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Originally posted by V-Tail:
My primary care doc referred me to a podiatrist

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More on this. I was able to find an email address for the pharmacy, I contacted them and the pharmacist replied, telling me that they do not deal with insurance. I would have to pay for the med, the pharmacy would then send me documentation and let me battle it out with my Medicare Part D insurance carrier.

I asked for the documentation up front so that I could request approval from my insurance carrier first. The pharmacist flat out refused, stating that the documentation would be provided ONLY after I had paid for the med.....
Right now, my instinct tells me not to do business with this pharmacy.

First, great to have you back on the forum!

Second, sorry you're having this issue.

IMO, the key thing is to get back to the referring physician with the details of a) the podiatrist and b) the pharmacy joined at the hip with that podiatrist.

The referring physician should be made aware of this practice and asked if they can make it right. The MD-to-MD backchannel works wonders, especially if the specialist wants to keep getting referrals.

So my suggestion is to unemotionally brief the referring physician, ask them if they could get that prescription sent to your pharmacy of choice, and see what they have to say.

Referring physicians are the main source of business for most specialists, and they are very unlikely to refuse a reasonable request from someone who could stop sending them business at any time.