Employers’ right to direct claimants to obtain prescribed medications from the employer’s preferred pharmacy affirmed by Delaware Supreme Court.

The Delaware Supreme Court has issued its ruling in this case, agreeing with the Superior Court and the Industrial Accident Board, that under the Compensation Act, employers have the right to direct claimants to obtain their prescribed medications from the preferred pharmacy chosen by the employer.

The claimant argued in this appeal that the Board had erred as a matter of law in requiring her to obtain her prescriptions from the employer’s preferred pharmacy provider. The Supreme Court found that there was no merit to this contention. The Court focused on §2323 of the Act, which provides in relevant part: “Any employee who alleges an industrial injury shall have the right to employ a physician, surgeon, dentist, optometrist or chiropractor of the employee’s own choosing.” The Court stated that this provision gives claimants an absolute right to choose the physicians and other providers with whom they treat, but that this does not extend to a pharmacist or a pharmacy.

Accordingly, since the statute does not give claimants an absolute right to choose a pharmacy where they will have medications filled, the Court reasoned that the Board was within its discretion to determine that it was reasonable for an employer to require a claimant to obtain prescriptions from their preferred pharmacy provider. Thus, the claimant was not allowed to obtain prescriptions from her own treating physician.

Case Law Alerts, 4th Quarter 2013