Pharmacy frustration

[disneysteve]

I know that this is all due to the pharmacy being overworked and understaffed. I see it every time I'm there. The people who are working are doing their best with what they've got to work with, so I'm not upset with them personally but I am upset with the state of the system.

My wife had surgery on 12/7. On 12/19 she had a post-op visit with the surgeon. He ordered a refill of her pain medication. Later that day, she checked on the pharmacy app and it said they were waiting for authorization and had contacted the provider. She waited a couple of days because she wasn't out yet, then called the office and left a message to check on the status. Finally on Friday, when she was out of pills, she called the office again and finally got through to a person (which wasn't easy). They confirmed they had gotten the authorization request and submitted it. We called the pharmacy again and they said they were still waiting but if we wanted to pay cash we could. It would be $12! Oh, and we have a discount card on file (GoodRx) which would make it $9.50. Really? She waited all week and made multiple phone calls and jumped through hoops for something that was only going to cost us less than $10? Of course we were happy to pay that. How much cheaper could it have been with insurance? It would have been nice for the pharmacy to mention that little detail earlier. As I said, I realize they are swamped and nobody there has time to make personal calls to every customer for stuff like this. It's just super frustrating as the patient.

All I can say is to keep being your own advocate, or advocate for your loved ones. Sometimes issues have really simple solutions and some problems can be solved for a small amount of money, like just $9.50 in this case.

[Jluke]

Recent experience: went to pickup prescription at place I’ve been going 20 years or so. Go to checkout and ask if they ran the prescription through my insurance. Person acts clueless. I show my prescription card and person says they can’t do that.

so I have to talk to pharmacist who rings it up and it comes down a little in price. Made me get back in line and pay.

same place, several years ago: pick up tablet medication. Supposed to be 20 in the bottle. Sure enough it didn’t have that number. They looked guilty when I went back in.

[disneysteve]

so I have to talk to pharmacist who rings it up and it comes down a little in price. Made me get back in line and pay.

This happens at our place, too. The "consultation" desk is where you can speak to the pharmacist or handle any issues with your insurance. But you can't pay there. So you start by standing in line at the register, discover there's an issue, go to consultation to fix it, and then have to stand in line again to pay.

[Jluke]

This happens at our place, too. The "consultation" desk is where you can speak to the pharmacist or handle any issues with your insurance. But you can't pay there. So you start by standing in line at the register, discover there's an issue, go to consultation to fix it, and then have to stand in line again to pay.

Yeah. That step was new to me. Insurance has been on file for 20 years.

i was used to checking out and they would say “and your cost after insurance is xx”

They didn’t say that this time so I had to press them. Felt like it was part of a game to take advantage of someone who doesn’t know better. I’m not insurance savvy so they almost got me.

[kork13]

Not really a pharmacy experience, more just your standard insurance nonsense, but comparable...

Our 7 y/o has almost never stayed dry at night. Recently, he was finally old enough for his pediatrician to agree it's time to address it medically, so he referred us to a couple folks (PT, psychologist, etc.), as well as writing a pair of prescriptions for a medication and a bedwetting alarm (which we could get for free through our insurance's durable medical equipment channels). However, we had already tried that type of alarm on our own, to no avail -- he sleeps right through it. So the PT recommended a specific bedwetting alarm that worked differently, is WAY louder (wakes me up from across the house & thru multiple closed doors), and also includes an online program of instruction for him -- apparently it's got a >90% success rate. Unfortunately, it's over $350, and not available within our insurance network. We talked to our insurance, who told us that the doc can write a letter of medical necessity to have the insurance reimburse us after purchasing it commercially. Sounds "simple" and we get everything lined up exactly as instructed -- get the paperwork, buy the thing off Amazon, file the claim, and eventually get a check for a whopping $79 from the insurance company, with a letter telling us that we went wild dingo & never had a referral for the alarm. We call them literally 5 times, finally convince the person to look in their system at the referral documents & letter that we submitted with the claim ... they realize their error, and setup another check to be sent... but also explain that no matter what, the highest amount the insurance company can reimburse is $189, and anything above that amount is on us. She also told us she's not supposed to even tell beneficiaries like us that maximum dollar figure, to prevent us from intentionally targeting that number! The cost that we have to cover is worth every penny, because 2 months later, he's kept the bed dry for over 5 weeks now... But it would have been nice to know about that fact in the first place, when they initially said "Hey, no problem, just get this letter from the pediatrician & we'll reimburse the cost to you!"

I guess it's just a problem of awful customer service (from health insurance? imagine that....), but aggravating that they'd be so tight-lipped about what & how they would cover something that is an abnormal requirement.

[Fishindude77]

About all I've noticed around here is they close the drive up on days when understaffed, otherwise no serious issues.

[disneysteve]

About all I've noticed around here is they close the drive up on days when understaffed, otherwise no serious issues.

CVS now closes for an hour every afternoon for lunch. A lot of Walgreens pharmacies are no longer open on weekends at all. And several pharmacies that used to be open 24 hours aren't any longer. They just can't get enough staff to stay open like they used to.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I've had pharmacy troubles, too. The worst, though, turned out to have little to do with the pharmacy, but I ran into it trying to pick up a prescription.

Somebody in IT at the institution through which I am insured "flipped a switch," so to speak, and removed all spouses of the primary insured person from the plan! They did not bother to let us know, but simply waited for us to figure it out and call them to tell them to put us back on the plan. My very dear husband figured this out and managed to get it taken care of one morning while I was still sleeping. I might have choked had I been the one to hear, "Oops, sorry we terminated your insurance." And they did use that word, "terminated."

[rennigade]

CVS now closes for an hour every afternoon for lunch. A lot of Walgreens pharmacies are no longer open on weekends at all. And several pharmacies that used to be open 24 hours aren't any longer. They just can't get enough staff to stay open like they used to.

Yep, the closing for 1 hour is relatively new. Our local CVS which we no longer go to posts their hours on a piece of paper that's taped to the counter. We went there and it was closed one day. It was like 5pm on a weekday. Never went back. We go to target CVS now. For whatever reason CVS stores are disgusting anymore. They're like what Kmart became before they went out of business. Its so sad.

What is the staffing issues about? I realize there's usually only one pharmacist and a bunch of techs. I'm guessing techs are so low paid that people aren't doing it anymore?

We have a pharmacist in the family and they said it sucks dealing with insurance. I know our target CVS only ever has one pharmacist working and no techs. They're all alone. Do more with less. Sigh.

[disneysteve]

Yep, the closing for 1 hour is relatively new. Our local CVS which we no longer go to posts their hours on a piece of paper that's taped to the counter. We went there and it was closed one day. It was like 5pm on a weekday. Never went back. We go to target CVS now. For whatever reason CVS stores are disgusting anymore. They're like what Kmart became before they went out of business. Its so sad.

What is the staffing issues about? I realize there's usually only one pharmacist and a bunch of techs. I'm guessing techs are so low paid that people aren't doing it anymore?

We have a pharmacist in the family and they said it sucks dealing with insurance. I know our target CVS only ever has one pharmacist working and no techs. They're all alone. Do more with less. Sigh.

Since my earlier post, there was a big announcement a couple of weeks ago that pharmacies would be cutting hours more at Walmart and CVS due to labor shortages.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cvs-walmart-to-cut-pharmacy-hours-as-staffing-squeeze-continues-11674796388

With the unemployment rate the lowest it's been in nearly 60 years, the labor market is just incredibly tight right now. Employers simply can't find enough workers.

[moneybags]

Oh, and we have a discount card on file (GoodRx) which would make it $9.50. Really? She waited all week and made multiple phone calls and jumped through hoops for something that was only going to cost us less than $10? Of course we were happy to pay that. How much cheaper could it have been with insurance? It would have been nice for the pharmacy to mention that little detail earlier. As I said, I realize they are swamped and nobody there has time to make personal calls to every customer for stuff like this. It's just super frustrating as the patient.

This is what really bugs me, the GoodRx deals - can't the pharmacy just locate us the best deal? It's impossible to get an accurate Rx cost!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

pharmacies are closing super early like 6 pm in a lot of stores now. I had to switch my pickup to three locations because it was late at night and I finally found one open at 9 pm.

[disneysteve]

pharmacies are closing super early like 6 pm in a lot of stores now. I had to switch my pickup to three locations because it was late at night and I finally found one open at 9 pm.

Yep. Many have shortened hours due to lack of staff. The one urgent care I work at is down the street from Walgreens and a lot of patients use them. But last year they started being closed on weekends so patients had to find a new pharmacy.