Since 09-03-05
TRICARE Ensures Beneficiaries Affected By Hurricane Katrina Can Access Their Pharmacy Benefit
Since 09-03-05
Sent:
Saturday, September 03, 2005 1:31 PM
To: ljmix@juno.com
Subject: Fw: Fw: Hurricane Katrina Can Access Their Pharmacy Benefit
For all Americans and friends. Lowell J. Mix
September 2, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Can Access Their Pharmacy
Benefit No. 09-28
TRICARE is committed to working with beneficiaries displaced and affected by
Hurricane Katrina to ensure they receive their medications during this time
of tragedy. These beneficiaries will be able to get early prescription
refills if needed.
The TRICARE Operation Center in San Antonio is being staffed 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, and is working with retail pharmacies to authorize these
requests. Beneficiaries with questions about filling prescriptions or
submitting claims for the retail pharmacy program may contact Express
Scripts Inc. (ESI), the TRICARE pharmacy contractor, at 1-866-363-8779
(1-866-DOD-TRRX).
Beneficiaries previously using the mail order pharmacy may request their
prescriptions from retail pharmacies if they are unable to receive their
prescriptions by mail. ESI will not ship any medications to ZIP codes that
the U.S. Postal Service has blocked.
For those relocating to areas where postal service is still available, the
mail order pharmacy contractor is updating patient information to include
temporary mailing addresses so prescriptions will reach the beneficiaries at
their new location.
For questions about their mail order pharmacy benefit, beneficiaries may
contact ESI at 1-866-363-8667 (1-866-DOD-TMOP). Additionally, from Sept. 1
through Sept. 14, 2005, the Department of Defense will waive the pharmacy copay for beneficiaries unable to pay it.
ESI is notifying more than 50,000 pharmacies in the retail network to
contact the TRICARE Pharmacy Operations Center to process these requests.
Beneficiaries may contact ESI with questions about this waiver. http://www.tricare.osd.mil/news/2005/news0528.cfm