washington scene
A mail-order refill requirement for maintenance medications is a pretty big change from what TFL beneficiaries are used to. How would they be notified?
TRICARE, Express Scripts, and military and veterans’ organizations would help publicize the requirement. Beneficiaries would be mailed individual notices, and there would be media blitzes in all forums about the requirement. In addition, Express Scripts would send written and electronic guidance to all participating retail pharmacists about the requirement. Beneficiaries now using retail drug stores would get multiple notices — at home, in the media, and at their retail points of service. Those who are taking certain kinds of high-priority medications would get personal phone calls from Express Scripts to walk through setting up a mail-order account over the phone.
If an 85-year-old retiree somehow didn’t get the word on the mail-order refill requirement and went to the retail drug store for a refill needed that day, would he or she be turned away?
No. In that case, the pharmacist will have been advised to provide an interim 30-day refill along with information on how to establish a mail-order refill account. If there’s a problem setting up the account in that time, the pharmacist could provide a second interim refill. In cases where interim refills have been provided but no mail-order account has been set up, Express Scripts officials would make phone calls to help the beneficiary set up the account by phone.
Is it complicated to set up a mail-order account? Does it take a lot of time?
No. It can be done with one phone call, typically in 10 minutes or less.
Is the mail-order program as safe as face-to-face interaction with a pharmacist?
Automated mail order is actually safer. It’s 99.99-percent accurate, compared to 98.30 percent for retail. Registered pharmacists check every prescription and are available 24/7 to answer questions.
Beneficiaries in nursing homes usually have special wrapping requirements for their medications that mail-order services don’t provide. How would they be treated?
DoD will have the ability to waive the mail-order refill requirement either for certain medications or for classes of people. In our discussions with Express Scripts and TRICARE officials, they agreed nursing home patients would be exempted from the requirement.
Final COLA Announced
Most will get 1.7 percent.
It’s official. The 2013 COLA for military retired pay, Survivor Benefit Plan annuities, Social Security checks, and VA disability and survivor benefits will be 1.7 percent, effective Dec. 1, 2012. It first will appear in January checks, which will be paid Dec. 31.
The 1.7-percent 2013 COLA will be the fourth-lowest COLA since the turn of the century — trailing only the zero-COLA years of 2009 and 2010 and the 1.4 percent of 2002.
View the trends for yourself at
www.moaa.org/cola.
Two categories of military retirees won’t receive a 1.7-percent COLA. They are
2012 retirees: Some servicemembers who retired during calendar year 2012 will receive a somewhat smaller, partial COLA for this year only, because they weren’t in retired status for the full year. Their partial COLAs generally reflect the amount of inflation experienced in the calendar quarters since they retired.
January-March retirees will receive 1.7 percent; April-June retirees, 1 percent; and July-September retirees, 0.2 percent. Those who retire after Oct. 1, 2012, will see no 2013 COLA. All servicemembers who retire during 2012 will receive full-year COLAs in future years.
*online: See the COLA trends at
www.moaa.org/cola.
DECEMBER 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 33
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