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  • 1.  Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-09-2022 13:52
    Hi,  We are putting together a medication refill team. I have a few questions for those of you that have this in place.  

    1.  Are there any Certified Medical Assistant (CMAs) on the refill team?
    2.  If there are CMAs on the refill team, can they transmit the medications to the pharmacy or an they only queue them for the provider?
    3. Do providers have to sign off on all refill messages? 
    4.  Do you have RNs on this team or are there only CMAs.
    5.  What state do you live in? I know that some states allow CMAs to do things that others do not.  

    Thank you, Cathy Jo

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    Cathy Jo Berry BSN
    Patient Care Staff Director
    Mile Bluff Medical Center
    New Lisbon WI
    (608)562-3456
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  • 2.  RE: Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-13-2022 15:52
    Hi Cathy,

    I think a lot of this is driven by the nursing practice act of your state and any formalized scope of practice available for medical assistants. I work and live in Georgia and our Medical Assistants don't have a formalized scope of practice for- its all competency and delegation based and embedded with our physician rules & regs.  Based on our nursing practice act, we only allow RNs to refill medications based on written protocols. Our organization does not have a "Refill team" per se but each sub specialty group has a telehealth team comprised of mostly RNs and a few LPNs. The RNs are able to refill specific medications based on protocols signed off on by the medical director and leader of their area. If our LPNs receive a request for a refill, they must send it to an RN or provider to complete.  Our protocol refill encounters are also routed to our providers for cosign but that does not hold up the process of electronic transcription to the pharmacy.

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    Brandy Williamson BSN RN CPN
    Ambulatory Nursing Manager
    Children's Healthcare-Atlanta
    Atlanta GA
    (404)785-8978
    brandy.williamson@choa.org
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-14-2022 07:47
    Hi Cathy, 

    Yes, we have MAs on the refill team. We also have a Refill Per Protocol so the MA (with training) can refill per protocol and it doesn't go into the provider queue. We are in New Hampshire.

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    Susanna Gadsby MSN, MBA, RN, AMB-BC
    Clinical Educator, Ambulatory
    AAACN Certified
    susanna.m.gadsby@hitchcock.org
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-15-2022 00:15
    Yes, we have a refill team. We do have MA-C that are on the team and they work off of a protocol and can transmit medications to the pharmacy. No providers do not need to sign off on all refill messages if it falls under the protocol guidelines. We have 1 RN that oversees the group and does biweekly auditing to make sure that they are following the protocol guidelines. I am from Washington state.

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    Shawnee Moreland RN
    Clinical Nurse Manager
    Family care Network
    Bellingham WA
    (360)920-3022
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-15-2022 11:46
    Hi Cathy,

    I'm from Arizona.  Since MAs can not assess we have standing orders for a very limited number of meds (and circumstances) that allow MAs to do refills -- they are co-signed by the provider but because it's a standing order it is transmitted to pharmacy when the MA signs.  Anything like a change in dosage, frequency, or moving from a name brand to a generic, etc. must either be sent as a message for the provider to assess OR proposed to the provider.  A proposal is not sent to pharmacy until the provider signs off.

    Hope this helps

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    Donna Furlong MSN NEA-BC RN-BC
    RN Clinical Services Senior Director
    Banner Medical Group
    Phoenix AZ
    (719)233-1810
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Medical Assistants and Medication Refills

    Posted 06-16-2022 09:52
    We recently implemented a refill protocol for Medical assistants in our primary care offices. I am personally not an advocate for MA's refilling medication's but that was a battle I did not win. Previously they allowed MA's to enter in new medication orders which I am happy to say I was able to get stopped with this protocol. MA's can now only refill maintenance medication's.  However these do go straight to the pharmacy the provider is never notified of the refill request. 

    I have worked with both Cerner and EPIC and I must say at the last organization I worked for our med refill protocol with worked so much better. However, we did not allow MA's to refill medications at that organization.  Currently I work with Cerner. What EMR do you have?

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    Jeanetta Murphey RN, MSN
    Clinical Manager Physician Practices
    St Luke's Medical Group
    Jeanetta.murphey@stlukes-stl.com
    2315 Dougherty Ferry Rd. STE 109C
    St. Louis, MO 63122
    Cell 239-224-9463
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    Original Message


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