ANDERSON VALLEY HEALTH CENTER

AVHC Dispensary is OPEN:

We are pleased to announce that the AVHC Dispensary re-opened as of November 01, 2015. We can only provide prescriptions to patients that are under our care.

We would like to clarify a few issues regarding the difference between a Dispensary versus a Pharmacy.

1. As a Dispensary, we do not have a Pharmacist full-time on staff, rather we have a Consulting Pharmacist who reviews our operations every 3 months. All of our medications must be handled exclusively by Licensed Personnel which includes Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Dentist and RNs.
2. As a Dispensary, we can ONLY dispense medications to patients of the Anderson Valley Health Center. We are not allowed to fill prescriptions for people who are not our patients and can only fill prescriptions from outside providers if they are reviewed by one of our providers who then will issue a new prescription under their name for that medication (for example, if you got a starter dose of medication in the Emergency Room and need to fill the rest of the prescription).

3. As a safety net provider, we participate in the 340B program which means we have access to discount medication for our patients. Therefore, we CANNOT bill insurances including Medicare and Medi-Cal for medications dispensed. For Medi-Cal patients, we cannot charge for any medications dispensed since they have the ability to go to a Pharmacy and get their medications for free. All patients have the choice to get medication at any Pharmacy of their choice. Often, our prices are equal to or less than the co-pay required by either Medicare or Private Insurance.

4. We do try to keep our prices to a minimum but must charge enough to cover our expenses. For most medications, a three-month refill for a medication taken once a day will generally run about $10 but maybe as high as $20 depending on the medication. If you are taking a medication more than once a day, the charge will be higher since it will usually require 2 bottles of medication instead of one. We do encourage people to check with their insurance regarding what their co-pay will be compared to our charges so that they can get the best deal possible but sometimes the convenience of getting your medication here will be more important than the small difference in price.

5. We will take special orders for very certain medications. These requests should be directed to Dr. Mark Apfel.

6. If you have any further questions regarding our Dispensary, please feel free to contact our medical director Dr. Apfel at mapfel@avhc.org