Use the Pharmacy's Systems And Do Not Come in at the Last Minute!

     What is the deal with running out of your medication? Come in early, call ahead, or use the phones' automated system. At my pharmacy, a pharmacy technician can process a refill of your medication. You do not need the pharmacist to look you up in the system to refill your medication. I had one of my old patients come in and say that she read an article about calling in using the automated system instead of calling and asking for the pharmacist. The article said, it wastes about five minutes of the pharmacist's time when I could be doing something else like counseling instead of trying to get her prescription refilled. I wish I knew what the article was, so I could print it off and give it to all of my patients.

     Nobody can ever find their Rx number. I know you have the excuse that you cannot find the prescription number. If you would stick with one pharmacy, then maybe you could learn where it is on the bottle. I understand that some patients forget their bottle, and they are at work. But, I know this is not always the case. Also, driving in the car trying to refill your medication is probably not the smartest thing to do. The patient, then says, that they are in the parking lot and coming in the store. "Can you have it ready?" Heck no, it will not be ready! If no one is waiting already, then it will probably be at least 10 minutes.

     Why do customers and patients wait until the last minute to come to the pharmacy? Almost every night they come in  with five or less minutes left before we close. It always seems to be a new patient that has never been to the pharmacy before. No, I cannot fill your prescription. By the way, this is the same phrase I say to people with their Oxycontin 30mg with a quantity of #180. It will take at least 15 minutes to put you in the system, insert your insurance, enter in your prescription, make sure it goes through your insurance, pull and count the medication, label the bottle, check the prescription, and ring up your Rx. Oh, I almost forgot, they will hand you a drug coupon at the register, and you will have to reprocess the Rx again. Usually, if it is an antibiotic or one of my regulars, I will fill the prescription. There is a reason for 24 hour pharmacies and my pharmacy is not one of them!

No, no, no, that price ain't right!

We have this male patient about 50 years old come into our pharmacy once a week. First, he walks really funny on his tippy toes like when you see a 3 year old (yo) super excited.  He talks in the most crazy sounding voice like a 13 yo going through puberty. By the way, yo means year old. Sorry for the medical field lingo. Anyways, none of this is about my point. The patient came in with his new insurance but didn't want his Xanax to go through insurance nor his discount card. Of course, first thing you think is he is a junkie, but he comes to our pharmacy all the time and never gets his Xanax early. We would never let him anyway unless the MD says it is fine this one time. We have heard it all! Well, he wants us to run his insurance, don't run his insurance, run the discount card, do it as cash, who knows. So, we mixed up some times.  So, he wanted the price on the generic drug, alprazolam. I told him for #90, it is $39.99 with no insurance and no discount.  He looks at me then looks at his bottle, then looks at me and says, "that's not right, 39.99, that's just not right." He walks away, walks right back, and says, "39.99 that's not right, not right, it's not right." Meanwhile, I already printed out the pricing sheet to give to him. I hand it to him, and he mumbles to himself.  When he finally left, I turn to my technicians and say just print it out. Why would I lie about the price? No, it is not with your discount card, nor your insurance. You said cash price. That is the cash price. We put it into the computer, and it spits it out.  Call corporate, if you have a problem.  On that matter, call your INSURANCE if you have a problem with the cost of your medicine or copay. Blame your employer!

No! We don't have Oxycontin 30 #180

We keep getting calls at my pharmacy for Oxycontin 30 mg #180 or #120. We do not have it, and I cannot order it. We do not keep it in the safe, and we never have it on hand. Do not ask for Xanax, Soma, and then for the Oxycontin 30. Yes, Roxicodone and Oxycontin and oxycodone ER are the same drug. Do not ask for either one. Definitely, do not call! People are calling every day, sometimes 2 to 3 times a day from the same person. Now, they are actually coming into my pharmacy and requesting their fake or legit scripts to be filled. We have caught one drug dealer and addict, already. Do NOT come to my pharmacy, or any pharmacy! Maybe a 24 hour pharmacy or hospital pharmacy can fill it for you.