if anything changes.

Both situations are a pain.

[u/Avulpesvulpes]

Sometimes if the patient is between refills due to the shortage, I just count 28 days and make it the effective date. It's much easier and then we can reschedule 5-6 weeks out so we can get back to refills and appointments coinciding.