Pharmacists and staff are constantly complaining that the companies that they work for give in to customers irrational demands..
I have had two incidents THIS WEEK.. where.. “the customer is always right” doesn’t seem to apply… more like “we are never wrong”
The first is with our cable company.. in the last year or so, our cable company was bought/merged with Time-Warner
I got a notice that my electronic statement was available.. it is set up to automatically debit to my charge card and normally don’t even look at it… for some reason this month… I opened it up and scanned it… On it I find a rental charge for a modem… I knew – or thought I knew – that I remember that I purchased that modem. Every thing that I do financially, is electronically transferred to Quicken… so open Quicken and do a search for transactions for the cable company…. and there is was back in 2003… where I had purchased the modem.
So I called the cable company… and apparently the cable company began charging all customers a monthly rental fee for their modems the first of the year.. regardless if you had purchased a modem previously.
According to the cable company representative, their electronic records only go back to 2006.. so they have no record of me purchasing a modem.. and according to the representative that is all that matters.. is their records.. to prove or disprove the ownership of the modem.. The representative stated that they no longer sell the $50 modem.. which they are charging me $3.95/month for. So I am paying $47.40/year for a modem that sells retail for $50.00
The second incident is with Walgreen… I have this sciatic nerve that is inflamed… I think that it is the first indication of dementia… my mind keeps forgetting that I no longer have a 30 something body and my 60 something body can’t tolerate it being abused like I was use to doing 30 years ago… but.. I digress…
I called up my doc yesterday and I got some solu-medrol in my Gleuteous Maximus .. today things were not going much better.. so wife (Barb) had an appt with this doc this AM and I sent him a note that I would be out of pain meds over the weekend and I put down what I wanted/needed… Pts are suppose to think ahead before the weekend… aren’t they… The doc knows me and that I know what I am doing dosing opiates… so he typically gives me what I request.
Barb dropped off the Rx at the neighborhood Walgreens that we have been patronizing for the last 7-8 yrs. Last year Barb’s “drug bill” was 18 K… they know me by sight and typically call me by name. Barb comes home without any meds… it would seem that either Walgreens as a whole or this district has developed a “Good Faith controlled substance program”… the edict from above is that they have to call the doc on each new controlled Rx to verify and also get a ICD9 code.. Well, it seems that the practice that we go to… is not putting up with this nonsense … and I got the impression that this is not the only practice that has taken this stance. This particular Walgreens is within line of sight of the doc’s practice. This is a very busy 6 prescriber practice ..
The first Rx dept tech.. that has been there some time… that I talked to.. sounded like beaten animal over this issue.. I told her that I did not blame the Rx dept staff.. but.. I may have been the first pt that understood.
So no pain meds coming from Walgreens… so I called corporate and couldn’t get past a low level peon.. He first told me that a RPH could decline to fill any Rx… NO.. this is a bureaucratic decision… then he told me that there was probably a law requiring this – WRONG – He had a third excuse from his script… but I forgot it… but it was also bogus…
So I called the store again.. I wanted the phone number of the VP of Pharmacy Operation… what did they do.. handed me off to the FE manager.. I might as well just beat my head against a brick wall. This FE manager took my number and would ask the PDM to call me… That was about 6 hours ago… my phone has not rang once …
Whoever put this policy in place… Are they practicing pharmacy with or without a license… IMO.. there is no direct pt/RPH relationship with the person who created this edict… could this policy unnecessarily deny patients of medications… Pt who need these controlled substances for anxiety or pain.. could they be thrown into withdrawal because of this policy? Throwing a pt into withdrawal…could that be consider pt/senior abuse?
I am not through with this yet… as they say.. for every decision… there can be collateral damage or unintended consequences…
Filed under: General Problems
Steve — Any update on your experience with Walgreens and their “good faith dispensing policy?”
I got this today as a email attachment… I guess denying a pt medication and unprofessional conduct… is not worth pursuing.. I guess their concern is only about someone trying to ILLEGALLY get controls.
I also got a email from my PCP this week. quote ” We are seeing this in the office and we have’ as a group’ decided not to oblige. They will need to deal with the patient if they want this info and we are rather amazed at how arrogant Walgreens has become. Oh well! At least we have other choices”
There are SIX PRESCRIBERS in this busy practice … This is out in the county and there is – I think – one other GP/FP in the immediate area.. but.. there are two of chain stores actually sharing the same large parking lot with this practice.
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I work at WAG. In my region, in the past month or two… Corporate goons were going to every store telling their RPH’s that the DEA is really cracking down on the RPH’s and that they need to verify every little thing. In some cases, to fax the Rx to the DEA if there is any suspicion at all. At the very least, they are spending extra time constantly checking the state narcotic tracking website for most rx’s. If the site isn’t working at the time, they will beat around the bush until they know for sure. Corporate seems to be really good at instilling fear.
So I have to defend the pharmacy dept here. You know those folks will be counseled or written up for not following company policy. I am sure it is no fun for them either. Weren’t both CVS and Walgreen’s investigated in Florida last year? That “may ” have something to do with it. I believe the requirement for the ICD-9 is tied in to your favorite ACA. There have been many more prompts from our system to enter it on Medicare D prescriptions, especially eScripts. Wait til next year when it becomes ICD-10!!
BTW, I have been told that 60 is the new 40.
I am not upset with the store’s staff… I am upset with the corporate BOZO(s) that came up with this. I suspect that was someone’s bright idea to deal with with drug diversion. I have no problem with “profiling” pts with controlled Rxs. IMO.. that should be the option of the RPH on duty… IMO.. another example of corporate BOZO(s) micro-managing the RPH’s basic function(s).
File a complaint with your BOP. In many states it is against the law for a pharmacy to refuse to fill a lawfully written prescription. Unless the state R & R in the state you live in requires an ICD-9 code on pain medications, it is up to the pharmacy to prove that it was NOT lawfully written and that they had a valid legal reason to NOT fill it.
Does the PIC at the local Walgreens know who he/she is messing with? C’mon Steve take some of your own advice. Get the BOP involved!
@Candid… you should know me better than that… the on line consumer complaint form was done about 19:00 tonight.
Who are making these decisions? That is the question. Getting an answer is probably futile. Wal-Mart decided last year that on Oxycontin rx’s that we were suppose to call the doc and make sure there was a doc/patient relationship. Huh?? Oxycontin requires a rx. So, most likely the pt saw the doc. If a pt sees a doc is that a pt/doc relationship? What constitutes a pt/doc relationship? If you call and ask if there is one, what do you think the nurse is going to say? It is completely silly. So, the pharmacy manager and I talked it over. We just stopped carrying Oxycontin. We don’t have time to call these docs and ask these silly questions. We just send the patient down the street to the independent pharmacy that does not have corporate idiots making their lives difficult.
With your pain meds, you should probably call corporate Walgreens and threaten to sue them. If they have your rx and it is time to get it filled, then you are in the right. Get a lawyer and sue them.
This is just the type of crap that is happening all across chain pharmacy. Stupid corporate crap comes down to the pharmacy and you don’t have any idea, nor can you find the person, that came up with the idea. With Wal-Mart, I have tried to find the person responsible for some of their crap. It is near impossible to find any person that will say they are responsible for anything. If you watch how these corporation operate, you will see that the home offices are trying to isolate themselves from any responsibility. Just as corporate Wal-Mart does not want to hear from its employees because they are afraid they will hear something is happening that is illegal or unethical. They want all that stuff stopped from going up the ladder of command to the top. And, too, they really don’t want to know anything the employees say because they are not interested.
I will add this: Wal-Mart has been blocking us from filling controlled substances that are 3 days before the exact date the pt is to run out. We can over-ride it, but we rarely ever do it, because we have to give a reason. Now, there is no state or federal law that dictates 3 days. So, someone, may not even be a pharmacist for all we know, has made that decision. This is similar to what you encountered with Walgreens. Wal-Mart requires a valid US ID to pick up controlled substances. Can you imagine all the illegals in this country and them trying to pick up some pain meds? At the first of the year, Wal-Mart started having the cashier scan the patients drivers liscense. We don’t know what happened, but after about 2 weeks they stopped the scanning.
What irks me is these big corporations make policies, such as the one you encountered, and there is no federal or state law. The dispensing of rx’s should be left to the discretion of the pharmacist. The people at the store know you. They can look at your profile and tell whether you are taking more than prescribed. If you have been taking them as prescribed, and you want to get them early because you are going on vacation, then it should be left to the discretion of the pharmacist to fill or not fill it. In many ways, the corporations are beginning to act like ‘small’ governments.
That’s interesting…wonder how long that’s been in place, and must only be pain meds?? My husband is on Testosterone Replacement therapy (C-III) I just dropped off his new one a couple of days ago at one of our Walgreens because they seem to be the only place in town that stocks this particular one. They never mentioned anything about needing to call the doc and get the ICD9 code. Actually if I wasn’t already out doing other errands I could have waited for them to fill it and leave that very day. Always love how some moron at coporate always throws out “Well it’s the law” when there isn’t one. Yes, the consequences will be our chronic pain patients will now once again become poorly managed because of delays and how many ER visits will there be because someone was delayed getting their Benzo and has a seizure or a ‘psychotic break’ because it’s part of their successful mental illness treatment. And the company will NEVER be considered at fault, the BOPs won’t care and it’ll be the RPH that gets sued.