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Family Care eases prescription rules Family Care, an HMO covering more than 8,500 Jackson County residents on the Oregon Health Plan, has canceled its restrictive drug prescription guidelines. As a result, people will no longer have drugs such as heart, diabetic and blood pressure medications held back. Prior authorization is still required for narcotics and muscle relaxants, if the prescription was written in the last 60 days. "It's going good," Melanie Perry, a technician at Christian's Pharmacy, said Thursday of the change. "I don't think we've had any problems so far." Family Care instituted the guidelines Sept. 15 to curb escalating pharmacy costs, but it didn't warn pharmacists or members, just physicians. The HMO dropped the restrictions Wednesday because of calls like one from Dr. James Theen, said Jeff Heatherington, Family Care CEO. "That was nuts. He was being asked for prior authorization for insulin (for diabetes patients)," Heatherington said. Theen, a Medford Clinic endocrinogolist, complained to Heatherington after his and another doctor's patients were denied life-saving medications. Family Care contracts with Med Impact, a San Diego pharmacy benefits managing company, to run its online pharmacy program. "We've used Med Impact for quite some time," Heatherington said, adding that the HMO never before had attempted such strict restrictions. "We were assured they knew how to do it, and obviously something didn't work." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA