“Butt-kickin” (I was never allowed to use that “B” word as a kid, but) that is what she told me I was getting today. Apparently I offended some local pharmacists (and at least one female relative thereof) with my comments two days ago. After listening to the “B____kickin” I deserved, I am back to apologize to my (former?) pharmacy colleagues and friends. I am sorry for giving the impression that pharmacists are trying to rip patients off. That was wrong of me. I hope you can forgive me. All the pharmacists I have personally ever had the privilege to know or meet seem to be really nice, compassionate and very intelligent people. They have also saved my hind-end (a phrase I was allowed to use as a kid) on more than one occasion! They have never given me the impression that they were trying to “rip off” their clients. I am a small business owner and I know how important it is to make a profit. I am all for pharmacists making a good living. They have studied and worked very hard to obtain the knowledge, skill and wisdom they have. They also do a wonderful service by dispensing medications, advising patients on potential side effects and verifying doses, allergies and interactions. Some of them even own their own business and have to deal with all the responsibilities of employee management, inventory control, facility upkeep, and on and on it goes… So you can thank God for your local pharmacist! Support them! What I don’t like is the games businesses play to extract money from people. That is what irks me. It’s a long and convoluted story to explain why this happens in the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals, but it involves politics, government, insurance, patients, regulatory incentives, electronic prescribing and electronic health record mandates, lack of transparency, providers, dispensers, distributors, manufacturers and on and on it goes…. There is a percentage of responsibility that falls on each of these groups (and probably others). But what can you do? First, be nice to your local pharmacist! I certainly am going to be…. Second, ask your provider for printed out prescriptions. (I realize that there are pressures on providers that to receive government incentive money for using an electronic health record they need to send a certain percentage of prescriptions electronically. Ask for a print out anyway.) You can’t shop around any other way. Then call around and ask for the price for the medication(s) that you are prescribed. Third, try to use the same pharmacist for all your medications. One you can trust. Find a pharmacy that gives you the best total price (or close to it) or value on all your medicines. That way the pharmacist is aware of all your medications and can double check for interactions, allergies and duplicate medications. (It is not unusual for a person to be taking two pills of the exact same medicine and not realize it, because one is prescribed with the generic name and the other with the brand name.) If you do choose to use more than one pharmacy, do them a favor by showing them your total list of medicines. Lastly, and I’ve mentioned this more than once, listen to your wife! She told me I might offend some one with my comments. But did I listen? (Why are they always right? It just irks me….)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 20:33:05 +0000
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