Picking Up Medications from a Pharmacy

Picking up medications from a pharmacy 

Your prescribing clinician has either given you a paper copy of a prescription or has faxed (sent virtually) a copy of this prescription over to your pharmacy of choice. This prescription, once given to a pharmacist, allows them to dispense certain medications to you. Most medical centers prefer to fax prescriptions to pharmacies, as this can reduce the risk of the paper prescription becoming lost. 

Please note that not all medications require a prescription to obtain (such as common pain relief medication like Tylenol or ibuprofen), these are often called “over the counter” medications and can be purchased at a pharmacy or other locations. Please talk to your prescribing clinician if you have questions about your medication. 

What do I need to do?
You should contact the pharmacy (either over the phone or in person) to let them know you would like to pick up the medication. Some medication needs to be ordered in, and most medication takes time to prepare as pharmacies are often very busy – your pharmacy will let you know when the medication should be ready to pick up. Some chain pharmacies also have apps or allow you to do this over the internet. 

If the pharmacy does not have a copy of the faxed prescription, please contact the clinic you got the prescription from and request it to be faxed over again or collect a paper copy to provide to the pharmacy. The pharmacy cannot provide you prescription medication without an up-to-date prescription from your prescribing clinician. 

What do I need to bring with me? 

If you have an Ontario Health Card, you should bring this with you. If you have insurance, you should bring your drug insurance card with you for your medication. You should also bring a form of payment. For certain prescriptions that are considered “controlled substances” (like opioid, amphetamine, benzodiazepine, or testosterone-containing medications), pharmacies will want a valid form of government photo ID (such as a driver’s license, provincial ID, or passport). 

What is a refill, and how do I know how much medication I have left? 

A refill is how many times you can get that dose of medication from a pharmacy. Here is an example birth control prescription below: 

Alesse 28, 1 tablet 1 time daily for 84 days, Refills: 3 

The initial medication dose provides you enough medication to last for 3 months (84 days). You can then “refill” (get that same amount again, once you have used up the initial 3 months’ supply) 3 more times. This means that this prescription would provide you, in total, with a years’ worth of birth control medication. You would come in every 3 months to pick up your next 3 months’ worth of medication. 

It is a standard of practice for prescribers and pharmacists to generally dispense no more than a 3-month supply (around 90 days) of medication. If you are picking up a medication that is a “controlled substance”, this may be less. A pharmacy may refuse to refill a prescription if it is too early, or your insurance may not cover it if it is refilled too early. If you have not refilled a medication in a very long time, the pharmacist may want to confirm with you if you are still taking this medication. If you require more medication dispensed at once, such as prior to going on a trip, please discuss this with your prescriber so this can be included in your prescription and dispensing instructions. 

Once you have 0 refills remaining, you will need to re-connect with your prescribing clinician to get your prescription renewed. You can request that your pharmacist connect with your prescribing clinician to request a renewal as well, however this is not always possible. 

How do I store my medication? 

Keep your medication in a secure location to reduce the risk of losing it or other family members (like small children or pets) accidentally consuming the medication. As mentioned before, if medication is lost, a pharmacy may not refill the medication if the refill is requested too early. Follow storage instructions that may be included with the medication, as medication stored improperly may not be as effective – for example, some medications may need to be refrigerated or kept away from light to remain effective. If you have questions about the storage of your medication, you can ask either your prescribing clinician or your pharmacist. 

Will my medication be free? 

This depends on the medication, your own coverage, and the dispensing fee at the pharmacy. If you are under 25, do not have other drug insurance coverage, and have an Ontario Health Card, most of your medications are covered under the OHIP+ drug plan. If you have Ontario Works (OW) or are on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), most of your medications are also covered. You can check if your medication is covered by asking your doctor/nurse practitioner, or by searching the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary:  https://www.formulary.health.gov.on.ca/formulary/

If you have private drug insurance through your job, school, parents, or spouse, you will need to check with the insurance company to confirm your coverage. Insurance companies may have other requirements, like a yearly deductible (how much you need to pay out of pocket before insurance will begin to cover your medication), co-pays (how much your insurance will pay for the medication, often a percent of the price), and prior authorization forms (which your doctor may need to fill out to get certain specialized medications covered by your insurance). 

Can I pick up my medication from Planned Parenthood Toronto? 

If you have been told by a clinician at our health centre that you can pick up your medication here, you will be able to pick up your medication from the front desk during our regular hours. Your clinician will inform you what the cost will be prior if you do not have OHIP+, and the cost of medications we dispense here are listed in every exam room for full transparency. 

Planned Parenthood Toronto is not a pharmacy and dispenses only certain medications (like birth control or plan B) to clients who already have a prescription from us and have seen one of our clinicians previously. As we do not have a pharmacist on staff, there are limits to what we can dispense without a valid prescription from our clinicians. 

We sell birth control and treatments for certain common infections at-cost to us – we do not charge dispensing fees and do not make income from selling these medications as a health centre. We can process OHIP+ for medication coverage, but we are not equipped to process other private insurance (for example, we cannot process UHIP). If you have private insurance, please discuss with your clinician about getting your prescription sent over to a pharmacy. 

How do I transfer my prescriptions to another pharmacy? 

In Ontario, only one pharmacy can hold onto your prescription. Multiple copies of the prescription cannot be sent out to multiple pharmacies for both legal and health safety reasons. If you want your prescription transferred to another pharmacy, you can go to the new pharmacy you want the medications sent to and request this transfer. This may need to be done in person or over the phone, but in larger chain pharmacies this can be done online. This may take some time to process, and the new pharmacy will let you know how long they expect this to take.