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Maria Pugliese

What happens to prescriptions when patients dont pick them up?

David Farmer  Follow

Most pharmacies will keep prescriptions ready for pickup for about a week. If they are not picked up by then, they are put back on the shelf.

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Damon Howze  Follow

When a prescription is not picked up it goes back on the shelf, remaining in the Rx vial it was dispensed in. The patient's name is blacked out and the medications exp date is written on the label. It is then ready to be dispensed on another order.

If it was for private pay (no insurance), The prescription is reversed on the patient's profile when the drug goes back on the shelf

But if it any of the Rx charges was paid by an insurance company the claim must be reversed. Insurance companies frown on paying for unpicked up meds.

The length of time before returning a prescription to stock varies but generally, 2 weeks is the average time it will sit in pickup before returning to the shelf. Extremely expensive or special order meds maybe in a week.

compounds and reconstituted Rx's are destroyed if not picked up although at my store we don’t reconstitute Rx's until the patient is there to pick up. Specialty compounded Rx's will be discarded

If the rx is a narcotic the amount subtracted in the narcotic log book when dispensed is added back

What other stores do may vary. But this is what I've done for 35 years.

That's the long answer. The short answer is —

We reuse them when we can.

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