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We got some prescriptions in today for one of our regulars.
Not to violate HIPAA, I'm not gonna identify him, his doctor, or his medications except for the following: There were two e-scripts (which transmit directly into our computer), one for an antipsychotic and one for an antidepressant, and then there were two e-faxes from the same doctor, one for a lower dose of the same antipsychotic and one for a different antidepressant.
See, some doctors don't have direct connections from their computers to ours; as a result, when they try to e-prescribe, instead of it popping up right on our screens, it goes through a mail-to-fax gateway and shows up on our fax machine instead. Some do both. (There's one doctor in our neighborhood who sends all his Flonase prescriptions that way and e-mails everything else, and I can't figure out why he does this. Drives me batty.)
So that''s not all that unusual, to get them by both routes. My boss, the pharmacy manager/head tech, typed them all out on the computer and then passed them to me for verification before counting, as is usual procedure in this store.
When I took a closer look at the two faxed prescriptions, though, I found something weird.
These e-faxes usually have some boilerplate at the top and bottom, saying something like "This prescription has been transmitted by [Company Name, LLC] on behalf of [Prescriber's Name, M.D.] If you have any questions about this script, please contact the prescriber directly. Contacting [Company Name, LLC] is a HIPAA violation." and so forth.
However, the boilerplate on these two documents was rather different in nature. The following text was at the top, verbatim as follows:
[there follows what looks EXACTLY like a freaking prescription right here]
So basically, what they've just sent me are two anti-prescriptions. I mean seriously, if you cut off that part, just like we generally do with the boilerplate on most e-faxed scripts, what's left looks like every other e-faxed prescription we get. If someone hadn't been paying attention, not only wouldn't the undesired scripts not have been canceled, they'd have been filled twice...
I don't know what the hell they want me to do with this. I have no idea whether the prescriptions that these were ostensibly intended to cancel were in fact filled, but if they were, they went out days ago. I tried to call the doctor, but his office was closed, so I left them for the morning guy to deal with. Guess I'll find out tomorrow, but seriously,
?
Not to violate HIPAA, I'm not gonna identify him, his doctor, or his medications except for the following: There were two e-scripts (which transmit directly into our computer), one for an antipsychotic and one for an antidepressant, and then there were two e-faxes from the same doctor, one for a lower dose of the same antipsychotic and one for a different antidepressant.
See, some doctors don't have direct connections from their computers to ours; as a result, when they try to e-prescribe, instead of it popping up right on our screens, it goes through a mail-to-fax gateway and shows up on our fax machine instead. Some do both. (There's one doctor in our neighborhood who sends all his Flonase prescriptions that way and e-mails everything else, and I can't figure out why he does this. Drives me batty.)
So that''s not all that unusual, to get them by both routes. My boss, the pharmacy manager/head tech, typed them all out on the computer and then passed them to me for verification before counting, as is usual procedure in this store.
When I took a closer look at the two faxed prescriptions, though, I found something weird.
These e-faxes usually have some boilerplate at the top and bottom, saying something like "This prescription has been transmitted by [Company Name, LLC] on behalf of [Prescriber's Name, M.D.] If you have any questions about this script, please contact the prescriber directly. Contacting [Company Name, LLC] is a HIPAA violation." and so forth.
However, the boilerplate on these two documents was rather different in nature. The following text was at the top, verbatim as follows:
VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID
This is NOT a new prescription. This transmission is to indicate that a previously sent prescription is VOID and should not be filled. If the prescription has been picked up, please contact the physician's office.
To: [My store's name address phone and NCPDP number]
This is NOT a new prescription. This transmission is to indicate that a previously sent prescription is VOID and should not be filled. If the prescription has been picked up, please contact the physician's office.
To: [My store's name address phone and NCPDP number]
VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID
I don't know what the hell they want me to do with this. I have no idea whether the prescriptions that these were ostensibly intended to cancel were in fact filled, but if they were, they went out days ago. I tried to call the doctor, but his office was closed, so I left them for the morning guy to deal with. Guess I'll find out tomorrow, but seriously,
?
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