Medications | InsightBHA

Medication Guide

Information on medications prescribed through

Insight Behavioral Heath Associates'

providers.

This page describes some of Insight Behavioral Heath Associates' medication policy and can be found in the “consent to treatment” form given to patients at their initial appointment. Any other additional medication policies (such as for those related to controlled substances) require additional agreements and are not fully described here – please refer to that document if you have been given one.

Requesting refills

Please do not request refills through your pharmacy. Our experience is that most pharmacies have difficulty in maintaining accurate medication profiles – especially in psychiatry where medications may be adjusted more frequently. Dosage errors are common through pharmacy requests and may take weeks or months to discover - often not found until after the patient has been taking the wrong dose and suddenly has problems.

We prefer that you either use the patient portal or contact us directly to reduce those errors. We have a 24-hour automated attendant at our main office number (859) 209-2198 – option #2.

Leave your name, date of birth, name of the medication you are requesting to be refilled, and the pharmacy you would like your medication sent to. We attempt to have all requests completed within 24 hours with the exception of Saturday and Sunday.

Refilling medications after missing an appointment.

If IBHA’s providers prescribe medications to you, we will prescribe enough medications to last until your next planned follow up appointment. If for some reason you should miss your appointment, - we will refill your medications to coincide with your newly rescheduled appointment. If you miss a second consecutive appointment, we likely won’t be able to refill your medications until we have had an opportunity to assess for side effects or their effectiveness.

Lost medications:

If you have lost your medication and it is not a controlled substance – most times you can ask your pharmacists for an “override” from your insurance company to replace it. If you are unable to obtain your medications through your pharmacist first, then contact us – we may be able to help you in replacing them.

If you have lost your medication and it is a controlled substance – replacement is most likely not possible because of the laws (and one reason why patients are instructed specifically to safeguard their medication(s)). You may be required to contact the police and obtain a police report before any pharmacy or provider may consider reissuing a prescription for controlled substances. (Please note for your protection that it is unlawful to seek controlled substances, and attempts at diversion (a controlled substance that is shared or not used as prescribed) negates the HIPAA privacy laws concerning protected health information. Further, in suspected cases of diversion the provider is not legally obligated to prescribe a controlled substance, but instead, may refer the person for substance abuse treatment).

The Ryan Haight Act

The Ryan Haight Act was enacted to prevent patient’s from being harmed through unscrupulous online medical practices prescribing controlled substances through the internet. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the laws were relaxed so that telehealth services could be used to lessen the transmission of covid-19 infections. Those laws, restricting telehealth, are still in place but suspended for the moment under the Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration. It is still unclear how the Ryan Haight act will be integrated once the PHE is lifted. Regardless, we are committed to providing safe and effective care – and so, for that reason, must inform our clients that we will not prescribe any controlled substances through telehealth unless the telehealth visit has been preceded by an in-person / in-office assessment and the patient is available for at least an annual in-office/in-person appointment. We anticipate this will prevent disruptions in services to our clients when the Ryan Haight Act is restored.

ADHD and controlled substances

Poor concentration and focus can be symptoms from a wide array of mental health disorders. Unfortunately, Tik-Tok and other social media platforms have relegated those symptoms to ADHD, and propagated an “enhanced” culture with the belief that being “superhuman” is a sustainable lifestyle. With that said, we are judicious in prescribing controlled substances for ADHD. Psychiatric testing or prior documentation of ADHD from a psychiatrist or a psychologist is required as a component to start treatment with a controlled substance for ADHD with us - however, if your treatment requires ADHD medications, you may be treated with non-controlled substances for ADHD to start and then we may advance treatment over time with the appropriate history. Prior primary care provider records do not meet our criteria for treatment of ADHD with controlled substances.

Other (Psychiatric) Medication Tips:

To keep up with your medication - take a picture with your cell phone - keep your medicines updated by deleting and replacing the pictures of your current medications.
Keep you medications secure - Mental health medications can be especially dangerous in the wrong hands. Be aware of them as you are with your cell phone.
Generally, avoid telling anyone other than a close family member you trust, that you are taking psychiatric medications - beside the risk of alerting the wrong people where to get drugs, NO ONE wants to be asked - "did you take your medicine today" after they've made you mad.
Please don't make hard comparisons on how medications work with someone else (it's hard to resist we know) - Psychiatric medications are often prescribed in certain combinations and doses that are individual to the person - you may not know everything about someone else's physical or emotional history that has made a provider choose that medication for them and not you - you also may not know all of their medications. Ask your provider why if you have questions - and do not share medications.
Psychiatric medications are often only one part of treatment - counseling should be employed if you want improved chances for long term success.