Over many years of representing work comp clients, one of the most consistent and aggravating situations my clients find themselves at one time or another is waiting and waiting for authorization to come through to the pharmacy so the prescription can be gotten. Most all pharmacies require confirmation from your work comp insurance company that a prescription is “authorized.” With the authorization, the pharmacy has some measure of confidence they will be paid for the drug it is providing to you. However, when authorization takes days and days, or even weeks and weeks, this leaves the injured worker without the medical treatment needed to recover from injury. Or, this delay leaves the injured worker in unnecessary pain and discomfort, and often understandably desperate and angry. What is the problem? Why can’t the pharmacy just give out the prescription and fight about the authorization and payment later?

There are a number of reasons this delay happens, and this post does not have the time or space to delve into all of those. But, there is hope for the injured worker!! We routinely encourage our clients to contact pharmacies that do not require the pre-authorization before dispensing the prescription. One such pharmacy is Injured Worker Pharmacy or IWP. ( Our firm has not financial connection to this company.) But, so many of clients love this company and get such good results that we no longer have a flood of calls about problems waiting forever at the pharmacy. Also, prescription prices have a big influence on the value of your case. We find it is very easy to work with this company to get information about the type of prescriptions your doctor is prescribing and the projected costs of these drugs.

Here is some information from IWP website:

“IWP is a national pharmacy service working as an advocate for injured individuals. We take the financial burden out of the prescription process by shipping medications directly to patients and collecting payment from insurance companies. There are minimal out-of-pocket expenses for the patient, physician, or attorney on approved claims.* We reduce time and energy spent on prescriptions and paperwork while ensuring injured individuals get the continuous quality care they deserve. …Our DocuTrack certification allows us to provide error-free services to over 30 states. Unlike traditional mail-order pharmacies which offer a 7-14 day turnaround, we offer next day delivery to patients on a national basis.”

If you are having problems with getting authorization of prescriptions or any other treatment of your work comp injury, let the attorneys at Syfrett, Dykes & Furr help you, (850) 795-4979. And, for more information about Injured Worker Pharmacy, visit their website at https://www.iwpharmacy.com or pick up a brochure the next time you are in our office.