Prescription Transfers Limited To Once A Year

The Ohio State Board of Pharmacy is limiting the number of times residents can transfer prescriptions to once a year.

The new law, which went into effect Jan. 1, is aimed at improving safety, pharmacists say.

Especially in the stagnant economy, customers are bargain shopping, taking prescriptions from store to store for incentives like discounts and gift cards. This can lead to confusion and bad drug interactions, said Tom Nameth, district manager of pharmacy operations for — including the two in Lakewood.

"The board of pharmacy made this rule change for the betterment of the public," he said. "The problem in the industry was that people were jumping all over the place and their drug interactions were not always popping up because they were getting one drug filled over here and another over there, and (pharmacists) weren't getting a clear picture of the background."

Nameth said that often, customers do not realize how dangerous this can be.

But other customers switch pharmacies because they are on a long vacation or home from college for the summer. During those times, will offer to mail prescriptions to a new address.

The store also is offering a free servivce to customers who have taken their prescriptions elsewhere. The pharmacy will call a returning customer's physician for a new prescription. Nameth said doctors usually don't charge for the service either.

"So, there are options for the patient and we can solve those problems," he said. "Some physcians do charge for a phone call. They're rare but they're out there."