Prior Authorization Nightmare
When children are diagnosed with leukemia, we tell parents to expect this process to take 3 years if there are no hiccups. After a patient has passed the hurdles of multiple cycles of chemotherapy and it has been declared that they are in “remission,” they enter what is known as Maintenance Chemotherapy.
Maintenance Chemotherapy includes monthly visits to the child’s oncologist’s office along with a spinal tap once every 3 months for a cumulative period of 2 years. During this period, children must take chemotherapy in the form of tablets or liquid at home.
This is a snapshot of the Journey I Take When Trying to Obtain Chemotherapy for the Patient to take at home.
Scene: David Langhorn is a 4 year old male w/ B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, currently in cycle 4 of maintenance chemotherapy and mom called because the pharmacy won’t refill his supply of daily mercaptopurine.
Doctor calls pharmacy.
Pharmacy (after 5 minutes of automated systems): “Doctor Aggarwal, David Langhorn…
