HIPAA? You are mistaken
I got a call today from a nice lady, we’ll call her Gail. She asked me if she could transfer a prescription to my store from a Walgreens. I, of course, said that it was no problem. I got her applicable info and asked her what the script was for…She told me she did not know. She called the store and asked them what it was, how much it was, and when it would be ready (not a huge request — or anything out of the norm). The “person†that she talked to told her that the information she asked for was considered private information and could not be divulged over the phone as it was not a secure form of communication. Holy freaking crap…
I told Gail that this was completely wrong and off-base, and that if she provided them with some sort verification of her identity, there was no problem with telling her anything about her treatment. She agreed that whoever she spoke with was a complete retard. I went on to tell her that as far as HIPAA is concerned, everything is expected to be done in good faith. If I have no reasonable doubt that you are trying to gain access to information that is not your own, I will face no penalties for revealing that information to you as it is you that made a fraudulent claim (So long as I made a reasonable attempt to verify your identity with DOB, address, etc). Basically, all this “person†was willing to tell her is that, “Yes, a prescription was called in, and no it is not in the penicillin family.â€
I think that I smell a chance to really be a prick here…Cha-Ching!
I called Walgreens and spoke with a girl that we’ll call, “Sparkle.†I told her I wanted a transfer. The script had not yet been input so she’ll just read it to me and pitch it (This is also the incorrect way to do it. It should be input and place on hold then transferred and deactivated, but telling a worthless Walgreen’s tech that means I have to wait two hours and call back). I got the script and all the info I needed. Then I started in with Sparkle. My comments are bolded.
“Gail told me that she called and you all refused to give her any information regarding this script.â€
“That’s right. HIPAA doesn’t allow us to give any information over the phone as we cannot verify who is on the other end of call.â€
(I wanted to say, “Hey, idiot. I’m a pharmacist. I’m well aware of HIPAA and its requirements,†but I digress)
“That’s incorrect. If you make a reasonable attempt to verify her identity then you can reveal any information over the phone. HIPAA isn’t a means to place information in a lockbox to never let it out. It’s there to protect information from falling into the wrong hands.â€
“It’s Walgreen’s policy to not reveal information over the phone.â€
“Wrong again, dear. I worked for Walgreens in college. I know their policy. I also know that I talk with a ton of Walgreens each week, and I’ve never encountered such a misuse of the word, HIPAA. I’ve even filled a few of my own medicines at Walgreens in a bind, and I’ve called in and never had this problem.â€
“Well that’s this store’s policy…â€
“Aww now don’t lie to me because I’ve proven that you know next to nothing. I know that no store in a chain will, or is allowed to, have any policies different from what the headquarters set out. You’re just backing off because you have realized that I’m not buying your claims. They’re bogus.â€
“Whatever…â€
“Are you a pharmacist?â€
“No, I’m the Senior Techâ€
(Don’t get me started on Walgreen’s Senior Tech program. Most of them are worthless. I’ve worked with some that were fabulous, but giving idiots an important-esque title just fills their head with pride and ego. In these case, this chick was trying to flex her pseudo-nuts.)
“Wow. And you’ve been telling your patients that stuff for how long? How many people have you turned away? Can I talk to the pharmacist?â€
CLICK. The dumb bitch hung up on me. [sarcasm] I would have expected more from a SENIOR TECH! [end sarcasm] I could’ve called back. I probably should have. But, I was busy at the time, and I could care less how many people Walgreens pisses off and chases away. I’ll pick up a few more prescriptions here and there.
Anyway, I told Gail about the exchange, and she thought it was hilarious as I did. I told her that it was my suggestion to never go to that store again. If the pharmacists on duty there allowed that kind of stuff occur, I would question the way things run there in general. I instantly gained a friend and five or six prescriptions a month at the same time.
Here are a few pertinent snippets I found on Wikipedia concerning HIPAA and this situation. I used wikipedia because it’s good at paraphrasing long winded documents such as HIPAA. Emphasis is, of course, mine.
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A covered entity may disclose PHI to facilitate treatment, payment, or health care operations or if the covered entity has obtained authorization from the individual. However, when a covered entity discloses any PHI, it must make a reasonable effort to disclose only the minimum necessary information required to achieve its purpose.
The Privacy Rule gives individuals the right to request that a covered entity correct any inaccurate PHI. It also requires covered entities to take reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of communications with individuals. For example, an individual can ask to be called at his or her work number, instead of home or cell phone number.
-=+=-
Yet again, I’ve proven another Walgreen’s employee completely retarded and worthless. Only 194,999 employees to go.
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I do *not* feel sorry for you…
I am sitting here right now watching discovery channel. I am watch at piece about a couple that had twins while on fertility treatment (likely clomiphene) because mommy had PCOS. They had two beautiful girls. Mommy then decided that she wanted one more. Better hop back on that CLOMIPHENE! She ended up with 7. She supposedly lost one of them leaving her with sextuplets. She is a part time nurse, and he works in IT for the goverment. They cannot afford 8 babies. They are on the discovery channel seeking pity and donations. I can vouch that the piece was not filmed in hopes for donations, but, it is definitely an ulterior motive. I do not feel sorry for those people. They were asking for it. Clompiphene? Seriously? C’mon. You two were ASKING for a multiple birth. The numbers show something like 15-20% ending in a multiple birth.
Ohh, and mommy wants liposuction. “Sure,†says Discovery Channel, “we’ll hook you up rather than help the starving and suffering somewhere else…it’ll make good TV.†Forget that, DC. Give me a break. Send that money to rural Kentucky. Those people need help more than this bitch needs lipo.
There’s really no real message here. Just a squabble. SoCo +Dr. Pepper = Drink of the day!
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You want it back, eh? Plus, Roger Clemens is a DOUCHE – Double POST!
This guy brought us a prescription. It was for Glipizide ER 5mg po qd. The other pharmacist received the Rx (it was my day off) and told the man that it he was going to have to call the doctor to verify the order because Glipizide calls itself XL and not ER (and it was Friday). He told the patient that he wanted to make sure the doctor wasn’t meaning another medicine (what that could be, I don’t know). He’s an older, cautious pharmacist. He makes people wait sometimes because he’s a little slow when it comes to pulling the trigger, and that irritates people. But, I can promise you one thing, he won’t make a mistake. He gets shit right the first time. Anyway, this was at 8pm.
It was sent my way. I called the MD today and they said yup, it’s supposed to be XL po qd. Everything is correct as is (I of course noted my call in red ink on the Rx - and that it was correct). So, I filled it and had it ready by 10 or 11am today. The patient came in around 5pm to pick it up. My tech was in the process of checking him out, and he asked how many tablets. She told him 30. He immediately became livid. “THAT’S ONLY A 15 DAY SUPPLY! You mean I have to come back in two weeks and pay the same copay? This is ridiculous! What kinda stuff are you people trying to pull? Blah Blah Blah!â€
I, of course, intervened and sent the tech to do something else. I pulled out the bottle and showed the person it was for a 30 days supply (he wouldn’t listen to my experienced tech because, of course, she doesn’t know shit - she’s a tech! Right? Riiiiight). He began yelling at me that it was supposed to be for 60 and taken BID (he even said BID - it’s so cute when they learn medical jargon isn’t it?). I told him I called the doctor myself to verify the script and the nurse, Donna (I even produced her name - +1 for me), confirmed everything on the prescription. He didn’t believe me, of course, because pharmacists aren’t trustworthy. So, I dug out the script and showed him. He couldn’t believe that the doctor did this to him! He even went as far as telling me he could die because of this screw up. I told him that was unlikely, and I would call again tomorrow to verify it all AGAIN. Nope, not good enough. I “had my chance†as he so eloquently put it.
He wanted the script back. He was going to Walgreens! I told him it would be a minute because I would have to remove the label from the back, and that can sometimes be a delicate process (our stickers will destroy a script - why is the glue so strong? Hell if I know). I started to remove it, and it was going to tear the Rx…probably rip it in half. The paper was cheap. The glue was dried. He told me to, “just give him the damn thing.†He went on to berate me for, “filling it wrong.†I profusely apologized for filling the prescription exactly as the doctor had written it and next time I would ask him for suggestions first.
“I’m going to Walgreens. They’ll fill it like I tell them to!â€
Fellow pharmacists. For this schmuck to think that someone would fill an Rx differently because the patient said so means, to me, that someone must have done that before for him. Tell me this is NOT true.
I told him good luck and sent him on his way. He would need luck for Walgreens to fill a prescription with my sticker on the back, my handwriting on the front in red ink stating, “Rx verified by Donna to be Glipizide XL 5mg po qd on 5/7/07 at 9:25am,†and on top of all else, it’s damn near torn all the way through from my ’sticker removal attempt’. Did I mention he’ll have to wait about an hour if they will fill it at all? The closest Walgreens fills about 800 a day (prolly more on Monday…The first Monday of the month even).
Can you imagine it? “Uhh, well my doctor wrote Ibuprofen 800mg #20, but he meant to put Vicodin #120. He told me to tell you.â€
“Okay, lemme get that ready for you.†Whatever…
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Roger Clemens is a no-good piece of shit. I don’t care if he’s one of the greatest pitchers of all time. I don’t care if he’ll be first ballot for the Hall-of-Fame with 96% approval. We are more than a month into the season. Some teams have been through their rotation 7 times already. He’s strung along these teams since before spring training with his bullshit quotes like, “If I do come back it’ll only be with the Astros, Yankees, or RedSox.†He’s bantered and bartered for money with all three. Other teams contacted his agent to offer more money, and they spat at them. Listen up Clemens, if you want to be a part of the team then join the damn team. Don’t think about joining the team. Don’t say you’re going to join the team. Don’t think about saying your going to join the team. Join the damn team. Play baseball. Baseball has given you hundreds of millions of dollars, endorsement deals, fans, praise, and I’m sure some hookers on the side, and this is how you treat our national past time - with this amount of contempt? Eat shit.
As of right now the Red Sox are doing great. They’re 20-10 and 5 games plus ahead of the Yankees. The Astros are struggling. They are 13-17 and 7 plus games behind the Brewers (Holy shit, who woulda thunk it?). I’m sure they woulda liked haven the Rocket take the ball in seven of those games. It could have been a spark that made them play a little better.
Every game counts. Let me say again. EVERY GAME COUNTS. It may be a long, grueling 162-game season, but every win and loss does matter. Don’t believe me? Last year the Cardinals ate shit the last month of the season. They lost something like 10 straight…TWICE! The Astros ended the season a mere 1.5 games behind the soon-to-be ‘worst’ World Series Champion of all time. Imagine where they would have ended their season with Clemens taking the hill for them 25-30 times? Might have made a big damn difference. We could be praising the Astros as world champs. Instead, even last year, he dicked around and FINALLY signed with the ‘Stros three-quarters of the way through the season. He started 19 games. He won 7, lost 6. Not too good, but extrapolate that to 30. He woulda (statistically) won 11 games and lost 9. Add those wins to the totals. The Astros make the playoffs 0.5 games ahead of the Cardinals. Fuck you, Roger Clemens. I’m glad I’m not older and have kids that would idolize you. I’d ground them for owning your baseball card. I’d berate them for uttering your name. I’d spank them for buying your jersey.
They kept Mark McGwire out of the Hall of Fame for alleged steroid use (Yeah, it looks bad, but so far, there’s no real proof. All we know for sure is that he is NOT a snitch). I sincerely hope that the only way you ever see Cooperstown is on a map. You don’t deserve it. Not for this shit. Not for doing it this way. I hate you.
Loving baseball since little league,
Slinging pills to pay the bills,
The Angriest Pharmacist
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Kids these days
I rang out some “[laugh] rubbers [snicker] [laugh]†(as they called) them today for four kids no more than 14 or 15 (2 boys, 2 girls). Now, I could care less that these kids bought prophylactics. I could also care less that they are using them. Good for them. Them thinking I was going to be embarrassed was a huge folly on their part. I’ve had 90- year old women flop out the twins to show me a rash. Condoms were normal in my world.
I don’t have kids, but I’ve done my fair share of supervision, babysitting, etc. for my aunts and friends. If I were a parent and berating these kids, I’d have to say the following:
1. Pull up those pants - I can see your underwear (and/or ass).
2. Spit out that gum - you look stupid.
3. Stop speaking like a roughnecked gangsta. You are white boy. We are in a white, upper-middle class neighborhood. You’re not tough. Talking tough won’t make you tough. It will likely just get your ass kicked.
4. You do not, “got game.â€
5. Stop dying your eyebrows Green. For God’s sake, you look like Oscar-The-Grouch’s retarded cousin, Frank (or some sort of inbred Philly Fanatic).
6. Take off those silly ass [insert item of clothing here…entire wardrobe applies].
7. Don’t tell your little friends you are “packing heat.†You don’t have a gun. You can’t afford a gun. You’re too big of a wussy to even touch a gun. The only heat you’re packing is that 14-year-old-lusting-for-a-handjob-in-the-closet-at-Billy’s-house-party heat.
8. Tie your damn shoes. You’re going to trip over your own feet. Is that really the style? Untied shoes?
9. No, the pharmacist will NOT hook you up with a few Adderalls (or A-trains as you so eloquently called them). At least your mind is on your studies…somewhat.
10. Your voice just changed a month ago, and you want to buy condoms? Give me a break.
Imagine a mother or father (or a mean ole’ Grandmother) just spouting these off one-by-one. I can hear it in my mind. It’s exactly what those kids needed to hear. I’m sure there’s more, but I can only berate kids so much…:-)
I’m turning into my parents. Case-in-point: When these kids left, I called them whippersnappers to my tech. Ugh.
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