My Rules For Pharmacy Customers

[RxBoy]

If I had my way, each new patient in our pharmacy would get a little brochure of "Rules Of The Pharmacy" along with their privacy practices notice when they first visit us. The rules would go something like this...

1. Finish your cell phone calls before you get in line. When it's your turn at the counter I have to ask you questions and get information from you. It isn't fair to everyone else waiting in line that it takes three times as long since you aren't giving me your attention. Also, there could be serious consequences if we have inaccurate infomation about your health conditions, medications, etc because you weren't paying attention to what I was asking and didn't correct me. Lastly, you are running the risk that the person on the other end of your conversation will hear something you don't want them to. Don't even try to get me in trouble for violating your "privacy" because the other person now knows you take medicine to treat herpes. Common sense would tell you that they can hear everything we talk about.

2. Notice the sign that says "Please wait here for the next available technician". It is about five feet away from the counter. If you choose to just walk up to the counter before you are called, don't get mad when I tell you to step back to the sign. I still have the last person's prescriptions on the counter in front of me and letting you see that is a violation of HIPPA laws. I will call you up as soon as I've finished processing them.

3. Please call in your refills a few days in advance. This is good for several reasons. We can be certain to have the medicine in stock for you. If your insurance is giving us a hassle, we will have time to work things out. If you are out of refills, we will call your doctor on your behalf to request more. On the other hand, if you walk in with your empty bottle and ask for a refill, you will be out of luck if there are any problems. None of these things I mentioned can usually be solved in 15-20 minutes. So please don't wait until you've taken your last pill to get your refill, give us a few days.

4. There are thousands of prescription plans that we accept at our pharmacy. I can't possibly know the terms of each plan and what is and is not covered. If your insurance says they don't cover a particular medicine or they require prior authorization, please don't ask me why they won't pay and then get mad because I don't know. You can call the customer service number on your insurance card and find out. I'm sorry, but there is not a magic button on this computer that I can press to make the insurance do what you want.

5. Most prescriptions are good for one year from the date that the doctor writes them. This means that you can fill it and get refills until one year from that date. It says this on the side of your bottle. I don't care how much of a fit you throw, I cannot refill a prescription once it is a year old. It is illegal and I am not going to loose my job doing it. Call your doctor and get a new one.

6. Speaking of law. If you want to buy a product containing pseudoephedrine, you must show me identification and pay for it at the pharmacy counter. I don't care how much you whine that it's a pain or that it's violating your privacy, I have to log your name and address along with what you purchased into a book. If you refuse to let me do this, I cannot sell you the product. We are required by federal law to collect this information and I am not going to commit a crime just because you feel inconvenienced.

7. Believe it or not, many of the delays in the pharmacy are things that we have no control over. It's isn't our fault if the doctor doesn't call us back for several days or if your insurance is delaying things. If it's taking too long, how about helping us solve the issue by calling your doctor or your insurance and helping to push things along? You are not the only customer of this pharmacy and I dont' have time to make several calls to your doctor throughout the day trying to get him to follow up. It is not uncommon for a doctor to take a week or more to finally get back to us. This is not our fault.

8. If your insurance is denying your claim, this is also not our fault. We can try our best to work it out, but in the end if they say no there's nothing we can do. You can either pay cash or appeal their decision. It does no good to threaten to go to another pharmacy. It is not us, it is the insurance. Go ahead and take your buisness to another pharmacy, I guarantee you are going to have the same problem there when they try and bill it to your insurance. But you don't believe me, so go for it.

[Iris Kojiro]

Cool to see another technician here. Welcome to the site! *offers pocky*

I hardly ever talk about the Medicine Hat on here...but I think I might tonight.

[fireheart]

And at this point, I am so glad that the three pharmacies I visit on a semi-regular basis just take your prescription, ask if you want the generic or not, make you wait for about 15-20 minutes while the medication is dispensed, then you pay for it. (Of course, I'm Down Under so....)

Although that being said, I have still heard a few doozies at the pharmacies I go to. (I go to the one on campus if I saw the doctor there, I go to the one my family uses if my parents are filling out the prescription and I go to the one near home for anything else)

[radiocerk]

Welcome fellow drug dealer... and my rules

I would like to add...

- please do not come into my pharmacy to pick up your pain pills reeking of pot. Or worse yet, trying to score drugs on your cell phone. Take a shower, or get some cologne, or something.

- please do not call to refill your "hydros". I can understand that drug names are complicated and difficult to pronounce, but that's why they give them brand names , not street names. Lortab, Vicodin, even hydrocodone isn't that hard, but you ask for a street name for your prescription, and my brain will immediately labe you a junkie whether you are or not.

- do not expect me to call your insurance to get your ID number. Would you ask the grocery store to call your bank for your ATM card number because you didn't bring it? No, so why don't you put your insurance card in your wallet with your ATM card?

- you are not the only customer I have. When I tell you it'll be 20 minutes, do not tell me "how long does it take to slap a label on a box?" Where do you think that label comes from, jackass?

- do not blame me when your doctor is too stupid to write a prescription. If the doctor doesn't write the strength, the quantity, your name, etc on the script, we have to call to verify it. That's the law. No, I can't just copy what they gave you last time.

[RxBoy]

I would like to add...

- you are not the only customer I have. When I tell you it'll be 20 minutes, do not tell me "how long does it take to slap a label on a box?" Where do you think that label comes from, jackass?

I get very annoyed when they say things like that. They act like all we have to do is grab it off the shelf and pour it into a bottle. The wait time at my pharmacy is usually about 20 minutes or so. Most people are fine with it, but sometimes they get huffy about having to wait. We are able to put a rush on a prescripton and have it pushed to the top of the queue, but they discourage us from doing that unless it's an emergency. If someone comes in with severe pain because they just had surgery or teeth pulled, for example, I will do it for them. But I'm not going to put a rush on someone's prescriptions just because they think they are more important than everyone else and shouldn't have to wait.

[MadMike]

They act like all we have to do is grab it off the shelf and pour it into a bottle.

I'll admit that there was a time when I was under that impression myself. I never pitched a fit about it, but there were times I wondered silently just why the hell it was taking so long.

Then my brother went to school to become a pharmacist, and he told me that the pharmacist has to know all about the medications, just like the doctor does. Not only that, but they're also expected to catch any mistakes the doctor might have made, and if they don't, they can get sued for malpractice along with the doctor.

[SG15Z]

I get very annoyed when they say things like that. They act like all we have to do is grab it off the shelf and pour it into a bottle. The wait time at my pharmacy is usually about 20 minutes or so.

Exactly! At the very least you'd think they'd know there are other people in front of you in line that dropped off earlier. Course I hear it more than you because our wait time is usually an hour, but that's because we're so high volume. And of course a lot of scripts have problems like insurance issues and such and that can hold up the other scripts in line as well.

[jackfaire]

but they're also expected to catch any mistakes the doctor might have made, and if they don't, they can get sued for malpractice along with the doctor.

George Bailey taught me that! Well about the pharmacist making mistakes.

[Shalom]

Rule one for things in unit-dose packaging (e.g. tubes of cream/ointment, eye/ear drops, etc.): When you go back to check stock to see if what they want is in the store, do not put your hand on the item when checking; just look at the shelf and say Yes we have that in stock. If they see you touching it, I guaran-damn-tee you that the next words to emanate from that person's mouth will be "Oh, can I have it now?" No, you have to wait until your prescription has been filled. "But you just had it in your hand! Can't you give it to me now and put it in the computer later?" No I can't.

please do not call to refill your "hydros"

I don't see any hydrochlorothiazide in your profile, sir.

Oh, and read this.

[EvilEmpryss]

Don't let anyone give you guff for "violating their privacy" if they're on a cell phone while talking to you about their meds. HIPAA is absolutely clear that if a patient/client/whatever invites a third party into the treatment area, the person treating them may proceed on the assumption that the patient is giving consent for treatment to be discussed in front of that person.

That includes people the patient is talking to on the cell when they have every opportunity to hang up before stepping up to the window. Perhaps your clinic could post a sign referencing HIPAA Privacy Rules and cell phone use to stave off the threats?

(My hubby is going through psychology grad school and he's covering HIPAA in one of his courses this term. Nothing like proofreading three papers a week on the subject to make one a temporary expert. )

[jackfaire]

Jealous of your hubby I still have to finish my associates and my bachelor's

[RootedPhoenix]

As I've said before, some people need to learn how to calm down and wait for stuff.

Some places take several hours to fill prescriptions. I wonder what shade of crazy these people would turn if they were told they had to wait that long?

[RxBoy]

Rule one for things in unit-dose packaging (e.g. tubes of cream/ointment, eye/ear drops, etc.): When you go back to check stock to see if what they want is in the store, do not put your hand on the item when checking; just look at the shelf and say Yes we have that in stock. If they see you touching it, I guaran-damn-tee you that the next words to emanate from that person's mouth will be "Oh, can I have it now?" No, you have to wait until your prescription has been filled. "But you just had it in your hand! Can't you give it to me now and put it in the computer later?" No I can't.



I don't see any hydrochlorothiazide in your profile, sir.

Oh, and read this.

That blog entry about why a prescription takes so long to fill was hilarious! I printed that out and I'm taking it into work with me tomorrow to show everybody! The sad part is that what he describes in the blog sounds almost exactly like some of the customers at my pharmacy.

[SG15Z]

Oh, and read this.

So taking this to work tomorrow! The pharmacy will love it!

[draggar]

2. Notice the sign that says "Please wait here for the next available technician". It is about five feet away from the counter. If you choose to just walk up to the counter before you are called, don't get mad when I tell you to step back to the sign. I still have the last person's prescriptions on the counter in front of me and letting you see that is a violation of HIPPA laws. I will call you up as soon as I've finished processing them.

I didn't know that's why they did that.

3. Please call in your refills a few days in advance. This is good for several reasons. We can be certain to have the medicine in stock for you. If your insurance is giving us a hassle, we will have time to work things out. If you are out of refills, we will call your doctor on your behalf to request more. On the other hand, if you walk in with your empty bottle and ask for a refill, you will be out of luck if there are any problems. None of these things I mentioned can usually be solved in 15-20 minutes. So please don't wait until you've taken your last pill to get your refill, give us a few days.

Most cases this is OK but one of my wife's medications (controlled substance) can only be refilled 1 month after the last refill and the timing is that she has a days left when she can call in for a refill.