April 13: The emergency rules detailed below were set to expire April 13th, but have been extended to the maximum time period allowed under the Administrative Procedure Act or the period of the Governor’s Stay At Home Order, whichever shall end first.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission issued emergency rules in response to COVID-19 which impact the dispensing of prescription drugs.
Injured workers may obtain refills of their prescriptions even if the prescription was recently filled, for at least a 30 day supply and up to a 90 day supply of medication, consistent with approval from a patient’s health care provider and/or pharmacist, and the patient has an authorized refill order.
If an injured worker requests that mail order prescriptions be mailed to an alternate address the insurer should consider doing so.
Time restrictions on prescription medication refills shall be waived. This is to include suspension of electronic “refill too soon” edits to pharmacies, to enable injured workers or subscribers to refill prescriptions in advance, if there are authorized refills remaining.
If a prescription is not for a Schedule II drug, the workers’ compensation insurer shall authorize payment to pharmacies for at least a 30-day supply of a prescription medication when:
- The refill order expired within 90 days of the date the request to refill the prescription is made
- The medication is essential to the maintenance of life or to the continuation of therapy in a chronic condition
- In the pharmacist’s professional judgment, the interruption of therapy might reasonably produce undesirable health consequence or may cause physical or mental discomfort
Pharmacists are allowed to refill most medications, one time, with a 30-day supply, even though the pharmacist cannot reach the patient’s physician.
