While reading a trade publication recently, I read about a drugstore chain in New York City was about to open its largest store on Wall Street. According to the New York Times blog it is "the most exciting drugstore in the world." It features a grocery market, smothie bar, a hair salon for shampoos, blow-dries, and blowouts, a nail bar for manicures and massages, and - get this - a sushi bar!
Now, I for one, would love to see good sushi bars in just about all the places I go, but maybe not a pharmacy. It's scary enough to see them in malls, but maybe that's just me. If you notice though in most new stores being built, they carry more than one line of products. Wal-Mart, as an example, has a pharmacy as well as in some stores a McDonalds, bank, hair care, and even clinics! One stop for all of your needs is their goal which I suppose they have done so in certain respects.
Now though, in some clinics, there are vending machines that dispense prescription drugs. This, in my opinion, is pretty scary. While it can be argued that a pharmacist is an old-fashioned type of a vending machine, how many vending machines can give advice on what you are taking or what type of side effects can be expected from the medication.
The company that owns the vending machines defend its use as a time-saving mechanism. We here at Heritage Pharmacy do our best to make sure you are not having to endure long waits and have taken measures to avoid such instances. But tell me, how can a vending machine provide potentially life threatening advice on your medications?
There is no substitute for face-to-face consultations when dispensing medication and the focus should be on you the person, not yellowfin sashimi.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Rise Up!
The Beatles had a hit song "Revolution", if you haven't heard it- stop now and go listen to it. iTunes has the Beatle catalog finally so it shouldn't be too hard to find. This is a very appropriate song for this blog post dear reader, because I for one, am ready to start a big one.
It has to do with insurance companies and all the little hoops we all have to jump through in order for them to do what they are supposed to do.
In its early years, insurance was a wonderful thing. It created a large pool of funds and paid out the claims when one of the members had an occurrence. Since then, it has become an enormous beast that has more legal mumbo jumbo than Harvard's School of Law.
Here are just a few examples of some of the things some insurance companies do to their members:
"Well," they say, "you can have your doctor fill out a prior authorization form and we will take a look at it and see if you really need it."
It's almost criminal in my opinion. The sad thing is that I was one of those people who sold the policies. I went through all the things that the policies did for people, but never did I talk to them about what it didn't cover. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have given both sides of the coin and let the customer make their own decision. Of course, if the people I worked for at the time heard me doing so, I probably wouldn't have worked there much longer, but at least my conscience would be clear.
Because of my experience with insurance, I generally take it upon myself to contact the companies to see exactly what I can do for our patients when co-pays don't look right or medications aren't covered. Believe me when I say that I fight, I fight hard for our patients- so much so that I find myself having to walk around the building a few times to cool myself off.
One of the problems is that when we call in, we are talking to people in Bangladesh, Phillipines, or some other exotic location- a few though are in the United States but this problem doesn't have anything to do with the nationality of the people. The problem is that the companies are too big. Too many people that are really doing nothing but what the computer screen tells them for 8 hours a day and a paycheck. They can care less if Joe Blow here in Kingfisher gets their medicine, much less if they are paying too much. So in a nutshell, problem number one is no accountability for the insurance companies.
Problem number two is that there are too many plans with various exclusions. In my opinion, if you have prescription coverage, it should cover all drugs for as long as the physician prescribes for you. No more of this crap (pardon my language but I am censoring myself quite a bit here) of saying that a drug isn't on a plan or the plan recommends using another drug. THAT'S NOT THEIR BUSINESS, THAT IS BETWEEN THE PHYSICIAN AND THE PATIENT!!
Problem number three is no consistency with their plans. One company can offer hundreds of plans, all with their own little bells and whistles. Forget that-one company means one plan.
This is the core problem with health care people, forget the whole "Obama-care" aspect, the problem is with the insurance companies. They have huge lobbying budgets that sway our legislators votes. Just look at the mess we have gone through with the budget, our government wasn't looking out for the common people- they were making sure they didn't upset their pet projects/donors.
We need a revolution, and the best way we can revolt is with our power and right to vote. Contact your leaders and let them know about your situation, organize a group of people to make phone calls, send letters, emails, tweets, anything you can think of to the people that make decisions about the type of medical coverage you have available.
We can do it, it won't be today, and maybe not tomorrow- but it can be done. Do it for our kids, grandkids and so on. Teach them how our government works or at least how it should work.
Power to the people!
It has to do with insurance companies and all the little hoops we all have to jump through in order for them to do what they are supposed to do.
In its early years, insurance was a wonderful thing. It created a large pool of funds and paid out the claims when one of the members had an occurrence. Since then, it has become an enormous beast that has more legal mumbo jumbo than Harvard's School of Law.
Here are just a few examples of some of the things some insurance companies do to their members:
- Spring a deductible on brand name medications even though there is not a generic available.
- Require a member to use mail order rather than the pharmacy after two prescriptions have been filled.
- Change tiers of medications on a certain date, but begin charging higher co-pays weeks before the tier change date.
- Require prior authorizations from the doctor on the day supply available based on the drug.
"Well," they say, "you can have your doctor fill out a prior authorization form and we will take a look at it and see if you really need it."
It's almost criminal in my opinion. The sad thing is that I was one of those people who sold the policies. I went through all the things that the policies did for people, but never did I talk to them about what it didn't cover. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have given both sides of the coin and let the customer make their own decision. Of course, if the people I worked for at the time heard me doing so, I probably wouldn't have worked there much longer, but at least my conscience would be clear.
Because of my experience with insurance, I generally take it upon myself to contact the companies to see exactly what I can do for our patients when co-pays don't look right or medications aren't covered. Believe me when I say that I fight, I fight hard for our patients- so much so that I find myself having to walk around the building a few times to cool myself off.
One of the problems is that when we call in, we are talking to people in Bangladesh, Phillipines, or some other exotic location- a few though are in the United States but this problem doesn't have anything to do with the nationality of the people. The problem is that the companies are too big. Too many people that are really doing nothing but what the computer screen tells them for 8 hours a day and a paycheck. They can care less if Joe Blow here in Kingfisher gets their medicine, much less if they are paying too much. So in a nutshell, problem number one is no accountability for the insurance companies.
Problem number two is that there are too many plans with various exclusions. In my opinion, if you have prescription coverage, it should cover all drugs for as long as the physician prescribes for you. No more of this crap (pardon my language but I am censoring myself quite a bit here) of saying that a drug isn't on a plan or the plan recommends using another drug. THAT'S NOT THEIR BUSINESS, THAT IS BETWEEN THE PHYSICIAN AND THE PATIENT!!
Problem number three is no consistency with their plans. One company can offer hundreds of plans, all with their own little bells and whistles. Forget that-one company means one plan.
This is the core problem with health care people, forget the whole "Obama-care" aspect, the problem is with the insurance companies. They have huge lobbying budgets that sway our legislators votes. Just look at the mess we have gone through with the budget, our government wasn't looking out for the common people- they were making sure they didn't upset their pet projects/donors.
We need a revolution, and the best way we can revolt is with our power and right to vote. Contact your leaders and let them know about your situation, organize a group of people to make phone calls, send letters, emails, tweets, anything you can think of to the people that make decisions about the type of medical coverage you have available.
We can do it, it won't be today, and maybe not tomorrow- but it can be done. Do it for our kids, grandkids and so on. Teach them how our government works or at least how it should work.
Power to the people!
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