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How to Avoid Prescription Refill Mistakes
Best steps to use when refilling your VA prescription
Millions of Veterans manage their VA prescription refills with My HealtheVet. In fact, over 16 million prescription refills were already completed this year. If yours is one of them, it's okay if you've gotten confused a time or two. Better navigate the pharmacy section of your account by avoiding these common hiccups.
What is the fill date?
When you visit the Refill VA Prescriptions section under Pharmacy, you will find a table of your refillable prescription medications. This table's column titles can leave you wondering, "what's that?" The most common section Veterans ask about is the Fill Date. It refers to the date after which the VA Pharmacy processes the refill request. This means your prescriptions will not be filled until the Fill Date. Your refill requests should be made at least 15 days before running out of your prescription.
How far back can I track?
Once you submit a request to refill a VA prescription, tracking information is available after it's shipped from the VA Mail Order Pharmacy. Refills shipped from a local VA medical center cannot be tracked at this time. Once your refill has been sent, and carrier tracking information is available, a blue "Track Delivery" button will appear in the VA Prescription Tracking column. Click this button to view your delivery status. Your shipment information will be available for 30 days. Generally, you can expect to receive your prescriptions 3 to 5 days after being shipped.
You can also receive email notifications of when your prescription refills are shipped. Go to the Personal Information section in the navigation bar and select My Profile. There you can opt-in to receive Rx Refill Shipment Notifications.
Are these all my prescriptions?
Most of your refillable prescriptions are available in the Refill VA Prescriptions section of Pharmacy. However, not all of your medications may be listed.
If you have refillable prescriptions that are not shown, contact the pharmacy staff at the VA facility that prescribed your medication. You can find the phone number on the label of your prescription bottle.
Renewal or refill?
The number of refills you have for each VA prescription can be found in the Refill Remaining column of your medications table. If your prescription is not available for a refill, you will see an "i" 
image in that column. If you have questions about this prescription, don't hesitate to contact your local VA pharmacy.
If you have no refills left but are still expected to continue taking the medication, then you should contact your health care team to request a medication 'renewal.' This also applies to prescriptions that are expired or discontinued. You can ask for a prescription renewal by phone, during your virtual VA health care appointment, or with Secure Messaging (sign in required).
Note: You can always view your VA Prescriptions and Self-Entered Medications in My HealtheVetn under the My Medications List section.
Upgrade to Premium
If you're a VA patient and want to refill your VA prescriptions online, you need a Premium My HealtheVet account. You can upgrade your account by:
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Signing in with your DS Logon Premium User ID and Password
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Creating an ID.me account
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Creating a Login.gov account
Prepare for sign in changes
The way you sign in to My HealtheVet is changing. The new sign in is easier and more secure. You can try the new sign in process today to prepare. The first time you sign in, you'll need:
- Your User ID and password
- Your own unique email address
Have questions? Visit this page for more information.
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Updated August 23, 2021