What fax number should I use for a specialty pharmacy?

Use the fax number printed on the specific form you are sending. Specialty pharmacies use different fax lines for prior authorizations, enrollment and refills, so a general number often means the paperwork never reaches the right department.

Can I fax a prior authorization without a fax machine?

Yes. An online fax service sends the document over the real fax network from your phone or computer. With Just The Fax it is $1.99 for up to 15 pages, with no account or subscription.

What should I include when faxing a specialty pharmacy?

Include a cover sheet with the patient name, date of birth, member or prescription number, prescriber name and a callback number, plus every page of the form including the signature page.

How do I know the specialty pharmacy received my fax?

Keep the delivery confirmation from your fax service, then call after a few business days to confirm receipt and ask for a reference or case number.

How to Fax a Specialty Pharmacy

Specialty pharmacies still run on fax. If you are dealing with a prior authorization, an enrollment form, or a refill for a specialty medication, somebody has almost certainly handed you a fax number and expected you to figure the rest out.

This guide covers what usually gets faxed, how to make sure it lands in the right department, and how to send it without a fax machine.

What gets faxed to a specialty pharmacy

Prior authorization forms. The most common one. Usually filled out by the prescriber, but patients often end up chasing the paperwork.
Enrollment or start forms for a new specialty medication, including patient consent pages.
Prescriptions and refill requests that cannot be sent electronically.
Financial assistance or copay program applications.
Insurance appeal documents when a claim or authorization was denied.
Clinical records the pharmacy asked for to support an authorization.

Large specialty pharmacies you may be dealing with include Accredo, CVS Specialty, Express Scripts, Optum Specialty, BioPlus, and Alliance Rx, along with hospital owned and regional specialty pharmacies.

Getting the right fax number (this is the part that goes wrong)

Specialty pharmacies do not have one fax number. They have many, split by department, drug category, and sometimes by which insurance plan you are on. A prior authorization fax line is not the same as the refill line or the enrollment line.

Where to get the correct number, in order of reliability:

The form itself. Prior auth and enrollment forms almost always print the destination fax number right on the page. Use that one, it is department specific.
The letter or fax cover sheet they sent you. If they contacted you first, reply to the number they gave.
Your prescriber's office. They fax these pharmacies constantly and often have the current direct line.
The pharmacy's official website, in the provider or forms section.
Our free [fax directory](https://justthefax.io/directory), where we list verified pharmacy and insurer fax numbers. Every published number is checked against an official source before it goes live, and it is free with no signup.

Do not reuse a number from an old letter without checking, and do not use a general customer service fax for a prior authorization. Sending clinical paperwork to the wrong department usually means it disappears quietly, and you find out weeks later when the medication is still not approved.

What to include so it does not get rejected

A cover sheet with the patient name, date of birth, member or Rx number, the prescriber name, and a callback number. Most specialty pharmacy rejections come down to staff not being able to match paperwork to a patient.
Every page of the form, including the signature page. Unsigned forms come straight back.
Legible pages. Fax is black and white and low resolution. Dark scans and crooked phone photos are a common reason a form gets returned as unreadable.
The date, and a note about urgency if the prescriber flagged it as expedited.

Sending it without a fax machine

You do not need a fax machine or a fax subscription to send one prior authorization.

Full disclosure: we make Just The Fax. It is a send only online fax service: $1.99 for up to 15 pages, no subscription, no account to create. It is built for exactly this, the person who has to send one packet of paperwork and does not want a monthly plan.

Steps:

Have the completed, signed form as a PDF, or photograph each page.
Go to justthefax.io.
Enter the fax number printed on the form.
Upload your pages and add a free cover page with the patient details.
Pay $1.99 and send. You only pay if the fax actually goes through.

Your document is deleted from our servers the moment the fax finishes. We are not a medical records service and we do not keep your paperwork. Note that we are a general purpose fax service, not a HIPAA business associate, so use your own judgment about what you send, the same as you would with any fax.

After you send

Save the delivery confirmation. When you call to follow up, "it was transmitted successfully on this date" ends a lot of arguments.
Give it a few business days, then call and confirm they have it and that it reached the right department.
If it was a prior authorization, ask for the reference or case number so you can track it without re-faxing everything.

Related guides

How to fax an insurance appeal - when the authorization gets denied and you need to push back.
How to fax a pharmacy - retail pharmacy faxing, refills and transfers.
How to fax a doctor's office - getting records or a corrected prescription to the prescriber.

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