WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense (DoD) military health system and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have joined forces to provide the military’s TRICARE beneficiaries with a new pharmacy benefit that refills prescriptions by mail.
The new program relies upon regional VA mail-in pharmacies to fill prescriptions for TRICARE beneficiaries.
The DoD/VA MTF Refill Mail Service (MRMS), a joint initiative with VA’s Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy program (CMOP), will begin this October at three sites — Darnall Army Community Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas; the Naval Medical Center, San Diego, Calif.; and the 377th Medical Group, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. — for a one-year pilot program.
To use MRMS, beneficiaries must first fill their original military or civilian prescriptions at one of the military treatment facilities (MTF) listed. “In most cases, beneficiaries at these sites will not have to leave their homes just to refill a prescription. All they have to do is pick up the phone, call the pharmacy that has their original prescription, select the refill-by-mail option, and CMOP does the rest,” said Army Col. Bill Davies, director of DoD pharmacy programs.
Most prescriptions can be delivered within five to eight days. There are, however, some medications (such as controlled substances or locally compounded items) that may not be available for delivery through CMOP. The refill call-in system at each of the three demonstration sites, will inform the beneficiary if their medication is available for mail out under the MRMS pilot program.
To eliminate delays in processing or delivering refill medications, beneficiaries should check with their MTF to ensure their eligibility status and home address, as listed in the Composite Health Care System (CHCS) electronic record, are the same as the information listed in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS).
“VA has more than 40 years of success providing eligible military veterans with refills of prescription medications by mail,” said John Ogden, chief consultant for VA pharmacy benefits management group. “The pilot program will test the impact of DoD shifting some of its pharmacy refill workload to various regional CMOP pharmacies operated by VA.”
The MRMS/CMOP is different from the DoD National Mail Order Pharmacy (NMOP) program that dispenses prescription medications to TRICARE beneficiaries. Beneficiaries using NMOP pay a co-payment for each prescription filled. The DoD/VA CMOP, does not require co-payments and only involves MTF refills.
“CMOP is an excellent example of two government agencies working together to provide high quality, cost-effective health care for its beneficiaries. If successful, the pilot program may lead to future expansion to TRICARE beneficiaries worldwide,” Davies said.
Additional information on MRMS, including telephone numbers for the refill pharmacies at the demonstration sites, is available on the MRMS fact sheet at www.tricare.osd.mil/factsheets/.
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