Current Events > Stories from the pharmacy.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yesterday a gentleman came to pick up his prescriptions. He had four total. They were all good except for his Cialis prescription. Previously, we had been running that through both his insurance and a Cialis coupon card. Unfortunately for this fill, the coupon came back saying the card benefit was empty.

We tried to get him a new card, but even more unfortunate was that Lilly, the company that makes Cialis, discontinued their savings program back in August 2017. When he came in I let him know that through his insurance he'd be paying $371 for a bottle of 30 tablets. I figured that now that Viagra had gone generic back in December, I'd recommend he give his doctor a call and have the doc switch it to that in the hopes that it would be cheaper. Unfortunately when he saw the name written down, he immediately said "Oh I've had that. It doesn't work that well."

Welp. >_>

He went home to call Lilly to see if he can get them to budge on that coupon.
---

How do coupons work?

Shuto-uke posted...

How do coupons work?

Most brand name only drugs (Eliquis, Advair, Toujeo, etc.) will have their own web site with a savings section. After filling out some information such as patient name, date of birth, what type of insurance they have, etc. we can get a coupon card that can take off some or all of the cost that the regular insurance won't pay.

Unfortunately, Medicare and Medicaid patients are usually exempt from such coupons which I find really stupid and asinine.
---

LanHikari10 posted...

I find really stupid and asinine.

Speaking of which, who's the stupidest or most asinine person you've had come in
---

My money's on drug addicts
---

A pharmacist friend of mine told me about a 8.2x10^27 years old lady talking about her sex life
---

spartan99ruler posted...

Speaking of which, who's the stupidest or most asinine person you've had come in

MrPeppers posted...

My money's on drug addicts

Probably this. You don't often see patients getting as passionate/angry about their normal every day blood pressure/diabetes pills as they do when you tell them that controlled substances cannot be filled early and schedule IIs cannot be refilled at all. We usually get the blame for that sort of stuff too when a lot of the times we have no control over it. We don't decide your refills, we don't decide your quantity, we don't decide whether the drug is covered. We can't create new prescriptions out of nothing.

But I suppose we're easiest to point the finger at because we're sort of the last piece of the puzzle.

I wish patients understood the basics of prescriptions better. Controlled substance prescriptions expire in six months and can have a maximum of five refills. Both of those factor into it. Just because your bottle says you have a refill doesn't mean it can be filled again two years later. And it's only the controlled substance ones people seem to notice the number of refills on the label. >_>
---

Ugh and people who don't call ahead or wait until just before closing on a Friday.

"I NEED this filled."

And it's always a controlled substance with no refills and the doctor's office is closed and then they get pissed at us because we're supposed to magically pull a prescription out of our butts at 4:59 PM Friday afternoon.
---

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.
---

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Jesus, What's wrong with people?
---

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Hey man, he was just taking inventory...
---

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Lol what drug did they take? Also imagine spending all that time studying and money on school just to do that

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Should be easy to track. Pyxis, Omnicell, and other ADMs have login information that can used to track diversion.
---

MrPeppers posted...

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Hey man, he was just taking inventory...

Do you do e-scripts? I work in a clinic pharmacy and the clinic doctors literally don't want to do e-scripts. It's mostly phone orders. It's so asinine.
---

Reis posted...

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Lol what drug did they take? Also imagine spending all that time studying and money on school just to do that

Name a painkiller.

Yes.

LanHikari10 posted...

MrPeppers posted...

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Hey man, he was just taking inventory...

Do you do e-scripts? I work in a clinic pharmacy and the clinic doctors literally don't want to do e-scripts. It's mostly phone orders. It's so asinine.

We didn't at the time that happened, but we do now. Not my area though. I keep the hospital stocked and handle non-medical hirings and staffing.
---

MrPeppers posted...

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Hey man, he was just taking inventory...

Underrated post
---

LanHikari10 posted...

MrPeppers posted...

K181 posted...

At the pharmacy in my hospital, we had a pharmacist that started stealing large quantities of drugs literally the first day they started working there.

Didn't take long to find out who was doing it.

Hey man, he was just taking inventory...

Do you do e-scripts? I work in a clinic pharmacy and the clinic doctors literally don't want to do e-scripts. It's mostly phone orders. It's so asinine.

Yes, and it's amazing because everything is super simple. I just click on the drug and dosage then it has options for every frequency and route of administration. And every pharmacy is hooked up to it. It makes life easier for both us and the pharmacists, kol
---

I wish this clinic would get out of the stone ages and set up e scripts. There is no good reason not to that I can think of. Phone orders are just so stupid.
---

LanHikari10 posted...

I wish this clinic would get out of the stone ages and set up e scripts. There is no good reason not to that I can think of. Phone orders are just so stupid.

Yeah. Sometimes there are issues with dosing and whatnot on the electronic system and we may call instead if it gives us some problems, but it's typically for off label use of less common stuff which is expected. We still have to write physical copies for controlled substances but I think that will forever stay that way.
---

MrPeppers posted...

LanHikari10 posted...

I wish this clinic would get out of the stone ages and set up e scripts. There is no good reason not to that I can think of. Phone orders are just so stupid.

Yeah. Sometimes there are issues with dosing and whatnot on the electronic system and we may call instead if it gives us some problems, but it's typically for off label use of less common stuff which is expected. We still have to write physical copies for controlled substances but I think that will forever stay that way.

I can understand a phone order or two for questionable/unique ones. We're set up to receive controlled substance scripts electronically, even CIIs if the providers are also set up to do it. It's a technological miracle. It's just that the main clinic we do business with.... isn't set up to do it at all.
---

How do I set dat up? That's the best because they won't stare at the no refills line or try to put an extra zero behind Norco blah blah blah dispense 10.
---

MrPeppers posted...

How do I set dat up? That's the best because they won't stare at the no refills line or try to put an extra zero behind Norco blah blah blah dispense 10.

On the providers side, I'm not exactly sure to be honest with you. I think first you should check and make sure your state allows for CIIs to be electronically prescribed. If it does, I think there needs to be some additional software/protections in order to include controlled substances. If I remember right, nurses cannot send controlled scripts until the doctor signs off on it with a unique password to them, but don't quote me on that.
---