Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is DailyMed™?
   

   DailyMed™ is a pharmacy dispensing system that sorts and organizes your monthly prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and even vitamins into convenient, single-dose packets making it easier than ever to take the right medication at the right time of day.

2. What do you see as the primary benefits of DailyMed™?
   

   DailyMed™ will do a number of things, all related to improving the lives of patients who use the system, or the lives of caregivers – including sons and daughters – trying to assist a loved one with their medications.

   First, DailyMed™ will make it easier for patients to remember to take their medications correctly by pre-sorting them and packaging them in easy-to-use single dose packets.

   By making it easier to comply with their medications, DailyMed™ will help patients better manage their health conditions. Thus, patients are better able to care for themselves and/or their condition in a more compliant fashion just as their doctor prescribed.

   Finally, the DailyMed™ system allows our pharmacists to review the entire drug profile for a person, which in many cases allows our pharmacists to make any number of recommendations: how to reduce the total number of prescriptions a patient is taking or to suggest cheaper alternative products or to advise on the correct way or correct time to take a particular medication in order to improve the drug's effectiveness. 

   In short, not only does DailyMed™ improve outcomes but it also assists in reducing a patient's overall drug costs, or more importantly, their overall health care costs.  Ultimately, all of these benefits provide "peace of mind" and tremendous time savings for either the patient or the caregiver.  With DailyMed™, our pharmacy is truly helping to improve patient care.

3. How many prescriptions can DailyMed™ accommodate?
   

   DailyMed™ can manage any number of prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and/or vitamins an individual may be taking. Even the most complicated medication regimens – either by number of medications or by timing of medications – can be addressed with DailyMed™. As a matter of practice, those patients with the most complicated drug needs find the greatest benefit with DailyMed™ system. The only difference would be the number of "packets" a patient may have within their DailyMed™ dispensing box. For example, should a person only take one pill a day, he or she would have 30 packets within the monthly DailyMed™ dispensing box. If a person takes several pills a day, ten times a day, he or she may have upwards of 300 packets contained within two or three DailyMed™ dispensing boxes. All said, each packet will be sequenced by date and time each pill (or group of pills) is to be taken.

4. What types of medications CAN be packaged into DailyMed™?
   

   Most medications are suitable for DailyMed™ because they are solid tablets or capsules that are taken on a scheduled basis. Whether your prescription is prescribed every day, every other day, once a week, once a month or on any other scheduled basis, DailyMed™ is appropriate for you. Additionally, over-the-counter medications, daily vitamins, as well as supplements that your doctor has ordered can also be packaged in DailyMed™. 

5. Can you handle "half tabs" in the DailyMed™ system?
   

   Yes – half tabs can be included within the DailyMed™ system.

6. How do you handle prescriptions that are liquid or injections or that come in single-dose packages already?
   

   As you might expect, liquids and injectable medications are not appropriate for DailyMed™. You will be able to get those medications at your local pharmacy. However, our pharmacist can review your entire medication profile against those medications packaged in DailyMed™. In most cases, those medications that are "pre-packaged" by the drug manufacturer in single-dose packages will be removed from the manufacturer's system and added to your DailyMed™ packets.

7. What types of medications CANNOT be packaged in DailyMed™?
   

   There are a handful of medications that should NOT be packaged with the DailyMed™ system. These include chewable tablets or tablets that dissolve easily, certain antibiotics, PRN or "as needed" medications, liquids/injectable medications, chemotherapy medications and medications that have frequently changed dosages.  A DailyMed™ pharmacist will consult with you and/or with your physician to determine the best medication arrangement specific for your health care needs.

8. Will DailyMed™ work with my doctor to get certain medications changed so they can be packaged along with my other meds? 
   

   Yes. We will work with your doctors to make any changes needed in order to find a product acceptable for DailyMed™. For example, if you are taking a chewable tablet, there are likely other options for this medication that come in a solid tablet or capsule. We will discuss these recommended changes with you and your doctor. 

9. I hate to bother my doctor; can you call him/her?
   

   Getting the prescription orders is safest and most accurate when we receive them directly from the physician(s). It is our goal to work with your doctor to maximize a healthier outcome for you.  We find that most doctors are very encouraging and supportive with the DailyMed™ process.

10. Should I ask my doctor before I do this?
    

    You certainly can. Most physicians recognize the importance of medication compliance. We will send your doctor some educational information on DailyMed™ upon request. Ultimately, it is your choice, and we are confident that in most all cases, doctors support their patients' wishes.

11. What happens when I have a medication change (a new med, a discontinued med or a dosage change to an existing med)?
    

    There are many different ways to handle medication changes. Your pharmacist will work with you and your doctor to determine the best option. When a medication is discontinued the patient will either:

    (1) Manually remove the discontinued tablet(s) from the remaining DailyMed™ strip.  The patient should then discard the removed tablet(s).

    (2)  Remember not to take the discontinued tablet each day when he/she opens each packet. The pharmacy can give you an empty vial with the proper prescription labeling to store your removed medications.

    The addition of medication(s) to a patient's drug therapy can also be accommodated. The course of action will depend on how many days are left in the patient's DailyMed™ dispenser. Options include either having a traditional vial fill until the next start date of DailyMed™ or holding the start of the new therapy change until the next start date based on discussion and recommendations we would conduct with the prescribing physician.

    The following month, DailyMed™ will be updated according to the changes made during the month.

12. How many days does DailyMed™ last?
    

    Each DailyMed™ strip will contain your medications conveniently packaged for a 30-day time period. No more then 30 days can be packaged in DailyMed™ due to required expiration dating of the DailyMed™ packets. Even if your insurance will pay for more than 30 days at a time, DailyMed™ cannot exceed this time duration.

13. How will the patient know when to take their medications?
    

    Each medication is assigned an "event time" or time category. Some examples are Breakfast, Morning, Lunch, Dinner or Bedtime. We will work with you to determine the most appropriate and/or convenient time when you would like to take your medications. If there are several medications that you take at the same time, they will be packaged in the same packet. The time category will be printed on the packet, and will let you know when to take your medications. Some patients will only have one time category each day, while other patients will have several time categories. This depends on the number of medications and the time of day they are taken. Also, each DailyMed™ packet has the name and a physical description of the medication contained within the system. 

14. Where is DailyMed™ available?
    

    DailyMed™ is available nationwide for patients who are interested in reaping the benefits of this solution-oriented approach to retail pharmacy. DailyMed™ will transfer your existing prescriptions for use in the DailyMed™ system.

15. How long has DailyMed™ been working on this solution?
    

    The management team at DailyMed™ has been working on this offering for 14 years.  It was first launched in the "long-term care" marketplace in 1998, and it was tremendously successful. This is the first time the compliance packaging offering is being released within the "retail" marketplace.