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Саremаrk ripping me off again.

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  • Саremаrk ripping me off again.

    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.
    Last edited by Shalom; 05-08-2014, 10:50 PM. Reason: needed to rant some more

  • #2
    contact your senator or congressperson, and encourage others to do so as well. Good ones will do something, and contrary to popular belief, there are a few good ones left.

    ETA(after noticing we share a state)-oh yeah, we've got a good one, he's quite concerned with small businesses-
    Honestly.... the image of that in my head made me go "AWESOME!"..... and then I remembered I am terribly strange.-Red dazes

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    • #3
      Quoth BlaqueKatt View Post
      (after noticing we share a state)-oh yeah, we've got a good one, he's quite concerned with small businesses-
      I don't actually work in the same state I live in, though.

      I just had to renew my membership in PSSNY, and on the application form they wanted to know who the state senator and assemblymen were for the district the store is in. I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea. Had to look them up. (But I can never remember names in general.)

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      • #4
        Why did the cost of cephalexin jump so much? Did something about the manufacturing process change, like with albuterol inhalers a few years ago?
        They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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        • #5
          Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
          Why did the cost of cephalexin jump so much? Did something about the manufacturing process change, like with albuterol inhalers a few years ago?
          Could be profit taking by the manufacturer. Saw that a while back with the pills my cat has - suddenly jumped from 15ish to 400(yes!) for the pills. Said WTF and talked to the vet, ordered from a compounding pharmacy for 30. Dropped back down after a while.
          Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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          • #6
            No damn reason that I can see.

            Lots of drugs have skyrocketed recently. Doxycycline used to cost me $22.50 per 500 tablets. Same size container is now $1,416.29, with a rebate that brings it down to $1092.67. That is not a typo, folks.

            There was some shortage for a while, and the one remaining manufacturer who still had stock jacked the price up over $1,600.00 for a while. Now that other manufacturers have come back online with the product, the price dropped . . . but nowhere near as low as it used to be. There's a ratchet effect: price goes up, doesn't come down.

            Take bacitracin ophthalmic sterile ointment, for another example. Used to cost something like 88 cents a tube. Now it's $72.23. That's bad enough, but the worst part is that there's absolutely no reason for it, because the same size tube of bacitracin + polymyxin ophthalmic sterile ointment, which is the same stuff with an extra antibiotic added, made by the same company, is only $6.74. What's the difference? There's only one manufacturer of the plain bacitracin, so they can charge whatever they can get away with. Of course the doctors are quite willing when I call them to ask them to change from the one to the other, so the plain bacitracin never gets dispensed anyway.

            Then there's Albenza. There used to be a drug called Vermox, for pinworms. Teva, which was the last manufacturer distributing the stuff in the USA, took it off the market. Not that there was anything wrong with it, as it's still sold everywhere else in the world, but they weren't making enough money on it. Now the doctors are prescribing Albenza instead, this being one of the few remaining prescription anthelmintics. It's indicated for tapeworms, not pinworms, but the doctors write for it anyway. Back when Vermox was discontinued, Albenza cost $268.29 for 112 tablets, or $2.39 per tablet, and usually a course of therapy for pinworms takes either 2 or 4 tablets. Then the company sold the patent to another manufacturer, who changed the NDC and began doubling the price.

            Every six months.

            I've lost count of exactly how many times it's doubled by now, but it's already up to $2,769.98 for 28 tablets, or $98.93 per tablet. It doesn't cost any more to make now than it did in 2010.

            I've heard speculation that drug price regulation is coming in 2015 as part of the ACA, like there already is in most of the rest of the civilized world (Canada, etc.) so they're jacking up the prices as high as they can, as fast as they can, so they can lock in the prices in 2015. No idea whether this is true or not, but knowing Big Pharma as intimately as I do, having been in the business I'm in for 18 years, I certainly wouldn't put it past them.
            Last edited by Shalom; 05-11-2014, 03:46 PM.

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            • #7
              You're not alone, man. We just had to renegotiate our contract with the radiopharmacy we use since several of our radiotracers are going up in price rather significantly. We also no longer get partial credit for sending back unused doses. And I still have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that we're going to be running into more reactor issues soon and not have a supply coming in at all.
              I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

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