Prescription Services:  

New Prescriptions

On the left side of the screens for ordering prescription medications online, there is a feature called Familymeds Assistant. It’s a good thing that it’s there because there are some steps in the ordering process that are so counterintuitive that there’s no telling how long it might have taken to complete an order without the help.

The process starts off simply enough with the standard registering of an account. But then you have to add a new patient…one would think that the person registered as the account owner would be understood to be the patient but that’s not the case. But OK, register the patient. Though a little bit irritating, the positive portion of this added part of the process is that other patients can be added as well. Your patient list can contain yourself, your family, or anyone else that you help purchase prescriptions.

Next, select the medication, dosage and quantity. That’s simple as is choosing an insurance plan or self-pay to pay for the medication. Then we get back to the adding and selecting routine. You add the prescribing physician’s name and phone number then, in another redundant step, select the physician.

The rest of the process is easy and familiar. You’re given the opportunity to have the prescription refilled automatically and asked whether you’ll be mailing the prescription or if Familymeds should contact the prescriber for authorization. Standard shipping is free and should take 5-10 days for receipt. Faster shipping is available at an additional cost.

Prescription Refills

Refilling existing prescriptions is very simple. You have the option to simply select a previously filled prescription from your history or to enter the prescription information from a current prescription bottle.

Prescription Transfers

Transferring existing prescriptions from another pharmacy is very profitable so it’s not surprising that pharmacies tend to make the process exceptionally easy. Regrettably, Familymeds complicates the procedure unnecessarily. To request that a prescription be transferred from another pharmacy, you first go through the entire New Prescription process, above, then in the customer notes box at the very end, you write out instructions to make the transfer including all the identifying information for the other pharmacy. If there are any instructions for doing this on the web site, they’re well hidden. We had to contact Familymeds to get this information.