Your refill? Yeah, it’s too soon
This is a guest post from a technician known for now as J.S. -- s/he will be responding to all comments as necessary. Should you want to send a private email, please use the CONTACT Page and I will forward it on to him/her.
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"REFILL TOO SOON," GUYS. That means, in pharmacy lingo, your insurance will not pay for your prescription until the resubmit date. One late night at the pharmacy, which by the way is in the ghetto, a woman comes in to refill her son’s prescription. As I processed the prescription I explained to her that it is a REFILL TOO SOON and the insurance wouldn’t pay for the refill until tomorrow morning. She obviously wouldn’t accept that answer and went into a rant against me (a technician), the pharmacist working with me, and our drug store. As I recall it went something like this:
“My baby needs his medication! He is sick! He needs it NOW!!!!! You stupid white bitch you had better fill my prescription or im going to kick your ass! Her's too. That other bitch pharmacist! What you think yous better than me? I want it now! Ima get me suma that shit now and my momma gon' pay for it! Make it now! Get it ready, Bitch!”
I looked at her, looked at the pharmacist, and explained to the woman that if she would WAIT ONE MORE DAY [less than 18 hours, actually], the prescription wouldn’t have copay because this woman was on state assisted insurance.
I told her that the medication would be $45 and if she wanted it, she could pay for it, but that amount wouldn’t be refunded the next day. Her response, although not responsive to the information, went something like this:
“What you think I’m broke, bitch? I can’t pay for my babay's medicine? Fuck you ima just buy it ima just buy it you can’t tell me what to do, this my babay, THIS MY BABY AND HE NEEDS HIS MEDICINE NOW GET IT READY DUMB BITCH.”
You're not broke? Oh, okay. Then I guess you’re just one of those lazy folks who doesn’t work and just expects the government to pay for your prescriptions. I can safely assume you are probably on food stamps too? Welfare? You're yelling at me, and I am partially paying for your prescription by paying taxes? I have no choice but to have my tax dollars used to pay for “your babay's medicine,” and I have no choice but to abide by your every wish and want because 'the customer is always right,' right? So, I swallowed my insults, and I bottled my anger, and filled the prescription.
By this time, her mom (the "babay's" grandma) came to the counter and apologized profusely with the accurate explanation that woman was mentally retarded. MENTALLY RETARDED. And she has children? What the fuck. You can draw your own conclusions on that one. And by the way, after all that, she didn’t, or better yet, her mom didn’t buy the medication because she, having some sense about her, WANTED TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT DAY. By the way, the drug was for SEASONAL ALLERGIES. Not seizures, not juvenile diabetes, not horrible psoriasis, not dangerous asthma, not epi or glucagon. SEASONAL ALLERGIES. Couldn't wait 18 hours, and *I'm* the dumb bitch.
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Do you want to submit a guest post [since I don't post nearly enough]? Type it up and email it to me via the same contact page. Also, let me know if you want your name/email address shared publicly, what POLL question you would like to accompany it (if any), and anything else you think is important. Guest Posts will be edited for grammar and spelling. I may also add emphasis, clarification, funny links, or other silly stuff [I might remove inappropriate stuff as well]. I will NOT alter the content/message of your post.
Voicemail prescription on Memorial Day
Had a doctor call in a prescription today...on Memorial Day. I could tell from his tone on the voicemail he left that HE WAS PISSED. He was bothered. He was angry. He was leaving a prescription for, let's call him Cal Ripkin. Here is the message verbatim:
"Prescription for Cal Ripkin. Zpak. No Refills. This is Dr. Johnson."
Luckily, I knew who Dr. Johnson was because he did not say his first name. I could just hear it in his voice that Mr. Ripkin called him at home or through the exchange acting as if he would absolutely die without a ZPAK STAT! And, rather than tell Mr. Ripkin to stop being a pussy and take a nap and some Tylenol, he just called in the prescription. Is antibiotic begging becoming some sort of weird variation of drug seeking?
Mr. Ripkin called me moments later and arrived mere minutes later. He needed that fucking ZPAK...
As I'm ringing him out, he doesn't ask about cough medicine. He doesn't ask about Advil or Tylenol. He doesn't ask me any REAL questions at all. He does hold out his hand and show me his palm. He's got a giant blister -- looks like it was from fighting a push mower without gloves.
"Will this ZPAK help with this blister?"
"I don't think it will. It's not super-red. It's definitely not infected. I wouldn't have torn it open -- maybe you could cover it with some super glue or Nu-skin to keep it from hurting."
"Oh. I kinda thought.....well....okay...thanks...."
So, let's recap here. Patient calls doctor for antibiotic. Doctor doesn't ask why, what for, or any questions. (It's for a blister, by the fucking way) Patient doesn't tell doctor what it's for. (It's for a blister, by the fucking way) Pharmacist fills it, patient comes to pick it up and pharmacist discovers patient wanted it for a blister, BY THE FUCKING WAY.
What a waste of time, money, resources, and my patience. This is one of the biggest examples of problems within our healthcare system -- WASTE and MISUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS. Super bug, anyone? This is how we are going to create it....
The crap people send me…
I got the following email from "Pat" concerning a "pain contrtact." One side of me wants to say, you're an addict and you need help from a few different doctors. One side of me wants to say this poor woman's pain is being under treated by her physician. Still yet, one side, the prevailing side, doesn't give a flying fuck. I present this email for your amusement. Readers, please tell her what you think. I get so many emails/contact notes from folks like this, that I no longer take the time to respond. It is up to this community to cull its nuts.
From: pat <d********y@yahoo.com>
Subject: Pain Contrtact
Title: Technician
Message Body:
Dear Sir,
it is with deep shame, and not a little fear, that I compose this message. I'm a woman in her late thirties, and I'm a Pharmacy Tech. I also suffer agonizing migraines. I have a PCP that I see, weekly, and I receive Rxs for #14, 40mg. Oxycontin, and #42, 20mg. Roxicodone, for BT pain. My visits are always EIGHT days apart, NOT seven. But, no matter how many times I explain the numbers to my M.D., she won't up the Script #. Tonight, I found a several months old Rx for "Percocet", 5/325, literally in a cookie jar. I KNEW it was wrong, as I have an Iron-Clad contract w/ my doc, but I did it anyway. I went to a NEW Phramacy, paid cash, and got the script. I feel like even lower dirt, b/c the RPh was SO nice and understanding; I felt like a heel misleading him. I have a question for you, sir: will this Rx show up on my profile at my reg. Pharmacy, since I didn't use my usual insurance? I asked my DAd, who is an RPH, and couldn't get a straight answer (he refuses to touch, or even discuss my meds). If my doc finds out, she'll kick me out of her practice-- and narcotic meds are the ONLY thing that make life bearable for me right now. I KNOW I should have thought of that BEFORE I did this, but, now, I need a truthful answer from someone I truly respect. Am I in horrible trouble? I am SO SCARED.
Thank You, PAt
Doctor shopping and insurance fraud and asshat patients — OH MY!
Man, these folks are coming out of the woodwork!
Had a lady call me for a refill (on we'll say 3/19) on her (surprise) Norco 10/325 last week because she was (surprise) going out of town. It had been 9 days since we had refilled it. The prescription was for 50 tablets taken every 6 hours. I put it in as a 13 day supply. I told her that it would be "a few more days" before it could be filled. She, of course, did not agree with me. She tried to tell me that it was a 12-day supply and we, meaning my pharmacy, "always fill it three days early." Well, she's wrong...maybe two days early...on a 30 day supply...if the patient isn't a problem....
The fact that she argued with me about filling it early, about it being a 12 day supply versus a 13 day supply, and told me what MY pharmacy always does got me interested in her profile.
I booted up my trusted internet browser and navigated to my state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, plugged in her information, and I was quite shocked at what I found.
Date Drug Qty/Days Prescriber Filled by:
3-14 Hydrocodone/APAP 10/325 90/30 J. Smith CVS
3-14 Alprazolam 1mg 90/30 J. Smith CVS
3-10 Hydrocodone/APAP 7.5/325 50/13 B. Jones MY PCY
3-10 Alprazolam 0.5mg 30/10 B. Jones MY PCY
And this shit continued for the last 3 months or so. Let me share the most SHOCKING piece of information -- there was another column titled "Payee" which will say Medicaid, Commercial, or CASH. Usually, we would expect this to say CASH at one pharmacy and COMMERCIAL or MEDICAID at the other when we encounter doctor shoppers. In this instance, THEY ALL SAID COMMERCIAL!!!
This lady was doctor shopping using her insurance card...from her benefits at work! WOW! I can only assume the insurance company didn't catch it because the strengths had different NDC -- maybe even different manufacturers? Not sure....
I called and confirmed all of this with my friend Remy at CVS, and we each canceled all of her refills. I then printed all of this out and faxed it to the physicians involved (and every pharmacy in town). I heard back from both offices very quickly -- and they were pissed. They canceled the refills (of course) and each fired her as a patient.
When she called back the next day, it was precious. She said, "Well, will it go through today? It's been 10 days and it's a 12 day supply." I said, "No, it's still a 13 day supply, and it has come to our attention that you have been getting the same drugs in different strengths at CVS."
"That's just not true!"
"Oh, yes it is. And this has been going on for several months now."
"Well.......(long, awkward pause)......how do I fix this? I'm not sure I know what's going on...."
"Well.......yesterday, I fixed it by faxing this information to both doctors and every pharmacy in town. The doctors then called me back and canceled all remaining refills and wanted me to let you know you were released as a patient. Now, what they are going to do? I don't know. For your sake, I would hope they don't call the police because it appears crimes have been committed here..."
"Eck..." [Really odd sound she made here. I'd say it was the sound of disbelief.]
"If you really and truly have no idea what's going on, you need to call and talk to CVS and both of these doctors immediately...." [I said this in a really shitass tone]
"Okay. Thank you very much!" [Being nice...praying *I* don't call the police]
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