What to do if you have to evacuate without your medications

The Los Angeles fires person forced thousands to evacuate indefinitely from their homes, often without indispensable medications oregon aesculapian devices. Here’s what to bash if you find yourself without entree to the things you request to enactment connected apical of chronic conditions.

Go straight to the pharmacy

If the occurrence has closed your doctor’s office, oregon if hold times volition support you from getting your medicine erstwhile you request it, you tin spell straight to a pharmacy to regenerate needed medications, said Dr. Richard Dang, adjunct prof of objective pharmacy astatine the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“We decidedly don’t privation patients to hold days without medication, and physicians are astir apt slammed arsenic good with the requests that are coming successful connected apical of their regular diligent load,” helium said.

If you typically get prescriptions from a concatenation pharmacy similar CVS oregon Walgreens and your accustomed subdivision is closed oregon different inaccessible owed to the fires, you tin petition a refill from immoderate different pharmacy successful that chain.

If you’ve evacuated to an country without a subdivision of your accustomed pharmacy nearby, you tin spell to immoderate adjacent pharmacy and petition to person your prescriptions transferred to that location. If, for example, you typically get prescriptions from Rite Aid but person evacuated to an country with lone a Walgreens nearby, you tin spell to Walgreens and inquire to person your medicine transferred there.

If neither your pharmacy nor your doc is reachable due to the fact that of the disaster, California instrumentality allows pharmacists to dispense a “reasonable amount” of medication without a medicine astatine their discretion to spot patients done until they tin get a regular supply.

Don’t interest astir what’s in-network for now

The California Department of Managed Health Care connected Jan. 9 ordered each security providers licensed to run successful the authorities to suspend medicine refill limits for members affected by the fires who request to regenerate indispensable medications.

The bid besides allows consumers to capable existing prescriptions oregon get caller ones astatine out-of-network pharmacies without immoderate further costs beyond what they would person paid astatine in-network outlets.

“There are truthful galore barriers to getting meds. Patients don’t request immoderate much close now, fixed the situation,” said Dr. Rita Shane, vice president and main pharmacy serviceman astatine Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

If you are having occupation contacting oregon getting the services you request from your wellness insurer, you tin interaction the DMHC Help Center astatine www.DMHC.ca.gov oregon 888-466-2219 (TDD: 1-877-688-9891) for escaped assistance.

Call your security supplier to regenerate devices and equipment

The authorities bid besides mandates that security companies regenerate aesculapian instrumentality oregon supplies for radical who person mislaid oregon can’t entree theirs due to the fact that of the fires.

Call your healthcare program supplier to fig retired the champion mode to regenerate immoderate indispensable equipment. Every healthcare program is required to person a toll-free fig prominently displayed connected its website to assistance occurrence catastrophe victims.

Organizations tin help

If you’re not definite wherever to commencement oregon don’t typically person wellness insurance, you tin dial 211 oregon sojourn 211LA.org for assemblage organizations that tin assistance with exigency medicine entree and different services successful a disaster.

Don’t wait

The fires person upended thousands of lives successful Los Angeles County. While determination are a dizzying fig of things to instrumentality attraction of successful the aftermath of an evacuation, your wellness should beryllium a priority, Shane said.

“The astir important happening is to archer radical to get their refills sooner alternatively than later,” she said.

Insurers, pharmacies and doctors offices volition apt beryllium dealing with precocious caseloads and whitethorn person longer hold times than usual. Sorting retired prescriptions and instrumentality replacement without the documents you’d typically person connected manus whitethorn instrumentality longer.

“The past happening we privation is for radical to extremity up successful the exigency departments,” Shane said. “They could beryllium successful a concern of having to hold for a agelong time, and we wouldn’t privation radical to miss doses of medications that are truly important for their well-being.”