Tag Archives: national check your meds day

National Check Your Meds Day and AEP

A pharmacy trade group association has declared Oct. 21st, National Check Your Meds Day.  I think this is a great idea especially with Medicare’s Annual Election Period (AEP) right around the corner beginning Oct. 15th and ending Dec. 7th each year.

Many people and especially seniors, take a large number of medications.  While many are needed, many are not needed as they are duplicates doing double duty with other medications that do the same thing.  The worst case scenario is some of the medications can be lethal when taken with other medications.  You would think this can’t happen because the doctor should know better.  Unfortunately, many times the doctor does not know what else someone is taking.  Some people have several doctors treating different medical conditions and not aware of other prescriptions.

So, everyone that is taking more than several medications should take advantage of this special day to proactively have them all checked.  It is as simple as taking all of your prescriptions (the actual bottles) to your pharmacy for a review.  They can tell you if there are any potential problems and perhaps check with your doctor about any issues raised.

This is good timing because you should also check your Medicare Part D drug plan for any changes.  Your Annual Notice of Change booklet from your Drug plan will alert you to the plan changes effective the coming Jan. 1st.  Also, your prescriptions could have changed and worth taking a look at your options.

This is what I do for clients day in and day out.   Let me know if I can answer any questions.  David Higgs

Based in the Richmond, Va area, David Higgs of Choices In Medicare specializes in helping seniors transition to Medicare.  He can be reached at email:  David@ChoicesInMedicare.com or go to website:  www.ChoicesInMedicare.com