Just need to rant a little bit.
Used to be, cephalexin suspension cost us $11.22 for 200ml. Sometimes we could catch a sale for $8.00, especially if it was short-dated (we don't care if it expires in 3 months, we'll move it way before then, and once mixed it expires in 14 days anyway, so it's not like the patient is going to be saving it and get annoyed that it expired.)
Саremаrk was reimbursing us $13.33. $2.11 gross profit ain't a whole hell of a lot, but at least we're not losing money.
Now, like many, many other medications, cephalexin has gone up in price. Quadrupled, in fact: our cost is now $41.00 a bottle.
Саremаrk has not changed their reimbursement. They're still paying us $13.33.
How we're supposed to stay in business when we take a $28.00 loss on a prescription, I have no idea.
We, and several other independent pharmacies, called them and asked what they thought they were doing. They said that they were reimbursing us for the manufacturer's contracted price, and they're not changing that. When I asked why, given that they manufacturer is not keeping up his end of the contract by raising prices on us, we still have to keep our end, they had no answer.
What pisses me off the most, is this: Саremаrk is owned by the Chain of Verylarge Stores. The Chain in question no doubt owns warehouses full of this (and many other) drug(s) which they bought at the old price(s). Therefore, Саremаrk has no incentive to raise their reimbursement: they can still make a profit at the old price, so why should they pay us any more?
You have to wonder if it's a conspiracy to put independent pharmacies like mine out of business.
And the gubmint saw no anti-trust concerns when the Chain bought the PBM, because they couldn't see how it could hurt competition. Well, this right here, this is how.
Used to be, cephalexin suspension cost us $11.22 for 200ml. Sometimes we could catch a sale for $8.00, especially if it was short-dated (we don't care if it expires in 3 months, we'll move it way before then, and once mixed it expires in 14 days anyway, so it's not like the patient is going to be saving it and get annoyed that it expired.)
Саremаrk was reimbursing us $13.33. $2.11 gross profit ain't a whole hell of a lot, but at least we're not losing money.
Now, like many, many other medications, cephalexin has gone up in price. Quadrupled, in fact: our cost is now $41.00 a bottle.
Саremаrk has not changed their reimbursement. They're still paying us $13.33.
How we're supposed to stay in business when we take a $28.00 loss on a prescription, I have no idea.
We, and several other independent pharmacies, called them and asked what they thought they were doing. They said that they were reimbursing us for the manufacturer's contracted price, and they're not changing that. When I asked why, given that they manufacturer is not keeping up his end of the contract by raising prices on us, we still have to keep our end, they had no answer.
What pisses me off the most, is this: Саremаrk is owned by the Chain of Verylarge Stores. The Chain in question no doubt owns warehouses full of this (and many other) drug(s) which they bought at the old price(s). Therefore, Саremаrk has no incentive to raise their reimbursement: they can still make a profit at the old price, so why should they pay us any more?
You have to wonder if it's a conspiracy to put independent pharmacies like mine out of business.
And the gubmint saw no anti-trust concerns when the Chain bought the PBM, because they couldn't see how it could hurt competition. Well, this right here, this is how.
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