Wal-Mart Pharmacy

[blas]

Thanks to the insurance company, they dropped Walgreens as of the first of this year under our covered pharmacies. The ONLY 24 hour pharmacy. That instantly had all the night shifters seeing red. That, and Walgreens has always been so damn great to us. I've really only had one or two small problems with them. Nothing major.

I've already heard a horror story or two from coworkers who switched their prescriptions to the Medicine Shoppe and some other yokel local smaller pharmacy. I picked Wal-Mart, thinking it'd be ok. I was wrong.

They get one more strike, and they are out and I will go with ShitKo.

First bad thing already is I have to stay up past bedtime to go get my script. They don't open until 9am.

First of all, I called in two weeks before the first of the year to transfer my prescription. Wal-Mart person was adament that they needed Walgreens to ok the transfer. Call Walgreens, they say no, Wal-Mart is able to transfer from us just fine. Call Wal-Mart again, hem and haw and ok let's get this transferred.

I call a week later to confirm that the script has trasnferred ok. I am told I cannot refill. I said I understand, I am confirming EARLY that everything transferred ok. I am told that I cannot refill yet. I hang up on the damn idiot and call back the next day and receive confirmation that yes, everything went through alright.

I phone in my first refill for Wal-Mart, everything goes ok. I get really sick the day I need to pick it up, so Mom goes for me, and is told she can't because they don't have my insurance info, which on the phone the last time I called, they said they had everything they needed.

I go to Walmart the next day, and immediately, the girl behind the counter asks "Do you UNDERSTAND how much this is?" I really did NOT appreciate being assumed I was broke or uninsured and trying to get away with something, so I just handed her my insurance card, but she snorted "You need to go to THAT window to process your insurance."

I gave them my card and told them how it worked at Walgreens, could only refill once per month (actually, it's 20some days but still) and I could only have one box at a time.

Wal-Mart in their infinite wisdom....ordered me THREE MONTHS of my pill, which I am NOT ALLOWED to have. If they really listened to a damn thing Walgreens sent over, they would have seen I am only allowed one damn month at a time!!!!!! They tried to blame it on Walgreens, and even tried to ask me, "Are you sure you weren't receiving three months at a time at Walgreens?"

Thanks for assuming I'm lying or stupid. I TOLD YOU I can only have it once a month. Some retard on your end just assumed I could have three months at a time, because Walmart pushes 90 day supplies.

So, you guessed it, they had to REPROCESS my entire freaking script. I had to wait 15 more damn minutes, and by the time I was done, I was seeing red. I just wanted to go home and sleep. It was going on 9:30.

And the icing on the cake....I am told I cannot pay at the pharmacy because they are just counting their drawer NOW....all customers have to go to the regular registers to pay. You can't take anyone's cards because you are just doing your drawer now....alrighty.

I walked out of that place just about to punch someone.

[Luna Baby]

That is absolutely unacceptable treatment from WalMart. I have severe issues with out local WalMart, but the pharmacy and the pricing on groceries have been the only reason I continue to shop there. I'd ask to speak with the pharmacist and get it squared away right now. Do not let them do this to you again and cause more angst.

Where I work, Walgreens has been booted from our script plan. Lots and lots of folks are upset but there's not much we can do about it. I'm lucky that we are covered under hubby's plan where he works.

Good luck in there Blas. I know it's frustrating.

[Catwoman2965]

Ugh. That sucks. Is mail order an option for you? Although from what I understand that has its own special issues.

[sevendaysky]

This isn't the first time I've heard of some insurance dropping Walgreens... I wonder what it is about Walgreens they don't like?

[fma_fanatic]

Too bad you can't use CVS. They've never given me any hassles, and they're open 24 hours.

This isn't the first time I've heard of some insurance dropping Walgreens... I wonder what it is about Walgreens they don't like?

I wonder if it has something to do with this? And it's not just Express Scripts. There are other prescription insurance companies that are letting Walgreens go.

[It's me]

Do you have to use a pharmacy that your insurance company links to? Could you pay the full amount and then submit it the insurance company for reimbursement?

My insurance company has on-line claims, so for stuff like dental I pay upfront using my credit card, and then submit the claim online and the money is deposited into my account a couple days later. (And since I have a cash-back CC it's almost like getting paid to go to the dentist. Almost. )

[blas]

We have no Rite Aids or CVS stores here. This is Bum Egypt Buttcrack Wisconsin.

It's either Wal-Mart, K-Mart, ShitKo, or Medicine Shoppe or Local Weird Al's DrugsAlot (smaller pharmacies I wouldn't even dare trust).

I'm going to attempt for auto-refills. See what happens.

[Pagan]

I can tell you as someone who used to be a tech at Wally World, that bunch....I don't know what their issues are. Someone's got their head up their ass. All it takes to transfer an Rx from a (non) Wal-Mart pharmacy is for the RPh to pick up the phone and call them.

And the icing on the cake....I am told I cannot pay at the pharmacy because they are just counting their drawer NOW....all customers have to go to the regular registers to pay. You can't take anyone's cards because you are just doing your drawer now....alrighty.

I don't know why they'd be counting a drawer. We never did. The only thing we did was log into them in the morning and that was it. They were closed out and counted by a CSM after we closed. As a matter of fact, if it was over $50, people had to pay at the pharmacy.

[Shalom]

Thanks to the insurance company, they dropped Walgreens as of the first of this year under our covered pharmacies. The ONLY 24 hour pharmacy. That instantly had all the night shifters seeing red. That, and Walgreens has always been so damn great to us. I've really only had one or two small problems with them. Nothing major.

I don't think it's the insurance company dropping WAG, but the other way around: WAG finally realised that accepting the insanely low reimbursements some of them were offering was costing them money rather than making it. Some flat out pay less than the wholesale cost of acquisition, so you lose money even talking net (there was one insurance company that was paying us as much as $13 below our cost on generic Omnicef suspension). Even if you come out a couple dollars ahead on a prescription (and I'm talking here about getting paid $210 for something that cost us $200), there's the cost of the label, the bottle & lid, the electricity to run the lights, computers and laser printers, my salary, the 13 cent charge per claim for filing online (as if any pharmacy does it any other way these days!) and so forth. All that has to come out of that $10 gross profit, which as a result often ends up a net loss. Places like WAG can afford that for a while, because they make it up on the front end, plus they get drugs by the trainload so they get better pricing than I as an independent get, but it comes to a point where they finally say, enough is enough.

Aide of Right did that with CIGNA back when I was first getting into this business (around 1996 that was), and they had to up their reimbursements a little. More recently, Massachusetts Medicaid announced that they were in effect cutting reimbursements (what they actually did was reduce them by $3 to $6 and transfer that to a co-pay charged to their patients, which we were not legally allowed to demand if they told us they couldn't afford it, meaning we got to eat that cost), and both the Green Wall and the Chain of Verylarge Stores, who between them represent probably more than 75% of the pharmacies in the state, independently announced that if this went through, they'd refuse to accept any Medicaid scripts in that state. (No law says you have to accept Medicaid, only that if you do, you have to accept all of them.) The result of this would have been great swaths of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where no Medicaid patient would have been able to fill prescriptions at all, without driving long distances (if they even had a car to start with), and those few stores still accepting Medicaid would have either gone bust from this unfunded mandate or else would have also stopped taking it. The state backed down in the end.

First of all, I called in two weeks before the first of the year to transfer my prescription. Wal-Mart person was adament that they needed Walgreens to ok the transfer. Call Walgreens, they say no, Wal-Mart is able to transfer from us just fine. Call Wal-Mart again, hem and haw and ok let's get this transferred.

Well, they're both right. The transfer can be implemented between two stores in the same chain without any further communication, but the Mart of Wal's computers don't talk to the Green Wall's, meaning the pharmacist had to pick up the phone and call. It's not that WAG has to "OK it", in fact they're not allowed by law to refuse it, but the communication still has to take place before the transfer happens. WM Guy might have been thinking you were asking him to simply refill something from another store right on the spot, which people ask me to do all the time. Unfortunately, half the time this is because the other store is closed (I worked night shift for a while) and without the ability to speak to someone on the other end, there's nothing I can do to fill that prescription.

I call a week later to confirm that the script has trasnferred ok. I am told I cannot refill. I said I understand, I am confirming EARLY that everything transferred ok. I am told that I cannot refill yet. I hang up on the damn idiot and call back the next day and receive confirmation that yes, everything went through alright.

OK, so you were talking to a moron, or at the very least, someone who wasn't listening to you. What he was probably trying to convey in this inept fashion is that the script was transferred OK, but that it wasn't available yet for filling. Which you knew already, thank yew very much.

I go to Walmart the next day, and immediately, the girl behind the counter asks "Do you UNDERSTAND how much this is?" I really did NOT appreciate being assumed I was broke or uninsured and trying to get away with something, so I just handed her my insurance card, but she snorted "You need to go to THAT window to process your insurance."

Well that certainly could have been handled less rudely. For example, "Do you have insurance on this? The cash price is $X, which is kind of high. If you're paying cash, I can have the pharmacist cut it back to one month at a time, which will cost you $X/3." (And see below why they filled it for three months instead of one.) Also if you were standing at a pickup window, she might not have had a terminal there that they could input insurance on (or it was a cashier and not a pharmacy tech, who might not have known thing #1 about the pharmacy computers). Still, she should have said it more politely.

I gave them my card and told them how it worked at Walgreens, could only refill once per month (actually, it's 20some days but still) and I could only have one box at a time.

Wal-Mart in their infinite wisdom....ordered me THREE MONTHS of my pill, which I am NOT ALLOWED to have. If they really listened to a damn thing Walgreens sent over, they would have seen I am only allowed one damn month at a time!!!!!! They tried to blame it on Walgreens, and even tried to ask me, "Are you sure you weren't receiving three months at a time at Walgreens?"

Thanks for assuming I'm lying or stupid. I TOLD YOU I can only have it once a month. Some retard on your end just assumed I could have three months at a time, because Walmart pushes 90 day supplies.

What probably happened there was that your prescription was written by the doctor for 90 days (or 84, whatever) and WAG cut it to a month to comply with your insurance's rules. However, when the transfer happens, the original quantity of 90 (or 84) is what gets sent over, not the quantity they'd actually filled. If WM really didn't have your insurance, or lost it or whatever they did with it, there's no way they could have known you were limited to a month until they tried to reprocess it under your plan and found out the hard way.

So, you guessed it, they had to REPROCESS my entire freaking script. I had to wait 15 more damn minutes, and by the time I was done, I was seeing red. I just wanted to go home and sleep. It was going on 9:30.

And the icing on the cake....I am told I cannot pay at the pharmacy because they are just counting their drawer NOW....all customers have to go to the regular registers to pay. You can't take anyone's cards because you are just doing your drawer now....alrighty.

I walked out of that place just about to punch someone.

I'm not trying to make excuses for WM, whom I've never worked for in my career, but I can genuinely imagine all these scenarios happening from my side of the counter, and I'd probably have filled your script for three months myself under those circumstances. (If I'm the one who takes the transfer personally, I generally ask for both the quantity ordered and the quantity dispensed, but not everyone asks that.)

I must say it's a bit of an eye-opener to see how someone on that side of the counter sees these sorts of things; your post ought to be required reading for chain pharmacists. Might be worthwhile for you to call them some morning before you go to sleep and speak to the supervising pharmacist (responsible pharmacist in charge, whatever they call it in your state) and discuss it with him...

[wagegoth]

I totally blame Express Scripts. For profit healthcare is an expense most people cannot afford. I pay hundreds each month for all my coverage, but I know that my company pays about double that as their share. The only ones profiting are the officers at these companies.

[ShinyGreenApple]

Yes, the cashier was really rude. I tend to ask people "Are you aware of the cost of this medication?" usually because

1. Simple matter of we don't have their insurance info and something that they have a $5 co-pay on can be upwards $200 cash.

2. Even with insurance the cost of the med is ridiculous because their Dr. is an idiot who doesn't realize normal people can't shell out $500 a month for meds

And at WM, yes, you do have to take insurance cards to the pickup window to get that info run because we as cashiers do not have the knowledge nor the computer options to do it. Even if a tech is running register, he or she will send an insurance card to the drop off window in order to keep the line moving. We get more and more stabby each time a customer hands us an insurance card, although most times we'll overlook it if it's a first of the year renewal. However, if you BROUGHT us a script and just neglected to give the insurance card until you pay, we hate you.

Nonetheless, I've never heard of not being able to ring up someone because of 'counting a drawer.' The drawers are expected to be set up and ready before the gates open, I've never heard of such dumbassery/laziness.

[alogram]

I don't think I have EVER written a complaint, until today. The Wal Mart near where I live is convenient and it is cheaper, but I have never dealt with such terrible customer service IN MY LIFE.

Twice now, I have gone in and waited, with no customers ahead of me, and had to wait for the employees to finish their conversations. Now, I have worked customer service for a lot of years, and I understand that sometimes those conversations are necessary. However, I also know that a simple acknowledgement goes a long way. Since I have worked retail, I can be VERY patient if I at least get an "I'll be right with you".

Then this morning, I called to see if I had any refills on my prescription. (I couldn't find the bottle to check). The person on the phone was very short with me and when I asked if I had refills she said "NO". So, I said "Thank you" and she slammed down the phone without another word!

After sitting here dwelling on it, I decided to email them, and basically told them the same thing I just said. It may cost me more money to go to Rite Aid or Walgreens, but at least they aren't rude!

I wonder if I will here anything back? And no, I didn't demand a free store. (or any compensation at all, for that matter!)

[blas]

My meds, by the way, are BC pills. Generic BC pills.

But apparently, for some reason, they felt the need to give me 90 days even though it's forboden, Walgreens ALWAYS knew that and never fucked it up, and they had the nerve to blame Walgreens.

[telecom_goddess]

I have never dealt with Walmart pharmacy and don't ever plan to. For one, I don't believe in that store as a whole. For 2 there is non near me thank fuck. I DO have a Walgreens right up the road from me which so far has been wonderful. My meds are cheap, they are quick and reliable...they have an android app where I can scan my meds for refills.....and I can walk to them in a very short amount of time.

I really really hope my insurance doesn't drop them, or doesn't get dropped if that's how it works. Going anywhere else would be a pain in the ass.

[Shalom]

My meds, by the way, are BC pills. Generic BC pills.

Figured that. S'why I said 84.

But apparently, for some reason, they felt the need to give me 90 days even though it's forboden, Walgreens ALWAYS knew that and never fucked it up, and they had the nerve to blame Walgreens.

Like I said, if they transferred the original prescription for 84 tablets and didn't think to mention that you were getting only 28 at a time, WalMart couldn't have known this. They don't have the details of every plan's days supply restrictions on hand in the store; some of them even vary by group within the same plan, depending on what the benefits coordinator worked out with them.

I get customers all the time who don't grasp this. They hand me a prescription (or worse, just tell me they have one somewhere), and ask "Is this covered? How much is my copay?" and so forth. I try to tell them that the only way I have to find that out is to fill the prescription and see what they send back. (OK, I can also call the plan and spend fifteen minutes on hold with them. Not going to happen.) "You mean I've been coming here for years and you can't tell me how much something's going to cost?!" Got it in one. I don't set the prices on third party reimbursements (I wish I did, our store would be a whole lot more profitable). All I can tell you is how much you'd pay if you were paying cash.

Now if they try to fill it again for 3 months next time, that's a problem.

(lots of stuff that I might have said, except s/he got there first: sorry, I don't know your gender)

Thanks, that was an excellent explanation.

Amusingly, cocaine is a Schedule II.

So's phencyclidine (a.k.a. PCP, angel dust), believe it or not.

(It was used until recently as a large animal tranquilizer. Was briefly used on humans in the '60s, and it happens to be an excellent dissociative anaesthetic agent, but it caused hallucinations on awakening. I guess it doesn't matter if a horse hallucinates...)