Online prescription refills in California — reviewed by a board-certified MD.
If you live in California and are stable on a chronic medication, you can request a refill online without an appointment. A board-certified Internal Medicine physician, personally licensed in California (Medical Board of California, license A167115), reviews every single request — not a nurse line, not an algorithm, and not a rotating panel of contractors you never hear from again.
$59 flat for a 30-day supply of all your medications · $79 for 90 days · No insurance required · No charge if not approved
Medications most online refill services in California won't touch
This is the part worth reading carefully, because it is where Dr. Refills differs from nearly every other online refill option available in California.
Most low-cost refill services explicitly exclude medications that require close monitoring, and they cap each request at three to six medications. If you take a blood thinner, use insulin, or are on a GLP-1, those services turn you away — which is how patients on exactly the medications that are most dangerous to interrupt end up at urgent care for a routine refill, or rationing doses until they can get an appointment.
Dr. Refills reviews all three categories, as same-dose continuations, with a physician reading every case:
Anticoagulants and antiplatelets
Apixaban (Eliquis), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), clopidogrel (Plavix), ticagrelor (Brilinta), dabigatran (Pradaxa) and edoxaban (Savaysa) — continued at your current dose if you have been stable on it for at least three months. Every request is screened for recent bleeding, recent surgery, and new symptoms such as unusual bruising, black stools or blood in the urine. Any recent bleeding event, including an emergency room visit for bleeding, means the request is declined rather than approved. Warfarin (Coumadin) is not eligible at all, because safe warfarin dosing depends on INR monitoring that cannot be done asynchronously.
Basal insulin for Type 2 diabetes
Insulin glargine (Lantus, Basaglar, Semglee, Toujeo), detemir (Levemir), degludec (Tresiba) and NPH — continued at the same dose for Type 2 diabetes patients stable on that dose for at least three months. Type 1 diabetes and any history of diabetic ketoacidosis are not eligible. Mealtime, sliding-scale and premixed insulins fall outside this protocol.
GLP-1 and GIP agonists
Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), dulaglutide (Trulicity) and liraglutide — continued at your current dose only. Dr. Refills does not start these medications and does not titrate doses up or down. This is a physician refilling an FDA-approved medication you are already established on, sent to your own California pharmacy. It is not a compounded-peptide seller or a weight-loss program.
Every one of these is a same-dose continuation. Dr. Refills never starts a new medication, never changes a dose, and never prescribes controlled substances. If your dose needs to change, that belongs with the physician who manages it. If you are having a medical emergency, call 911 or go to an emergency department.
How this works under California rules
California addresses asynchronous care directly. Business and Professions Code § 2290.5 defines telehealth to include both synchronous interactions and asynchronous store and forward transfers — the transmission of a patient's medical information from an originating site to the health care provider at a distant site.
The provision that matters most for refills is § 2242. Prescribing dangerous drugs without an appropriate prior examination and a medical indication is unprofessional conduct — but an appropriate prior examination does not require a synchronous interaction between the patient and the licensee, and can be achieved through telehealth, including a self-screening tool or a questionnaire, provided the licensee complies with the appropriate standard of care.
That is the legal basis for this service, and the conditional at the end is the important part: the questionnaire route is available only where the standard of care is met. It is why Dr. Refills continues established medications at an unchanged dose rather than diagnosing, starts nothing new, changes no doses, and declines requests that fall outside those limits at no charge.
California also requires that the patient be informed about the use of telehealth and that consent be obtained and documented before care is delivered (§ 2290.5(b)). Dr. Refills captures that consent, with the exact text shown and a timestamp, before intake begins.
Dr. Nyotowidjojo holds California medical license A167115, verifiable through the Medical Board of California, and NPI 1578976270.
How it works for California patients
- Answer a few questions about the medication you already take — about three to five minutes from your phone, any time of day, seven days a week.
- A physician authorised to practise in California reviews your request personally, verifies your prescription history, and applies the same screening criteria described above.
- You only pay if it is approved. If the request falls outside scope — a dose change, a new medication, an unstable situation — you are told why and not charged.
- Your prescription is sent electronically to any licensed pharmacy in California, usually within an hour of payment.
What it costs, compared to the alternatives in California
| Option | Typical cost | Medications covered |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Refills (30-day) | $59 flat | Unlimited, including anticoagulants, insulin, GLP-1s |
| Dr. Refills (90-day) | $79 flat | Unlimited, including anticoagulants, insulin, GLP-1s |
| Urgent care visit | $150–$250 | Varies; often requires a full visit for a routine refill |
| Emergency department | Substantially more | Not an appropriate setting for a routine refill |
The fee covers the physician review and the prescription only. The medication itself is paid separately at your pharmacy, where you can use insurance, a discount card, or cash — whichever is cheapest. The Dr. Refills fee is HSA and FSA eligible.
To be straightforward about it: if you take one simple generic medication and nothing else, there are cheaper online options than Dr. Refills, and you should use them. If you are on an anticoagulant, on insulin, on a GLP-1, or juggling several chronic medications at once, there generally are not.
Available across California
Dr. Refills serves patients anywhere in California — Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Riverside, Stockton, Irvine and every smaller community in between. Because everything happens asynchronously, rural patients get exactly the same turnaround as someone downtown.
Prescriptions can be sent to any pharmacy licensed in California, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Safeway, Vons, Ralphs, Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club, independent pharmacies and mail-order services.
Who this is built for
- California residents between jobs or between insurance plans who lost access to their prescriber
- Patients whose primary care physician retired, moved, or is booked out for months
- People who moved to California and have not yet established care locally
- Gig workers, contractors and self-employed people without employer coverage
- Patients on several chronic medications who do not want to pay per medication
- Anyone who needs a bridge refill while establishing care with a new primary care physician
Dr. Refills is a bridge, not a replacement for primary care. If you do not have a regular physician, establishing one remains important for monitoring, labs and everything that falls outside a same-dose refill.
Out of refills in California?
Board-certified MD review · From $59 · No appointment needed
Start my refill requestCommon questions from California patients
Yes. The reviewing physician holds an active medical license in California (Medical Board of California, A167115) and reviews every request personally. Dr. Refills prescribes no controlled substances, starts no new medications and changes no doses — every prescription is a same-dose continuation of a medication you are already established on.
Yes, if you have been stable on the same dose for at least three months. Most low-cost online refill services exclude anticoagulants because they require close monitoring. Dr. Refills reviews them individually. Warfarin (Coumadin) is not eligible because it requires INR monitoring.
Basal insulin for Type 2 diabetes and GLP-1 or GIP agonists such as semaglutide and tirzepatide can be continued at the same dose if you have been stable on that dose for at least three months. Dr. Refills does not start these medications and does not titrate doses. Type 1 diabetes and any history of DKA are not eligible.
$59 flat for a 30-day supply or $79 for a 90-day supply, covering any number of chronic medications in one request. There is no charge if the refill is not approved. The medication itself is paid separately at your pharmacy.
No. Dr. Refills is cash-pay only and does not bill insurance. The flat fee is HSA and FSA eligible. At the pharmacy you can use insurance, a discount card, or cash for the medication itself, whichever is cheapest.
Any pharmacy licensed in California. Prescriptions are sent through the standard e-prescribing network, so CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Safeway, Vons, Ralphs can all receive them.
Most requests are reviewed the same day. Once approved and paid, the prescription typically reaches your pharmacy within an hour.
No controlled substances of any kind, no new medications, no dose changes, no antibiotics, and nothing for an acute or undiagnosed condition. Dr. Refills only continues established chronic medications at the dose you are already taking.
This page is general information about a medical service, not medical advice. It does not create a physician-patient relationship. Do not start, stop or change any medication based on this page. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.