When asked for comment about the memo, Mike DeAngelis, the executive director of corporate communications at CVS, affirmed that “before filling a prescription for methotrexate or misoprostol in certain states, we’ve instructed our pharmacists to validate that the intended indication is not to terminate a pregnancy. Our highest priority is ensuring safe and timely access to medications for our patients, and we understand the important role pharmacies serve in support of women’s health care. We encourage providers to include their diagnosis on the prescriptions they write to help ensure patients have quick and easy access to medications.”
Requiring a diagnosis code to dispense a medication is not typical, Rebecca told me. She said that before receiving this guidance, she’d dispensed misoprostol countless times, no questions asked. Now she says she won’t unless she has a diagnosis code affirming such drugs won’t be used for an abortion.
Sometimes diagnosis codes are required by specific insurance companies, such as Medicare part B, for durable medical equipment, the dispensation of methadone and suboxone, or expensive medications. But most routine medications don’t require this information as part of a doctor’s prescription. And the new guidance had nothing to do with insurance coverage; instead, it was a direct response by CVS to the Supreme Court decision.