Many insurance companies have selected or are in the process of selecting “preferred” brands of medications. Some pharmacies, at the request of your medical insurance company, have asked us to switch your prescribed medications to their preferred brand(s), which may be similar but not exactly the same as the medication we prescribed. Although you may do well on the insurance-preferred brand, we have no way of knowing in advance whether the insurance-preferred brand will be equally effective and as well tolerated by you as your physician-recommended medication. Under these circumstances, we feel it is not right for us to switch brands based solely on the insurance/pharmacist’s request without your specific consent. If you agree to follow the insurance/pharmacist recommendation, then please notify us directly and we will comply with your request. Under these circumstances, we feel the only ethical way to handle these requests is to have the patient decide if they want to switch or not. Please note that not switching medications to the insurance-preferred brand may require the patient to incur additional expenses for medications.