NIU faculty and staff must obtain health-maintenance drugs — including insulin for diabetes, contraceptives, heart medication and others – via mail order starting Jan. 1.

Faculty Senate members discussed the change in the NIU faculty and staff prescription drug program at their meeting Wednesday.

Maintenance medication includes drugs taken on a monthly basis, said Deborah Haliczer, director of employee relations for Human Resource Services.

NIU employees were given a two-month transition period to change from using their local pharmacy to the mail order system, which started Nov. 1.

The state-authorized Caremark, NIU’s prescription coverage for faculty and staff, created a mail order program for maintenance medication to cut costs. The concept for the program was decided this past summer.

Through the mail order process, patients would receive a 90-day prescription from their doctor to be refilled three times a year, Haliczer said.

By using the mail order system, patients would only pay two co-payments for a three-month supply instead of paying a co-payment for each month a patient refilled from their local pharmacy. The state also can supply the drugs at a lower rate because they are working with a higher volume through the mail order system, Haliczer said.

Senate members voiced their opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of using the mail order system.

The new system would not be the best delivery method for drugs that need temperature control, like insulin for diabetes patients, which is unusable if frozen, said one senate member.

Haliczer pointed out that if a patient doesn’t change medications often, the system would work well; for others it might be medically unsound.

Some local pharmacies are attempting to provide the same arrangement as Caremark, where they would have the same advantages of mail order, but the patient could receive drugs at their local pharmacy.

“We’re waiting to see which pharmacies are going to participate,” Haliczer said. ”Some stores like Wal-Mart and Target are waiting to hear from representatives on the corporate level.”

The next faculty senate meeting will be Jan. 19 in the Holmes Student Center’s Regency Room.