Public Employee Press

Using your new drug card

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Many members and retirees have had problems filling their prescriptions since the union’s July 1 switch to a new prescription drug administrator.

By updating your personal information on file at the DC 37 Health and Security Plan, you can avoid delays when using your new drug benefit card to purchase medications at pharmacies.

Members and retirees who get prescriptions filled by mail can ensure prompt service by registering with the plan’s new drug benefit administrator, Innoviant Inc. Registration may be done by mail or online.

The glitches in filling prescriptions at pharmacies are largely because the plan and Innoviant do not have the required corrected eight-digit dates of birth of thousands of members and retirees on file, which causes delays as pharmacists try to update the personal data in Innoviant’s computer system.

Before 2000, prescription drug plans and administrators generally relied upon six-digit dates of birth. But unlike Innoviant, DC 37’s previous drug administrators, National Prescription Administrators and Express Scripts Inc., didn’t require the union to meet the industry standard and so adefault date of “01” appears on many records. The standard requires the full four-digit year of birth rather than only the last two digits.

About a month ago, the DC 37 Health and Security Plan sent a letter to tens of thousands of participants, asking them to update their records. The enclosed “Enrollment Records Update Form” allows members and retirees to verify or correct their birth dates and genders, as well as those of their spouses and dependents.

To use InnoviantRx, the mail-order program, members and retirees must register separately. You can register online at www.innoviantrx.com. Or you can send in a new prescription with Innoviant’s mail-order envelope, which includes a registration form.

You can obtain mail-order envelopes by calling Innoviant (877-390-9200) or the DC 37 Health and Security Plan’s forms line (212-815-1531).

If you have outstanding refills from Express Scripts Inc. and are already registered with Innoviant’s mail-order program, you should send in a mail order envelope or call 888-797-3345 to request a new supply of your medication. You should include your Rx refill numbers on the envelope or have them available when you call.

“We are working closely with Innoviant to help make the transition to using the new drug card and the new mail-order program as smooth as possible,” said Rosa R. Esperon, administrator of the DC 37 Health and Security Plan. “By making sure the records are up to date, you should be able to avoid encountering major problems.”

If you have questions, call the plan’s Inquiry Unit (212-815-1234) or Innoviant (800-207-1561).
By switching from Express Scripts Inc. to Innoviant, the plan’s trustees hope to save several million dollars.