medication & refill policy
To ensure safe, accurate and efficient medication management for all patients at Arbor Autism Centers, the following policy has been established:
Prior to receiving a new prescription or refill for medication, all patients must sign and return the Arbor Autism Centers Medication Policy Acknowledgement form, which will be kept in the patient’s electronic medical record.
For any patient being prescribed medication, a return visit must be scheduled within the time recommended by the provider. In general, most recommendations will be for the patient to be seen within 30 days if starting a new medication, within 60 days for medication dose changes, and, otherwise, within 180 days.
Arbor Autism Centers will not prescribe medication(s) for a patient who does not schedule a follow up visit or who is unable to follow up as requested by the provider. Should this occur, medication recommendations will be given to the patient to take to their Primary Care Provider (PCP) or another provider as in accordance with best practice guidelines.
A combination of in-person and virtual appointment options are available for medication consultation/management; however, initial visits must be in-person. A patient starting a new medication must be seen in person within 3 months. A patient who is stable on a current medication regimen and who does not need adjustments to medication or dose should be seen in person at least once every 6 months.
Any patient who may require titration of medication doses will need to have a documented phone call or virtual visit with their provider to discuss current target symptoms, medication effectiveness, and side effects prior to filling the request. Adjustments to medication will not and cannot be made based on patient emails or portal message requests.
For any patient who has been stable on a medication for 6 months or more, it may be reasonable to consider transitioning medication management and prescribing back to a primary care provider (PCP). If, after family discussion with the provider, a decision is made to transfer medication management back to a patient’s PCP, a note will be made in the electronic medical record, and the patient will be expected to communicate this request with their PCP or alternate provider. Arbor Autism Centers will provide any additional letters or documentation requested when appropriate. After a decision to transition a medication to the PCP has been made, Arbor Autism Centers will provide one additional refill. If for some reason a patient cannot have medications transferred to their PCP, despite a stable regimen and dose, we will consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
Patients must contact the office 3 business days prior to needing a medication refill. This excludes all nationally recognized holidays and weekend days. If a patient makes a request on a weekend, holiday, or after business hours (5pm), then receipt of the request will be documented as 9am the start of the next business day. So, for example, assuming a normal work week, for a patient refill request that gets placed between 9am-5pm, prescriptions will be filled as follows:
Day Requested Processed by:
Monday Thursday
Tuesday Friday
Wednesday Monday
Thursday Tuesday
Friday Wednesday
Arbor Autism Centers does not have the staffing capacity or structure to accommodate "exceptions" or one-time last-minute requests. In an emergency, patients need to contact their PCP's office or go to an urgent care or emergency room.
Failure to comply with the above may result in termination of Arbor Autism Centers prescribing-relationship with the patient. We can, however, continue to provide care and medication recommendations.