Drug stores keeping low stocks?
 

Kinda on the same subject, prescriptions, I have had two friends in The Villages in the last month hand carry their prescriptions, one to CVS and the other to Walgreens to be told that they did not have the medication and would not have it until the next day. One friend was very ill and needed the antibiotic asap and the other was picking up two prescriptions, one for pain and an antibiotic drop, for her husband who just had cateract removal. They both were needed immediately.

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem and if so, I wonder why.

Good morning Gracie, you are up and at'em way too early. That is normal procedure, be it Walgreens or CVS, even Walmart. I can understand if it is something maybe not too common, but I have had high usage meds and get the same treatment. I wonder what they use to maintain their shelf level? Without shooting this thread over to political I wonder just where all of this is headed. It is getting worse, week by week. In the past 9 months I have experienced each scenario outlined in this thread multiple times and it doesn't seem to change, or get any better, even with changing pharmacies. As someone said earlier here it is often the doctor or his/her staff too. That's another story for another day.

Remember being thankful for not having to deal with the daily hassle at your place of employment when you moved to TV? Well, the hassle has been replaced.

prescriptions
 

Have been filling scripts at Sweetbay for about a year and find they do recommend generics when available and have saved us time and money. We normally mail away to Caremark, but do fill the occasional one locally.

My doc's office electronically sent in a 30 day supply with no refills and it should have been a 90 day with 3 refills. Had to pay $50 copay for the 30 day (same copay for 90) and got shorted 60 pills. They insist they sent the right prescription and the drug people said they didn't. Meanwhile, we got shorted and paid more than we should have. When I told the doc's office I'd pick up the prescriptions from now on, they said there will soon be no written prescriptions at all - everything will be electronically filed. Yikes, we all better stock up on the blood pressure meds - we're gonna need them!!

Publix Colony
 

kb8tpw, I am sorry you had an issue with Publix at Colony, we have been using them since they opened and have had nothing but great service. we have both BCBS and tricare, and that gets a bit confusing sometimes, I am usually called by name when I walk up to the counter and I don't go in there except once a month. Have had a few issues with insurance not wanting to pay and they called and got it straightened out while I waited. The one time they didn't have the eds they called and found it for me and sent me there, and it was not a publix. Love their phone order also, so refills are ready when I get there or I get a call if there is an issue.

Regarding your comment as follows: They made no attempt to seek generic equivalents for us.

Under Florida Statute the pharmacy must supply a generic equivalent unless otherwise requested by the patient or specified as "dispense as written" by the Dr.

Electronic Prescriptions
 

You'd better get used to the electronic prescribing but don't blame your doctor! Any office not using electronic scripts by the end of June 2011 will be penalized with a 1% reduction in Medicare payments for 2012. That penalty amount increases each year. I work in a medical office and believe me, we'd rather hand you the script also. Unfortunately, big brother won't let us do that! Just thought you should know what's really behind the new electronic rage.

Tricare
 

Not sure how to get word out. Walgreens will be be ending it's contract with the drug company E-scripts. They contract for tricare mail order and drug stores to fill your presciptions I transfered to CVS.


http://www.pharmacytimes.com/market-...ipts-Part-Ways

Tricare
 

DOD Notice: Walgreens to Leave TRICARE Pharmacy Network
Beginning January 1, 2012 Walgreens drug stores will no longer be part of the network used by the TRICARE Pharmacy plan known as Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI), which is a Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) company that processes TRICARE pharmacy claims. TRICARE beneficiaries filling a prescription at Walgreens after December 31, 2011, will pay 100 percent of the cost up-front and than file a paper claim for non-network benefit reimbursement, that will dramatically increase out of pocket costs.
Other retail pharmacy options include CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart and Safeway stores and some smaller local pharmacies. In addition, this is a good time to consider TRICARE Home Delivery.

If it's a long term chronic med then I don't worry about electronic. A day or two delay is no biggie.

But for an immediate need script it never hurts to get the paper!

A little information.. Almost always a pharmacy makes a greater profit by selling you a generic with the obvious exceptions of when they give free antibiotics to get you in the store shopping while you wait. If the brand name wholesale costs 2.50 a pill and they sell it for 3.50 a pill, they make a dollar and had an expensive pill sitting on the shelf for x weeks (time is $$). The generic wholesale is .10 a pill and they sell it for 1.50. You are happy to get the pill for $2 less than the brand name, they made a profit of 1400% WOW. So if a pharmacist did not substitute a generic, the doctor specified brand name only or there is not a generic available, with rare exceptions.

Electronic prescribing is being encouraged by Congress, as begun in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 and updated in 2006. There is no penalty for not E-prescribing, but there is an incentive to do so. Much of the basis for this came from the inability of pharmacists to read doctors handwriting meaning patients got the wrong drug, the wrong dose, and the wrong outcome. Additionally most electronic prescribing programs have features to check for drug interactions and allergies. The only down side is that you need to pick your pharmacy, although if you change your mind the new pharmacy can call the old one and get the order transferred easily. And if you plan on getting your meds from Canada it won't work for you. Yes, sometimes someone fails to push the right button but a large study from the Institute of Medicine in 2006 for Congress
http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Rep...nerrorsnew.pdf
presented data which convincingly showed the harm that patients incur from preventable medication errors. Every electronic prescription program that I am aware of has the capability to also print a paper copy for the patient. At this time you cannot e-script a controlled drug, those must be hand signed on special security paper and given to the patient.

Correct. (At least in our practice in MA which has almost 75K patients). They must also show ID and have previously signed a controlled substance release sheet.

Gee, I don't know about that. My Dr e-scripted a controlled drug to my pharmacy CVS last week. The pharmacy filled the prescription with no problem and called me when it was ready. No PAPERWORK required and no ID. I guess the actual fact of what is required is shown by what is experienced by the individual and not the thinking of others.

I was speaking for our practice (I work there as a RN and do handle Rx's) at South Shore Medical Center which is part of Atrius Health (half a million patients in MA). We do not allow controlled substances (think Oxy) which are chronic to be electronically delivered. We also require that patient to come in for a least a 6 month med check before prescribing a renewal. And we require a contract with them that they must sign before beginning the controlled RX.

PS> I didn't like the tone of your response as if I was making it up ("the thinking of others"). I was not "thinking", I was telling you how we do it at our place which isn't a small place my any means. Now if you are talking about a one time RX (for some class of pain killers) then yes we do e-script those.

As a pharmacist, I may be able to clear this up. Controlled drugs are classified as CI, CII, CIII, CIV. and CV. There is also a class 3N but that is not important for this discussion. CI drugs are those that have high abuse potential and little medical benefit (i.e. heroin, LSD). CII drugs have high abuse potential but also have medical benefit (oxycodone, percocet, morphine, dilaudid). CIII thru CV drugs have lesser degrees of abuse potential and have medical benefit. Doctors are permitted to e-script CIII thru CV drugs. They are not allowed to e-script CII drugs. This may vary from state to state but I have found it to be pretty standard. Some doctors require people that are on long term controlled drugs to sign a contract that only allows the controlled drugs to be filled at a single pharmacy and only written by that doctor. I believe this is one of the things that Russ was referring to. This is an effort to prevent abuse. I am registered in a number of states, but not in Florida, so if any florida laws are substantially different, I am sure someone will post.