FRONT PAGE AMPYRA AUBAGIO AVONEX BETASERON COPAXONE EXTAVIA
Stan's Angels MS News Channel on YouTube GILENYA NOVANTRONE REBIF RITUXAN TECFIDERA TYSABRI
 THE AVONEX CHANNEL
Click Here For My Videos, Advice, Tips, Studies and Trials.
Timothy L. Vollmer, MD
Department of Neurology
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Professor

Co-Director of the RMMSC at Anschutz Medical Center

Medical Director-Rocky Mountain MS Center
Click here to read my columns
Brian R. Apatoff, MD, PhD
Multiple Sclerosis Institute
Center for Neurological Disorders

Associate Professor Neurology and Neuroscience,

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Clinical Attending in Neurology,
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
CLICK ON THE RED BUTTON BELOW
You'll get FREE Breaking News Alerts on new MS treatments as they are approved
MS NEWS ARCHIVES: by week
March 2005   
April 2005   
June 2005   
July 2005   
August 2005   
September 2005   
October 2005   
November 2005   
May 2006   
June 2006   
July 2006   
October 2006   
April 2010   
May 2013   
June 2013   
July 2013   
August 2013   
July 2014   
November 2014   
January 2015   
February 2015   
April 2015   
July 2015   
January 2016   
March 2016   

HERE'S A FEW OF OUR 6000+ Facebook & MySpace FRIENDS
Timothy L. Vollmer M.D.
Department of Neurology
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Co-Director of the RMMSC at Anschutz Medical Center
and
Medical Director-Rocky Mountain MS Center


Click to view 1280 MS Walk photos!

"MS Can Not
Rob You of Joy"
"I'm an M.D....my Mom has MS and we have a message for everyone."
- Jennifer Hartmark-Hill MD
Beverly Dean

"I've had MS for 2 years...this is the most important advice you'll ever hear."
"This is how I give myself a painless injection."
Heather Johnson

"A helpful tip for newly diagnosed MS patients."
"Important advice on choosing MS medication "
Joyce Moore


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Sunday

 

End-of-Year Task: Renewing Your DMT Prescription for 2016






























By Kim Dolce—December 8, 2015

December is upon us, and besides being the holiday season, ‘tis also the season to renew our prescriptions for disease-modifying therapies and reapply for co-pay assistance.

I take Tecfidera, so during the month of December, I will contact Biogen’s patient support arm, MSActiveSource, to submit a new application for 2016 co-pay assistance along with my 2015 tax documents. Next I will contact my specialty pharmacy, OptumRx, and have them fax a prior authorization form and request for prescription renewal to my neurologist. This seems pretty straightforward, and it ought to be. However . . .

There might be some extra considerations. Since I am on Medicare, that disqualifies me for the pharma company’s patient assistance program. Fortunately, Biogen works closely with charity organizations such as Chronic Disease Fund and Patient Assistance Network, which will cover patients like me that have government insurance. Funds are limited and might not extend over the entire benefit year. I have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. So far I’ve had the entire year covered.

After I get the ball rolling on all of the above, the real work begins. The co-pay assistance people, the specialty pharmacy, and the neurologist won’t necessarily coordinate the details with each other. In fact, I won’t count on that happening at all. Then the phone calls begin. I will make several calls to the specialty pharmacy (OptumRX) to get an update on whether they have faxed the prior authorization and refill request to my neurologist and gotten a response. In past years they have repeatedly denied having received the information from my neurologist. It is my responsibility to call my neurologist to find out if in fact they did. Then the war begins. My neuro claims the info was faxed and the specialty pharmacy insists they never received it. Another call to my neuro reveals they received a confirmation that in fact the pharmacy did receive it. And on and on. Sometime in January, it all falls into place: The charity fund sends me an acceptance letter that my co-pay will be covered in full, the specialty pharmacy has received my neuro’s info, and now I can set up a ship date for my first delivery of Tecfidera. If I’m lucky, I have a supply of Tecfidera to get me through January while all of this is being processed. If I’m doomed to run out, the specialty pharmacy will arrange to ship me a small emergency supply.

This makes for a stressful few weeks every year, but the process is a necessary one, so I bite the bullet and muddle through. I hope your experience goes more smoothly, but if it doesn’t, or you are new to this, I hope my advice and experience will help you manage the ordeal.

Here’s a list of patient support numbers for the various pharma companies that manufacture your disease-modifying therapies. If you need help with your co-pay, I urge you to contact them.

  • For Copaxone (Teva), your co-pay assistance source is Shared Solutions at: https://www.copaxone.com/shared-solutions or call toll-free: 1-800-887-8100
  • For Avonex, Tysabri, and Tecfidera (Biogen idec), see MSActiveSource at: http://www.msactivesource.com/ or call toll-free: 1-800-456-2255
  • For Betaseron (Bayer), see the BETAPLUS® patient support program at: http://www.betaseron.com/explore-betaseron or call toll-free: 1-800-788-1467
  • For Gilenya (Novartis), see Patient Assistance Now at: http://www.patientassistancenow.com/index.jsp?usertrack.filter_applied=true&NovaId=4029462118440522912 or call toll-free: 1-800-245-5356
  • For Aubagio, (Genzyme) see the One to One program at: https://www.aubagio.com/ms-one-to-one or call toll-free: 1‑855‑676‑6326
  • For Rebif (Merck Serono), see MS Lifelines at: http://www.rebif.com/rebif-financial-services or call toll-free: 1-877-447-3243
*Pharma co-pay programs are for commercially-insured patients only. If you have Medicare or Medicaid, call the same numbers to apply to charity organizations that will fund government-insured patients. Either way, they’ll get you covered.


Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by MULTIPLESCLEROSIS.NET
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length

Labels: , , , ,