Continuing my story from yesterday…

Not a smooth transition to Ocrevus

Two main things happened yesterday. I was informed that I don’t need blood work done. Shocker!!! I’ve been on Rituxan for a year and have had repeated blood work done satisfying the hepatitis pre-check for Ocrevus. HOWEVER, my doctor felt, we were running into a time crunch and I should stay on Rituxan for the July infusion. I knew it!! I purposely came in to see her June 2 to get everything done for the July infusion and it isn’t going to happen.

One of my biggest reasons for switching from one Rituxan to Ocrevus   was my insurance. My last infusion was done in January, and I know that by insurance denied the infusion cost. Insurance denied Rituxan so they aren’t going to approve the infusion for it, even though they aren’t paying for the medicine. I get the medicine through the patient assistance program.  I never received a bill for the infusion so I thought maybe the patient assistance paid. I decided to call them this morning.

It’s a good thing I did. Turns out because Rituxan and Ocrevus are the same company, when they started the paperwork on Ocrevus it closed my Rituxan case. If I didn’t call this morning to ask them about paying for the infusion, I’d never have known until  I couldn’t get the medicine. Just plain old dumb luck. My doctor has to fill out a form to reopen my case. Could this just be more of a mess? Also, the patient assistance program DOES NOT cover the cost of the infusion. I don’t know how they got paid. I never received a bill but my I think last time they made an error never tried to get pre-authorization (which would have denied) prior to my infusion so they COULDN’T bill me. (I did billing in my job for 13 years). This time they will and I’ll be told I CAN’T GET MY INFUSION DONE with no time to plan another course of action. I just sent my doctor a note expressing my concerns and I’ll see how the saga continues. All this before 10:00, should be a great day.