Ah, druggies, don
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Ok, so, yeah, I
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Well, there have been hints about it (read through the comments on some posts from a month or two ago and it’s pretty obvious), but I’m finally ready to announce….(drum roll please):
BlogPharm, the blogging community for pharmacy people, and…stuff.
Seriously, if you’re a pharmacist/tech/student/pbm employee/drug rep/etc, and you’d like to blog but don’t know how, BlogPharm is for you.
It’s based on the world-renowned WordPress (the same software this blog runs on), and it has so many features, you can do almost anything with it
So if you’re interested, head on over to BlogPharm and sign up today!
</shameless plug>
If you work in a pharmacy, the words “Prior Authorization” can run chills down your spine. Normally, when a medication requires a PA, we just fax a form that we print out to the doctor’s office that has all the pertinent information:
- Patient’s name and DOB
- name of the medication and why it’s rejecting (if we know)
- Insurance ID# and phone#
In the rare case when a doctor doesn’t have a fax number, I get to call and leave all of this information on their voicemail (god forbid they should actually answer the phone, yet they still complain when I pick up the phone and they have to wait 30 seconds to speak to the pharmacist.)
An hour or so after I called in one particular PA today (well, yesterday now; man I hate it when I can’t sleep all night) the doctor himself called back.
MD: “Hi The is Dr. Highandmighty. I need to speak to the person who called in this Prior Authorization for my patient Mrs. Outofluck.” (Don’t you just love my nicknames for patient?)
RPh: “Hold on one second that was my Tech.”
Me: “This is Andrew; How can I help you?”
MD: “Hi, Andrew. I just wanted to let you know that you did a better job than most when you called in the Prior Authorization; you gave me the ID# and insurance phone#” (at this point I’m expecting that he got it through quickly and was just letting us know) “but you forgot one thing.”
Me: “Oh, what was that?” (puzzled, since I was sure I had left all of the information)
MD: (in a very condescending tone) “Well, don’t you think I could’ve used the patient’s date of birth?”
Me: (doh!) “Oh, sorry about that, it’s 1/5/62.”
MD: “Well, next time just make sure you don’t forget it so I don’t have to waste my time calling you back.”
Here’s the response I gave:
Me: “I’ll be sure to do that. Thanks, uh huh, bye.”
Here’s the response I wanted to give:
Me: “First of all, how many times have you called in a script without a DOB, and we had to look it up” (he does this a lot, actually) “or forgotten to write the date or your signature or a strength (etc.) and we had to call your staff to verify it. Plus, if we had had a valid fax number or if your voicemail had listed it, I could have just faxed you over this nice clean form we have with all of the information you need laid out very nicely, instead of having to leave it on your voicemail while trying to count out a script and tell someone where the toothpaste is (something you don’t have to deal with because you at least get to hide in your office and actually schedule when patients are allowed to come in).
“Second of all, you’re going to have to pull the chart anyway (unless, of course, you have it memorized, which I seriously doubt) to be able to document for the insurance company what other medication’s the patient has tried and the medical reasons the patient has to be on this medication, so unless your charts are organized by DOB or date seen by the doctor (which again, I seriously doubt) you could’ve kept from wasting both our time and just gotten her DOB from her file. Thanks, bye.”
So instead of wasting 5 minutes calling us, he could have just looked at the file he was going to have to pull (or have his staff pull, since most MD’s farm PA’s out to their nursing staff anyway). I wish I could make that much money for being such a moron.
Note: we are no longer looking for technicians..
My store is in desperate need of a technician to be hired by the end of next week (at the latest.) If you are a technician or pharmacy student in Norther Virginia, please email me at andrew [at] chronolink [dot] net ASAP. We are looking to fill a full-time position (35 hours, or part-time if you know someone else who can share the hours with you.) The shifts we need to fill are every other weekend (10am-6pm) and mostly evenings (either 12:30-9pm or 5-9pm, with occasional morning, 9-5:30pm shifts and 12-hr, 9am-9pm shifts). Our store is 5 minutes away from a metro station and no more than 30 minutes from most parts of the NOVA section of the metro area.
Perks:
- Our store is relatively slow; very rarely do we go over 100 scripts a day.
- The schedule is flexible; great for students. I can work around any scheduling needs you have.
- You get 10% off anything in the store (a major “big box” retailer)
- Health benefits/401k after 6 months of employment
Please email me ASAP, as we need to have someone hired by the end of next week (at the latest), since the other technician is leaving for school next week.
PTCB certification is preferred (and rewarded in pay), but not required. Please be licensed in Virginia or able to get licensed soon. We prefer someone who has a background in pharmacy, but we will consider applicants who are untrained. Retail experience is a must, and experience with PDX is a plus.
Well, maybe not, but I have been linked from the Wall Street Journal Health Blog (and its requisite copyblog). The article is about Medicaid’s new requirement that all prescriptions must be written on tamper-resistant pads beginning in October, something that will undoubtedly cause headaches in the last 3 months of this year.
The WSJ Health Blog is a great resource for health professionals. It’s a great honor to be linked from it.
It’s nice to be able to send a script to an independent pharmacy for one. Usually, we’re transferring them from the independents.
This afternoon, someone called asking for the price of 40 capsules of Vancocin 125mg capsules ($615). They didn’t ask if we had them, so I just figured it was another pharmacy price-matching–that is, until they brought the script in four hours later. Of course, we didn’t have it.
Pt.: But I called earlier!
Me: Yes, but you only asked how much it was. I didn’t know you were coming in for it.
Pt.: Well, can you call another pharmacy? I have to start taking it in less than an hour.
So, I, being the nice person that I am, pulled out my list of other pharmacies, and started calling all the pharmacies up and down the highway. After the fifth call, the pharmacist started calling from the other extension, too. At the same time, I found it at an independent pharmacy that is close by (but whose price is $725) and the pharmacist found it at another one of our pharmacies which is further away (by a considerable distance.
The patient thought it over for a second, then decided to go our other store since we were cheaper. Since he was in a rush to get it, we offered (again, out of the goodness of our hearts) to get his info at our store and then transfer the script to the other store. So, we had him fill out a profile, and he whips out an insurance card.
Me: Sir, you didn’t say you have insurance. You can just go the closer pharmacy; it will cost the same there as here.
Pt.: But, I have a percentage copay (actually called coinsurance).
Me: Yes, but it’s a percentage of the Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC, a dreaded acronym in pharmacy, almost as bad as IRS).
So, we sent the patient down the road instead of across town. And it felt good to be able to help out an independent pharmacy. (Plus, I’m sure they were anxious to get that Vancocin out of their inventory.)
If one more person tells me this week how long they’re willing to wait for their prescription to be filled, I’m think I’m going to explode. Some examples:
Me: Okay, that will be about 20 minutes. (no joke, that’s our usual wait time)
Pt.: Well, do you think it will really take 20 minutes?
Me: Yes, I do. (thinking) No, I’m just going to make you wait that long for the heck of it. It really only takes about 30 seconds.
and:
Me: About 15 or 20 minutes. (this was the day before the 4th of July)
Pt.: (in a thick New Yoa(r)k accent): I’d really appreciate it if it was 15 minutes. I have a plane to catch at National in 90 minutes.
Me: I’ll do my best. (thinking): Good luck. I hope you get put on standby. Now your script will take 21 minutes, just out of spite.
Pt.: Well, you’d better.
and finally, when we were really busy:
Me: Just to let you know, it’ll be about 30 minutes.
Pt.: What?! Can’t you get it done any faster?
Me: Not with five people ahead of you sir.
Pt.: Well fine! I’ll just take it down the street to XYZ Pharmacy.
Me: Fine. Here’s your script back. (thinking) Great! One more annoying patient I don’t have to fill a z-pack for, especially since happen to know XYZ’s wait time right now is 45 minutes.
A word to the wise: Making your pharmacy tech (or pharmacist) angry is just as stupid as doing the same to your waiter. Just be glad I have too high a standard of ethics to switch your antibiotic for an erectile dysfunction pill. Goodbye bronchitis, hello four-hour erection!
Sarafem is the biggest rip-off I’ve ever seen. We had a patient bring in a script for Sarafem 20mg, 1 capsule daily, for a 3 month supply. Of course, we didn’t have it, so I told here we would have to order it.
What I knew about Sarafem was limited; I knew it was for postpartum depression, and that it was essentially an antidepressant. What I didn’t know was that it’s the exact same thing as Prozac (fluoxetine), which is available as a generic for literally 1/10 the copay (for this patient anyway.) The patient’s copay for 3 months of Sarafem is $120 whereas her copay on 3 months of fluoxetine is $12.
On the other side of things, we got a promotional fax (which I usually throw away) for Neupro, the new Parkinson’s patch. We have one patient (Mrs. Nicelady, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while) who can only afford her Parkinson’s meds during the catastrophic coverage of her medicare plan, which is usually just the last 2 months or so of the year. So, I priced Neupro for her, and even during the coverage gap, it’s under $100 a month for the lowest strength, which is much less than her normal $600 a month. Plus, since it’s new, her doctor can get a ton of samples to give her when she can’t afford it.
It’s nice to see a new drug that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (relatively speaking, of course.)
