Christian Brother's Employee Benefit Trust is pleased to inform you of the steps your Rx provider Medco is prepared to take on behalf of our members who may have been impacted by Hurricane Ike.

Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust is pleased to inform you of the steps your Rx provider Medco is prepared to take on behalf of our members who may have been impacted by Hurricane Ike.

In addition to their standard emergency response measures, described below, Medco also offers an Emergency Access to Pharmacy Benefit and Cost Share Waiver program. This program provides tools for our members to ensure access to a pharmacy benefit during an emergency. It provides members the option to bypass certain regulations (e.g., Refill Too Soon, Retail Refill Allowance and Prescriber) and temporarily suspend their plan(s)’ cost-sharing feature(s) for those members who reside in certain ZIP codes within an area officially declared to be under a state of emergency.

As a reminder, Medco automatically takes the following actions during an emergency situation:

• Medco By Mail holds shipments of temperature-sensitive, narcotic, expedited and/or regular medications into impacted areas, depending upon the severity of the event.
• Medco replaces lost or damaged mail-order delivery prescriptions. Members are not charged a copay or shipping costs for the replacement prescription upon confirmation by Medco that the order was lost or damaged.
• Medco By Mail orders can be shipped to a temporary alternate address. Members who desire to have their prescription redirected are directed to call Medco customer service (the telephone number on the back of their member identification card) and request their order be mailed to a temporary address. This applies to new orders, refills of existing prescriptions on file with Medco and, in some instances, orders already placed.
• If a member is unable to receive their order by mail, Medco can transfer their prescription to a retail pharmacy for dispensing. The Medco Pharmacy Services Help Desk (1-800-922-1557) can assist the local pharmacy in processing the prescription if necessary.
• Medco can establish a toll-free telephone number for natural disaster victims. Whenever possible, patients should first utilize the specific number printed on their member identification card.
• Medco continues to make doctor calls and drug utilization review (DUR) calls and every effort is made to complete these calls. Orders will not be cancelled and returned unfilled to the member. Medco pharmacies hold these orders in-house until the member/prescriber has been reached.
• Medco can suspend all outbound calls to members regarding floor limits, past due balances, etc.
• Medco has a standing emergency process in place with retail pharmacies to address access to a pharmacy benefit during an emergency. Where possible, Medco provides communications to retail pharmacies on a regular basis to remind them of the online POS Refill-Too-Soon override during emergencies. Retail pharmacies are advised to call the Medco Pharmacy Help Desk for an override if the online POS override is not in place for the client’s benefit design and the member is in need of medication during an emergency.

Please contact the Trust should you have any questions related to Medco’s response to Hurricane Ike.