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Recognizing the challenges some patients face in staying on track with their medications, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has adopted a new state law to make it a little easier.
Act 46 of 2019 will allow consumers to synchronize the refilling of their prescriptions, meaning they can pick up all of their medications on one day rather than having to make multiple trips to the pharmacy.
This will be especially helpful for senior citizens, busy families, and others who have limited transportation options.
In addition to patient convenience, this legislation seeks to reduce poor healthcare outcomes that result from decreased medication adherence. For this reason, Medicaid Part D already allows for medication synchronization.
A study by Harvard Medical School found that when medications were not synchronized, patients had adherence rates that were 8.4% lower than patients for which medications were synchronized.
To facilitate medication synchronization, the law will enable consumers to synchronize their prescription refills and bar insurance companies from denying coverage for a partial fill of a script.
The legislation will also ensure the pharmacy receives a full dispensing fee from the transaction; a pharmacy’s overhead cost of dispensing a partial script is the same as dispensing the full quantity.
Thirty-five other states have enacted or introduced similar legislation; the law takes effect in Pennsylvania next summer.