Prescription Expiration

Prescriptions expire. The statement can not be repeated enough. Prescriptions expire. Too frequently prescriptions come in to the pharmacy past the expiration date and the pharmacy must turn the prescription down.

The expiration I refer to pertains to the prescription hard copy itself and not the expiration of the dispensed drug.

How long a prescription lasts depends upon the medication prescribed. Prescriptions for medication not listed as a controlled substance last one year from the date written by the doctor. If refills still remain on the prescription they are lost and the pharmacy requires a new script from the doctor – no exceptions.

A common misconception occurs when a doctor writes for PRN (abbreviation for the Latin Pro Re Nata – “as needed”) refills. PRN means the customer may fill the prescription as many times as they feel necessary within the prescription’s expiration.

Scheduled III through V controlled substance prescriptions expire after six months from the date written. Scheduled medications have a shorter expiration date to force customers back in to the office and the prescribed medication may be better monitored.

Scheduled II control substances have the shortest expiration with twenty-one days from the earliest allowed fill date. The earliest allowed filled date may differ from the date written by the doctor. If the doctor sees a patient and decides to prescribe three months worth of the medication, but the patient’s insurance will only cover one month at a time, the doctor may write three different prescriptions to save the patient the copay of visiting the office each month. In these cases the doctor may write an earliest dispense date and no matter what date the doctor wrote the prescription the patient can not fill that prescription before the designated date. If an earliest release date is written the twenty-one day expiration begins on that date and not the date written.