Division of Federal Employees' Compensation (DFEC)
Beginning May 2017, in accordance with the discretion granted to DOL and delegated to the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP), the Division of Federal Employees' Compensation (DFEC) is instituting a new policy on filling non-maintenance medications for the treatment of work-related injury or illness. The program's policy will limit the fill of non-maintenance medications to 30 day increments. Additionally, refills cannot be obtained until 75% of the prescription timeline has passed. Maintenance medications (such as those used to treat chronic conditions like high blood pressure and asthma) will not be subject to these limitations. In determining what constitutes a maintenance medication, DFEC will be relying primarily on First Data Bank classifications. Physicians seeking to have the 30 day/75% fill requirement waived for non-maintenance drugs should submit a written request directly to the responsible DFEC district office because there is no method of requesting an exception through the Web Bill Processing Portal. Waiver of the fill requirements for non-maintenance drugs will be authorized on an exception basis only based on approval of the OWCP Chief Medical Officer or his/her designee.
April 12, 2017