Prescription Refills Without an Appointment

Every day, our clinic receives dozens of refill requests by fax and phone. Each one takes real time and care. Your doctor opens your chart, reads your latest notes and care plan, makes sure the medication is still safe for you, and signs the prescription. Our staff answer many calls about prescriptions, process the faxes, and update the medication list in your chart.

Added together, that is hours of work every single day. Questions about refills also occupy a lot of the time staff spend on the phone, meaning other calls go unanswered. As a courtesy, we waived this fee during the first year of the clinic while we updated our systems and onboarded patients.

This new system helps support staff to handle this work by allowing us to fund more staff hours towards patient care. That means shorter waits on the phone and easier messaging for everyone.

The fees are kept to a minimum to pay for the work of a refill done outside of a visit — work that OHIP does not cover. We standardized them after a review of every online refill policy in Ontario. If you would rather not pay, that is always okay: appointments with the doctor are readily available. Refills during a visit are always free, and quick walk-in appointments are available every day during office hours to get a refill.

Generally, we recommend you check in with your doctor at least once a year. The annual visit is an opportune time to review health conditions and refill all chronic medications, without paying a fee.

1. Submit your refill request online through Cortico. (This page will be updated with the request link in November 2026.)
2. Pay the $25 fee.
3. Your doctor reviews your request. If it is safe to refill, we send it straight to your pharmacy.

How fast? We send your refill within 2 business days — once we have all the information we need and payment is received. That means your pharmacy's name, plus the name, dose, and duration of each medication. If anything is missing, we will contact you. To avoid delays, provide all the information necessary, or ask your pharmacy to fax a refill request listing all the prescriptions you need.

• $25 per refill request. One request can include any number of medications.
• Your $25 covers you for a full month. Forgot a medication? Did your pharmacy fax a request a week later? No problem — anything within one month of your payment is covered by the same fee.
• You never pay more than $75 per calendar year (January to December). After your third paid request, refill requests are free for the rest of the year.
• The online system cannot track the cap on its own. If you have already paid 3 times this year, contact the clinic before your next request — or if you pay by mistake, don't worry, we will refund it.
• Refills are always free during an appointment. If you are coming in anyway, just ask your doctor then. To allow your doctor to refill them in a timely manner during the appointment, prepare a list of the medications you need.
• OHIP does not cover refills done without a visit. That is why there is a fee. This fee was previously waived during the first year of the clinic opening.

Your doctor decides. It is usually between 3 months and 1 year. It depends on how often your doctor needs to see you to keep you safe on that medication.

• ADHD medications: 90 days at most.
• Narcotics and stimulants (including ADHD medications): these have special rules.
  Contact us before you pay and we will tell you how long a refill would last, so there are no surprises.

• Antibiotics. These always need an assessment. Please book an appointment.
• Your doctor may decide any medication needs a visit first. If so, we will contact you to book an appointment. If a medication refill is declined, you will be refunded.

• Once your refill has been sent to your pharmacy, the fee cannot be refunded.
• If your doctor decides not to refill and asks to see you instead, we will refund your fee.
• If you paid but had already reached the $75 yearly cap, we will refund your fee.
• If you already paid in the past month, your fee will be refunded.
• Please do not dispute the charge with your bank or credit card ("chargeback"). A chargeback means we can no longer offer you any non-cash private-pay services at the clinic.

Money should never come between you and your medication. If the fee is a problem:

• Come in for a visit instead. Refills during a visit are always free, and quick walk-in appointments are available every day during office hours.
• Running out right now? Your pharmacist can often give you an emergency supply of your regular, long-term medications — ask at your pharmacy first. Please note, the fee at a pharmacy for an urgent refill authorization is often higher than at our clinic.
• In special situations, we may be able to prescribe a 7-day emergency supply. Contact the clinic and we will help you. The 7-day emergency supply is meant to give you time to come into the clinic.

• For the smoothest experience, ask for your refill at least one week before you run out.
• Check the label on your bottle — it shows how many refills you have left at the pharmacy.
• Include the name, dose, and duration of each medication, plus your pharmacy's name, right in your request. Complete requests are sent within 2 business days.
• Not sure if your medication can be refilled this way? Contact us first. We are happy to help.