Persnickety

Don't Shoot The Pharmacist! - The offical website

Customer gives us a prescription to transfer into our pharmacy. Call said pharmacy. Busy signal. Busy again. Busy yet again. Customer comes back. Why isn't it done??? Um, busy signal. Customer goes away angry. Comes back five minutes later. I just called and I got through...the first time I called! "Gee, wow. You're some really something with a phone," I think (but don't say). I call again, and get through. Transfer prescription. Tell her, "It'll be fifteen or twenty minutes." Disgusted and confused look. What?! She turns to her paramour. He said we have to wait. Why, he says. How do I know, she says. He's had my bottle for half an hour. "I'll get it tomorrow," she says. Whatever, I say. Next day she comes in and when I tell her the copay is $25 she says, "What! The other pharmacy charges $3!" I explain that I am only charging what her insurance says I need to charge, and that we don't price her prescription, her insur...

Another Memorial Day... another whine. This will sound a tad insensitive, but I cannot stand to hear another senior citizen whine to me about how "the golden years" are anything but golden. For instance, I have this one lady who has had cancer recur several times, fighting it off each time. At each episode she can only bemoan her fragile state. Now, I agree, being sick, especially with an illness such as cancer, is no picnic. But after seeing a few of my customers--gems all--go through fatal illnesses with nary a whimper, teaching all who encounter them what it truly means to die gracefully, teaching us, really, how to die, I no longer have much patience with them. Especially on Memorial Day. I want to ask them how many young men died not seeing their nineteenth, twentieth birthday, how many died struggling up some beach in Normandy, Sicily, Okinawa. They never saw their eightieth, seventieth, heck their thirtieth. How about a little humility, a little thankful...

Ah, another Memorial Day weekend... spent working behind the counter. Do I mind? Of course not. My friends and enemies alike are spending it camping and having cookouts and such, but I feel they are missing the point. Memorial Day is a day of memories, of harking back to pay tribute to the fallen, of those who have sacrificed for our benefit. Work isn't necessarily fun, at least for most of us; we shouldn't just spend this holiday frolicking without a care, without a hint of the loss we all bear. Isn't that right. It is. And while we're at it, I rather like to bathe in the fluorescent's gaze and the soft glow of the computer monitor. What I don't like is the constant whine and cringe inducing honk of the customer's rant: "You should be outside; it's gorgeous!" "If you can get out of here for an hour you're gonna love it!" "Too bad you're stuck in here." Actually, it wouldn't be that bad being stuck in here, exc...

Today's highlight... A guy pays for a 27 cent --yes, $0.27-- prescription, with a check . He writes the check out (even though we print it out automatically, handing the check back to the customer) and then gives me the check which I then process. The check gets caught inside the register. I re-try. Re-try again. Finally, after describing my love for bank checks, I tell him I'll pay for his 27 cent prescription. Go. Get out of here. Buh -bye.

I received a comment on my March 26th blog regarding the equal nature of generics to brand name drugs. The comment was as follows: If generics and name brand prescription drugs are "identical," why do doctors overwhelming only use name brand drugs for their family? That was an interesting question. I'm wondering if there is a factual basis to it, i.e. is it the questioner's opinion or is there some data that underlies his comment? My own experience with MD's, PA's, NP's, and dentists is that almost all get generics. Some do insist on brand, but I can reclassify these as retired, or nearing retirement age, and coming from a, shall we say, snooty neighborhood. My feeling is that they can afford the best, and so choose to shell out for the brand, as only the top shelf is good enough for them. Also, you have to take into account that drug companies fuel the doctor's larder with free (the magic word for doctors) brand drugs. Doctors are pretty much like eve...

Pet peeve #17... calling the insurance company, inputting the pharmacy NPI number, the prescription number, the patient's ID number, hitting #3, hitting #1, hitting #2, holding, holding, only to hear this: "Hello, my name is _______, may I have your NPI number? Prescription number? ID number? Thank you. I'm sorry, but this claim needs to be handled by our clinical line. I'll transfer you now. Is there anything else I may assist you with?" Holding, holding, holding. Inputting the pharmacy NPI number, the prescription number, the patient's ID number, hitting #3, hitting #1, hitting#2, holdingholdingholding...then hearing: "Hello, my name is_________, may I have your NPI number? Prescription number? ID number? Thank you. I'm sorry, but this claim needs prior authorization. Would you like that number? and is there anything else I can assist you with?" No; but thank you for making our wait time for a prescription go from ten minutes to half and hour.