Save Money By Using a Compounding Pharmacy

Most people have never really thought about or even heard of a compounding pharmacy unless they are over age 50 or 60.  Prior to the 1950's and 1960's, when a patient was given a prescription, it was taken to the local drugstore and the pharmacist mixed the drug right in the store.  As manufacturing and processing improved, along with the creation of thousands more prescription medications, this was no longer the preferred method of filling the prescription.  Instead, the pharmacist ordered the pre-mixed drug directly from the manufacturer and dispensed the required dosage and amount when a patient brought in a prescription.  In some ways, the occupation of the druggist was reduced to merely counting the proper number of pills at the proper strength.

Thus, today few people know that drugs can still be mixed according to a physician's specific direction.  Many of the large chain drugstores do not offer this service.  However, many older, more established independent pharmacies do still offer this service.

Many people avoid prescription medications due to the high cost of these medications and in some instances, the low rate of effectiveness.  However, for the instances when only prescription medications will help a patient, the compounding method may achieve some significant savings.

When a prescription medication is necessary and the patient is interested in checking on the availability and cost of using a compounded medication versus using a dispensed medication, here are the steps required.

First be sure to check with the patient's insurance company to be sure there is no problem with paying for compounded medications and also check with the pharmacist to be sure they will accept payment from the insurance company.  Many times, a prescription "discount" card will not be honored for the compounded drug.  As shown below, however, the savings available may still be significant even without the discount card.  Just be sure to check out the payment terms in advance.

Second, the drug in question usually has to be one that has been available for several years.  The drug typically needs to have been available for five to ten years, but sometimes less.   It never hurts to ask a pharmacist if it's possible to have the drug compounded rather than dispensed.  A list of pharmacies in your area can easily be found by a simple internet search for "compounding pharmacies in ‘my town’."  With the prescription in hand, call the pharmacy and ask if the medication is available as a compounded drug.

If the pharmacist says that it is, ask what is needed for the drug to be made for you.  Generally, the pharmacist will require a slightly different type of prescription from the physician.  The difference may be as simple as writing "capsules" rather than "tablets" in the prescription or a more specific formula may be required.  Also ask the druggist what the savings will be for compounded versus dispensed.  Also check with the pharmacist whether the components used to make the drug will be generic or branded.  “Compounding” is not at all the same as generic.

Finally, most “modern” physicians are unfamiliar with the "compounding pharmacy" concept.  So it will be necessary to call the physician and explain what is wanted.  When making this call, have the pharmacist's name and phone number available to give to the doctor because they will probably want to discuss the situation with the pharmacist directly.  Most physicians will be able and willing to do this for their patients, especially when the patient explains the cost difference between the dispensed vs. compounded drug.

Here are two recent examples of the cost savings available.  The dispensed drug was quoted at $300.  With a prescription discount card, the cost came down to $225.  But by using a compounded drug, the cost was only $150.  These numbers alone will make the physician skeptical but also quite curious to see if this can possibly be true.  Another recent example, for a commonly used drug, is a dispensed price of $90 but a compounded price of $30. 

This may sound as though it's too time-consuming to be worth it, but that is not the case at all.  The entire procedure can be easily completed in a day, complete with receiving the drug.  It does take the pharmacist a bit more time to compound the drug rather than to merely dispense it, but this time difference is not usually significant.

The patient's physician will typically be pleasantly surprised by this new found information about compounding pharmacies.  One physician in the Dallas area was stunned to learn there was a compounding pharmacy directly across from his office.  Previously, he was completely unaware of this method of drug dispensing and the savings available to his patients.  He plans to recommend this to his patients in the future.  Given his field of practice, the savings for his patients will be very large.

This article originally appeared at www.Factoidz.com, written by the same author