so last post was in late january, anyone using them now that are having good or bad exeriences with them? i heard somewhere they were using biwise, anyone have them fill an order from biwise in the last couple of months? and what pharmacy are they using now, i was happy with universal for the longest time. once an op starts using multiple pharmacies something is wrong in denmark, especially when there tossing them around withous letting you know what is going on.. so can anyone give me any input about what pharmacy they are currently using (or pharmacies) and has the service gotten any better. my time was up last refill and i dont wantto get into a trap where im waiting a week for a refill.. so if anyone has any current info i would appreciate it very much...
again. i heard that they were using for a while any way biwise....so if anyone has something else to add to the list of pharmacies and how badly or smoothly there order are going i would appreciate it.. thanks in advance.. this thread has been an eye opener for me...

One poster mentioned just a few days ago that he/she recieved a pkg from Caring Well pharmacy (I think they are in OH???), but I don't know, as I don't use this service...just know what I read. I hadn't heard about them using Bi-Wise...I agree it is a bad sign when they start using multiple pharmacies and are hit and miss with service like they are lately.

Hope this helps,
Katy

Please give me a hand, I need Carringwell Pharm phone number.
Thanks

Just an update for anyone waiting for a refill from SWM. Just got off the phone with Se**** Pharm. As of today they are still on refill date 3/12. So if your waiting for a refill submitted recently, forget it! it will take another week to get to it. Ugg! Pru

Anyone waiting for refills that were first filled at universal needs to reconsult. The new pharms need the rx hard copy and cannot get them from universal as they're just not around. I had a free re-consult with new doc on 3/21. Received from caring well this morning (3/23). They're shipping mallies, COD $162.

I am never sure where to post this kind of stuff, so excuse me if it's in the wrong place. Posted today at the web site, some very big changes in how they do business - see post below:

NEW PATIENT REQUIREMENTS

Please read the following important new requirements.

Posted May, 1st, 2007

In order to fully comply with the many state and federal regulations we are now requiring you, the patient, to be physically examined by the same physician you will engage in telemedicine with. We are implementing these changes to better serve your needs and eliminate any pharmacy fulfillment shortages many of you have experienced in the past several months.

The question of what constitutes a valid physician-patient relationship has long been argued due to the absence of a clear and concrete definition. One thing is certain however, if the physician performs a good-faith physical examination on the patient and his or her findings are conclusive with the patient’s medical complaint, a valid physician-patient relationship has been created, thereby satisfying the requirements for prescribing in almost every state in the country.

Southwest Medical Group is committed to providing our patients with quality managed medical services that they need and absolutely deserve. Over the past few months SWMG executives have been working to develop a large network of qualified, compassionate and understanding physicians throughout the United States to consult with patients, in-person. Follow-up telephonic consultations will then be provided for up to one year between scheduled face to face physical examinations. Southwest Medical Group has also contracted with the network of physicians to provide a full range of management services including patient scheduling, customer service, records management and billing .

In the coming months we will implement changes to our service that will include the addition of comprehensive health care services and patient care support as well as an improved consultation scheduling system. These changes are just a part of our ongoing commitment to providing our patients with the highest quality health care services available.

Our current goal is to make the transition for our patients as easy as possible. The only real change under our new procedures is that the patient will now be creating a valid relationship with a physician who is licensed in your state and managed by Southwest Medical Group. Once the physician has examined you and his or her findings are documented, he or she can then write a prescription for your medication(s). For your convenience, we will still offer you the option to have it filled at one of our affiliated pharmacies.

In the coming weeks you will be notified of physician availability in your area as well as how and when you need to schedule your appointment. The consultation fee for your in-office visit is $250.00. This price includes your 30 minute physical exam, medical history and 90 day prescription written and forwarded to the pharmacy. This fee does not include your medication. The pharmacy will bill you for your medication separately. Follow up telephonic consultations will continue to be billed at $155.

We sincerely hope to exceed your expectations while we implement this new program. We guarantee to do our best to make this transition as simple and easy as possible.

Thank you for your continued business,
Southwest Medical Group Staff

They are no longer servicing Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and West Virginia, but say they want to start it up again there when they put these physicians in to do the face to face exams that are now required.

I am kind of horrified at the new expense - $255, on top of the $155 consult fee every 3 months, and the exam having to be repeated once evey year. On top of the cost of the meds, this is going to be costly.

I'm also wondering if these docs are going to become as problematic as what we are used to dealing with in their attempt to comply with the DEA guidelines and all that jazz. I'm wondering if this becomes standard across the board - people, please let us know what your experience is in the coming months.

Wow, I just did the calculation, with an assumption of the drug costing $140 a month, and got $1,242.00 a year to stay on your medication! Yeesh!

Yeah, that's what we are going to have to watch and see. I hope we can take them to our local pharmas, but it may not work out that way - like I read somewhere else here, they do get a cut from the pharmas.

Desiree99 I don't think we are suppose to change the name of the thread, I don't know how to change what you posted in the Subject line but in mine I am going to change it back to the original thread name.

Thanks so much for posting this information. This is interesting to me because it looks like when you read the thread they have been through a few pharmacies in the last few months? I know Caringwell isn't shipping anymore so I have no idea who they would currently be using other than maybe biwise that the poster above questioned.

My question now is to current patients with this place, have you been getting your refills? And what if somebody wants to use them now? I want to know more details, like you said desiree, on local drs, where are they going to be? I live in a very rural area so how is that going to work? I will probably have to travel 4 hrs at least one way to get to somebody that may be participating. Are they taking on new patients now? Any ideas? I think my main question is if you are in now as a patient I am assuming you will get your refills, but if you want to become a new member, at this time we can't? Or do we sign up and still fax in records and do it the old way until the new way is completely set up.? Maybe somebody that has dealt with them knows.

Thanks again for the info Desiree....

Mommyof1

Quote:

---

Once the physician has examined you and his or her findings are documented, he or she can then write a prescription for your medication(s). For your convenience, we will still offer you the option to have it filled at one of our affiliated pharmacies.

---

I could be wrong, but this sounds as if you are paying for the prescription and you can just take it with you and have it filled wherever you want. With insurance or without, that could make it a lot cheaper. I don't have insurance but when I transferred a #120 10/325 to walmart, I paid under $50.00. So it could SAVE a lot of money.

"For your convenience, we will still offer you the option to have it filled at one of our affiliated pharmacies. "

This is the part I find inconclusive.Is it in fact an option or something one has to do ? I can see it being affordable if you can fill the script where you want to and use your insurance but not if you are still dealing with Fed Ex/UPS etc and their choice of pharmacies.
It may well be the wave of the future. Only time will tell.

Eeexactly!!! They have some agreement with their pharmacies so the docs won't give it to us there. Hmm for somebody like me this doesn't sound like too good of a deal. Travel 4 hrs, pay 250.00, get seen, but have to leave with no script and travel 4 hrs back home to wait for the pharmacy to fill and ship to me to still pay all that money too for the meds. Yikes. I do like the idea of only once a year having the face to face but i mean if we still have to pay 155 every few months what is the savings in that?

Suzieo,
two great minds and all that

Since they used the word "option", why would it be anything else? You have the option to use their pharmacy or not. This could be a good thing, and I agree .... the wave of the future.

OK I that sounds good, sounds like you can do your script either way. That also made me wonder if we can use our insurance when we go to see the doctor or if we just have to pay 250.00 cash right there. Insurance would be nice.

It would seem like the patients that have to do the face to face with one of their docs is being able to use your own health insurance for the office visit. that is for the ones that do have heath insurance. it would seem soooo much cheaper and they will still get paid by the insurance company for the visit.Even if you had to pay a fee upfront even with insurance of like 50.00 or 75.00 they would still be making money and it would also benefit the patient.This is JMO and I hope they will drop their fees for you guys and let you use your insurance.

I'd bet almost anything any OCS that goes with this business model won't take insurance.

I dunno. Around here our annual physicals run about $250-$300. It takes a bit of time that the doc could spend seeing someone with a cold for 2 mins.
It's covered as long as it's only once a year it should be fine.
However it would get very costly for those who double and/or triple dip ;-)

No insurance company is going to pick up the $250 tab. Now, they might reimburse the doctor $ 50 or so, but that's it. Frankly, given the nature of this business I would be shocked if the doctor would even bother taking insurance. The patient can pay out of pocket, and send to his / her insurance company for whatever reimbursement they may or may not get.

For those of you that live in states with doctor shopping laws and states that report schedule meds being filled it may actually be worse for you. If you are currently supplementing what you are getting from your brick and morter doctor of lets say 30 Percocets per month with an ROP you will have to still use SWMG's pharmacy option. That or give up your other doctors script per month.

I'm trying to get into my pain management program, but won't see my PCP for a referral until my appt in June, so I hopefully won't need ROP's after a few months from now. Time will tell.

Thanks Shane!

I always sent my receipts in and when hubby started using an ROP, I sent his in also. Now once I used a place that I included payment for the consult into the payment of the meds. Do you know they reimbursed me all but 10%? No basing the 90% of what they paid on "normal customary charges" either. They must have known or figured because when I would only send in the med receipt, I would get all back but $5.00 (generic) which is our normal co-pay.
However, I would not send them in every month. I was getting #120 count a month but I would only send the receipt in every other time. I didn't want greed toi ruin a good thing. Now maybe I would of been fine but I didn't want to push the limit, just being thankful for what I was getting back.
My husband work for a union and has great insurance. The lady at the local union hall pays all the medical bills so I would just send her copies with our letterhead on it asking for reimbursement and it always worked. I never had to fill out any forms, nothing!
It all started by me seeing people here doing it (more so a few years ago then now maybe more people have HMO's who don't allow it or people are scared?) and I had to get reimbursed for one of my sons drs visits and I called asking what forms needed to be filled out. She was great and just send a letter saying you want to be reimbursed. I did and got the money within a week so after that I tried with a pharmacy receipt from an ROP and it worked like a charm.
BUT our coverage has a clause saying maintence meds are anyting that needs to be used 4 months out of 6. Once you reach that limit, it has to be mail order. That was another reason why I didn't send in so many receipts, I didn't want to exceed that because once I did, I had to always do mail order.

Read your policy and see what you can figure out. If in doubt, call and see what the procedure is about filing claims that you paid out of pocket for because it was an out of network.


Now onto what the OCS said. Did they really mean you would get all 90 days of meds at once? They didn't say an orginal script and 2 refills. They said 90 days, that made me wonder. Yes, it would be alot up front but you would save shipping charges PLUS you would have the meds in hand and not worry about losing refills, etc.

I just "re-consulted" with Southwest after using another op and primary doc for the last year or so. They told me next time I would have to do the face to face thing.

But, I did my consult with DR. R***, he issued/approved my scripsts and 2 refills, then I fan in copies of money orders, and SEND THEM NEXT DAY AIR)--(anyone who uses swmg cod knows what I'm talking about)--but when I called to confirm receipt of ny m.o. fax, they wanted additional records (even though Dr. already looked at records AND approved them)

Anyway faxed a bunch in, then they wanted a release for ALL records from my primary--It HAS prescribed meds I need etc just not in 120 count I need to function.

Problem is, I have paid them in advance my m.o. Priority Air. They WILL give me no indication how long this is going to take. "if they want my doc to pay for faxing all my records to them, that won't happen, he's been my doc for 12 years, SO many labs, exams, tests, etc, etc, they will want 2.00 per page or something

I just do not know what to do--went back to swmg, to get 120 count and other rops are taking 2-3 weeks to ship--I'm looking for something fast, MY records are adquate--I've been using swmg since 2002 (Dr. lockridge/cmc pharm days)

Also, I have lost 2 sets of 2 refills over the yearsa from this company--so I have no guarantee they will prescribe anything(even though DR. DID and they claim they nhave NOTHING to do with DR.s

Anybody else had to send in a signed release for your doctors med records(I mean they will know my choesterol-ALL lab tests etc--it just makes me uncomfortable--in the past, I faxed a few pages related to my main complaint and that was it--NOW nthey want access to ALL records.


Any input, suggestions?

Thanks, take care

Alan

Hmmmmm, that doesn't sound like the normal thing. Is the doctor going to read your entire medical records? I think not. Maybe you could get one sheet with all your meds, dx and problems and just fax them that. I also found that doing the online chat got better results when I used them. Good luck though!

i have used swmg for an extended period of time and although pricey they are a sure thing

Anybody know avg turnaround time for these guys after re-consult?

anyone know the phone number for SC with swmg...feel free to send privately.

Thanks sweep

anyone else experiencing a delay with swmg? I put in an order a week ago and it is still "submitted" Anyone?

If you dont mind me asking which pharmacy are you with? they have two pharmacies...

i don't use this service but from what i've heard the dr. only reviews and sends refills / prescriptions on certain days of the week. that could slow down the process. i would suggest always sending your requests a little early to avoid delays