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I generally work every Sunday. Our pharmacy is only open until 4pm on Sundays. This is posted at the front of the store, yet for some reason we are pretty slow most of they day until suddenly we get a long line and it gets very busy about 3:45pm. It happens every time without fail. Although I am actually only scheduled 8-4 on Sundays, I always actually plan on working 8-4:30 because we never get out on time.
The fun today actually started at about 3:30 when a woman came up to the counter to pick up her prescriptions. After paying for them she told me that she had picked up something last week and had forgotten that she had a coupon for $30 off her copay. She asked me if she could still use it. That wouldn't be a problem, all I would have to do is print another copy of the original prescription receipt, refund it, and then ring it out again along with coupon.
One problem though, as I looked through her profile, she had never purchased this drug at our pharmacy. We had filled an order for it once, but then put it back in stock after it sat for a full week without being picked up (standard procedure at our pharmacy). She insisted that this was wrong, that she remembered picking it up and paying for it. I again explained that it would show in here if she had paid for it, but she kept insisting she remembered paying for it. So my next question was did she have her receipt? Of course she didn't. So I told her if she brought in the receipt showing this particular drug had been sold to her that I would do the coupon. Before storming off she told me that she's not surprised that it's not showing in the computer because we "mess up her prescriptions all the time." I wanted to ask her why she keeps coming back if that's true, but I didn't want to get in trouble.
The next one came about ten minutes later. This was a younger gentleman (should I use that word, LOL) who claims to have lost his medicine and wanted to know if he could refill it ten days early. Well, I try to bill it to the insurance and they reject it claiming that they don't cover lost/stolen medicines. The prescription was for a heartburn medicine that is very expensive. He had ten days left until insurance would pay again and asked if he could buy ten tablets. The pharmacist said okay, so I gave him a price quote. It was $135 for ten tablets.
Of course this didn't go over well. He asked if we would give him ten now and take them off of his next fill in ten days. Of course we said no, that would be technically insurance fraud to give it out early and bill later. He didn't like this answer and kept arguing with the pharmacist. The pharmacist even suggested an over the counter medicine to tide him over for ten days, but he didn't want to hear of it. Finally he left but not until he had wasted ten minutes of our time.
The one that takes the cake for today showed up at about 3:56pm to get a refill on her medication. We process the refill and the insurance rejects it saying it is 45 days too soon to refill. I explain this to her and tell her that she should still have about a 48 day supply. She says that the doctor told her to double up on her dose and that is why she ran out so early. She also says that she will be going on vacation and needs the medicine, so I resubmit the refill with a request for an early fill vacation override. It still rejects saying that she cannot have more than a 30 day supply on hand for a vacation override to get approved.
So we explain to her that because we submit the claims based on the directions the doctor writes on the prescription, the insurance company thinks she still has about 48 days worth of medicine. She again tells us that the doctor changed the directions and told her to take two a day. I explain that we cannot change the directions on the original prescription without the doctors consent. I told her that since the doctor is closed on Sunday, there is nothing we can do today, but that I would call first thing tomorrow morning and get the okay to change the directions on the prescription. That is the best I can do for her.
Well, guess what? That's not good enough. She is leaving tomorrow morning at 4am for vacation.
I could not believe this. Why on Earth would anyone be stupid enough to wait until the very last second to refill a prescription? Common sense would tell you that if you are going out of town you should get it filled at least a couple of days before you leave, I mean what if we were out of the medication and needed to order it or something? I just can't believe how often someone comes in totally out of their medicine and then gets mad at us because we don't have it in stock and need to order it for the next day.
After she told me that she was leaving at 4am, I just apologized and said there is unfortunately nothing that I can do for her. The best I can do is call the doctor tomorrow morning when his office opens, but that will be too late for her. I hope she learns a lesson about planning ahead better. I doubt it though. In her mind I'm sure the entire thing is our fault.
Of course because of this woman we ended up being open past 4pm and customer kept coming up to pick up stuff. We had one lady get mad when she tried to drop off a prescription at about 4:05 and we told her that if she wanted us to fill it we would not be able to do it until tomorrow morning since we close at 4pm. She gave us a nasty look and stormed off. I just don't get it. Actually I do get it...we work at a store so we aren't real people with a real life and family outside of work, right?
The fun today actually started at about 3:30 when a woman came up to the counter to pick up her prescriptions. After paying for them she told me that she had picked up something last week and had forgotten that she had a coupon for $30 off her copay. She asked me if she could still use it. That wouldn't be a problem, all I would have to do is print another copy of the original prescription receipt, refund it, and then ring it out again along with coupon.
One problem though, as I looked through her profile, she had never purchased this drug at our pharmacy. We had filled an order for it once, but then put it back in stock after it sat for a full week without being picked up (standard procedure at our pharmacy). She insisted that this was wrong, that she remembered picking it up and paying for it. I again explained that it would show in here if she had paid for it, but she kept insisting she remembered paying for it. So my next question was did she have her receipt? Of course she didn't. So I told her if she brought in the receipt showing this particular drug had been sold to her that I would do the coupon. Before storming off she told me that she's not surprised that it's not showing in the computer because we "mess up her prescriptions all the time." I wanted to ask her why she keeps coming back if that's true, but I didn't want to get in trouble.
The next one came about ten minutes later. This was a younger gentleman (should I use that word, LOL) who claims to have lost his medicine and wanted to know if he could refill it ten days early. Well, I try to bill it to the insurance and they reject it claiming that they don't cover lost/stolen medicines. The prescription was for a heartburn medicine that is very expensive. He had ten days left until insurance would pay again and asked if he could buy ten tablets. The pharmacist said okay, so I gave him a price quote. It was $135 for ten tablets.
Of course this didn't go over well. He asked if we would give him ten now and take them off of his next fill in ten days. Of course we said no, that would be technically insurance fraud to give it out early and bill later. He didn't like this answer and kept arguing with the pharmacist. The pharmacist even suggested an over the counter medicine to tide him over for ten days, but he didn't want to hear of it. Finally he left but not until he had wasted ten minutes of our time.
The one that takes the cake for today showed up at about 3:56pm to get a refill on her medication. We process the refill and the insurance rejects it saying it is 45 days too soon to refill. I explain this to her and tell her that she should still have about a 48 day supply. She says that the doctor told her to double up on her dose and that is why she ran out so early. She also says that she will be going on vacation and needs the medicine, so I resubmit the refill with a request for an early fill vacation override. It still rejects saying that she cannot have more than a 30 day supply on hand for a vacation override to get approved.
So we explain to her that because we submit the claims based on the directions the doctor writes on the prescription, the insurance company thinks she still has about 48 days worth of medicine. She again tells us that the doctor changed the directions and told her to take two a day. I explain that we cannot change the directions on the original prescription without the doctors consent. I told her that since the doctor is closed on Sunday, there is nothing we can do today, but that I would call first thing tomorrow morning and get the okay to change the directions on the prescription. That is the best I can do for her.
Well, guess what? That's not good enough. She is leaving tomorrow morning at 4am for vacation.
I could not believe this. Why on Earth would anyone be stupid enough to wait until the very last second to refill a prescription? Common sense would tell you that if you are going out of town you should get it filled at least a couple of days before you leave, I mean what if we were out of the medication and needed to order it or something? I just can't believe how often someone comes in totally out of their medicine and then gets mad at us because we don't have it in stock and need to order it for the next day.After she told me that she was leaving at 4am, I just apologized and said there is unfortunately nothing that I can do for her. The best I can do is call the doctor tomorrow morning when his office opens, but that will be too late for her. I hope she learns a lesson about planning ahead better. I doubt it though. In her mind I'm sure the entire thing is our fault.
Of course because of this woman we ended up being open past 4pm and customer kept coming up to pick up stuff. We had one lady get mad when she tried to drop off a prescription at about 4:05 and we told her that if she wanted us to fill it we would not be able to do it until tomorrow morning since we close at 4pm. She gave us a nasty look and stormed off. I just don't get it. Actually I do get it...we work at a store so we aren't real people with a real life and family outside of work, right?
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