Centralized Refill Service

The UNMH Centralized Refill Service (CRS) serves most UNMH clinics, including our primary care, diabetes and most specialist clinics.

Services offered:

• When you need a new prescription because you are out of refills
• When you need a prior authorization for your medicine
• When you have a question about your medicine
• When your pharmacy is unable to fill your medicine

How to Use CRS:

• Contact your pharmacy and they will fax the medicine refill request or medicine prior authorization request to us at 505-272-2020.
• CRS Staff will contact your provider for you. Please order your medicine 10 days before you are out.
• If you have a medicine question or your medicine request is urgent, please call 505-272-2341 and speak to an agent. CRS Voicemail is available 24/7.
• Please wait 3 days before calling to check if your prescription has been filled. If you use or want to use a UNM Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy you can find a location near you.

Centralized Refill Services Overview

• Centralized Refill Line Phone: 505-272-2341 Fax: 505-272-2020
• Patient Information & Expectations
  • We understand how stressful it can be when medications are delayed, especially when they are essential to your care. To ensure transparency and set clear expectations, the information below outlines how prescription refill requests or prior authorizations are processed, who is responsible at each step, and what patients can expect throughout the process.
  • This workflow is intended to help avoid interruptions in therapy and clarify how requests move from the pharmacy to your provider.

Step 1: Patient initiates a refill request

Patient responsibility:

• Patients are asked to request refills 10 days before running out of medication.
• The patient contacts their pharmacy, not CRS directly, to initiate the refill request. If pharmacy is unable to initiate the request the patient should call CRS directly to request a refill.

[CRS cannot clarify or guarantee a pharmacy’s ability to fax refill requests for controlled substances.]

Step 2: Pharmacy submits request

Pharmacy responsibility:

• The pharmacy faxes a medication refill request or prior authorization request directly to CRS.

Step 3: CRS processes the request

CRS Time Line:

• Refill Requests - Medication requests via fax will be processed within 5 business days and no later than 10 days from receipt of the fax.
• Prior Authorizations - Prior authorization requests of non-urgent matters will be submitted to the insurance within 10 business days of the receipt of the fax. Urgent therapies are processed within 3 business days of the receipt of the fax.

Patient option:

• If the request is urgent or the patient has medication questions, the patient may call CRS directly.

Step 4: Provider review and response

Provider responsibility:

• Once CRS sends the request, the provider has up to the assigned review timeframe to respond.
• Non-urgent requests:
  • Sent by the provider to the pharmacy within 2 business days
• Urgent requests:
  • Sent by the provider to the pharmacy within 1 business day
• CRS follow-up:
• Patients can call CRS for an update. If the provider has not responded within the allotted timeframe, CRS will send an urgent follow-up request to the provider.
• If CRS has sent an urgent request and there is still no response, CRS will instruct the patient to contact the clinic directly.

Step 5: Prescription transmission to pharmacy

Provider responsibility:

• The provider sends the prescription to the pharmacy.

Escalation Process When a Controlled-Substance Refill Fails to Reach the Pharmacy

• Patient responsibility:
  • The patient notifies CRS that the pharmacy did not receive the medication.
• ·CRS responsibility:
  • CRS contacts the pharmacy to confirm whether the prescription was received.
  • If the pharmacy confirms that a controlled-substance prescription was not received, CRS notifies the provider requesting that the provider urgently resend the prescription.
• CRS does not have authority over:
  • Provider response times beyond the request window
  • Clinic-specific escalation procedures
  • Clinic handling of controlled-substance prescriptions when the clinic has not responded to a request and the request window has elapsed
    • In the case that the request window has passed and the issue remains unresolved, patients are instructed to contact the clinic directly, as CRS cannot escalate further