Entering The BOP, Ease Your Client’s Medication Fears

To someone enters prison for the first time, they assume that they will still get medical care. The assumption may be that they will also get the same medications that they got on the outside, which is likely not the case.

Medication availability (~ 3000 different drugs), falls into 3 categories.

1st) On Formulary -Available: These medications are available for BOP healthcare providers for inmate use.
2nd) Non-Formulary -These require a lengthy Preauthorization Process-: These medications while they are stocked, they are not immediately available for your use. The prescribing BOP Physician or other healthcare provider needs to go through a lengthy Pre-authorization process to get permission to provide this to you.
3rd) Similar equivalents- When there are no other options, here similar or equivalent substitutions are used. Should the need for a required drug be used where there is no equivalent substitute; this medical problem should be brought up before the sentencing hearing, and hopefully get the backing of the US Attorney, and finally the court.

Examples of medication confusion;

Cholesterol Control: PCSK9 Inhibitors vs. Statins. Statins are a popular treatment that has been available since the 1980s. PCSK9 inhibitors, on the other hand, are a new type of cholesterol drug. They were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2015.
But these Cholesterol generics look very different (see heading photo), and may not look like what the defendant has been taking – adding to their stress level.

Generics:

These are the drug of choice for the BOP as they are cheaper than brand-name medications.
It may be beneficial to inform your client ahead of time that, while they’ll be taking a generic medication since there are many manufacturers who each produce similar generic drugs that may differ in color and shape; they should be appropriate.

Nobody likes surprises, especially if they are entering prison for the first time.