I mean, it would be really easy to do some tongue in cheek stuff about how the DEA protected the mom and pop drug dealers of Sanford, Florida from corporate chain competition when they pulled the controlled drug registrations of two CVS stores, and I got a couple hundred words into it, but....
I kept thinking about one of my favorites, back when I had customers. In her mid 30's, but maybe the mental capacities of a 12 year old. She was sweet and deeply troubled. Good Lord that woman had been through some shit that left her with pain both physical and mental, but you couldn't help but to see the goodness popping up through the surface of the storms that went through her mind. You have no idea how hard I rooted for her.
Now she's dead. Because another drugstore filled a prescription they had no business filling. Kinda like those two CVS stores in Sanford. Except those two CVS stores in Sanford were doing it a lot more often.
The DEA says those two stores were pumping out enough oxycodone to supply a city with eight times the population of Sanford. Which means people are almost assuredly dead now that wouldn't have been. People who lost their battle with demons that taunted them, with a little help from the friendly pharmacy that looked the other way. Mothers have no sons, lovers are alone, friends are only memories.
I'll bet you though, that every one of those tortured souls were asked at the pharmacy counter, not about the addiction that was destroying them, but if they had their annual flu shot. A few of the deceased probably met their end with a blood stream full of narcotics and antibodies against this year's A/Victoria/361/2011 influenza strain.
If only there was great profit in getting them the help they really needed.
This is what your profession has come to. CVS is the single strongest player in the pharmacy field. On the cusp of being dominant. Walgreens just screwed themselves business wise and Rite Aid... is hardly worth mentioning. The independents have been devastated and the Wal-Marts and Safeway's that fill a few scripts do it mostly as a side business. Until an ambitious Vice-President decides he wants to make a name for himself by making the prescriptions profitable, which means he'll take a look at how CVS did it.
The accusations of bribery
The overcharging of the taxpayer.
The overcharging of their customers.
The person not a pharmacist who was perfectly able to do everything CVS expects of one.
The defiance of a body responsible for regulating the profession and protecting the public.
How the lax narcotic controls were preceded by lax controls of the materials needed to make crystal meth.
These are the people who now control your profession. Perhaps it's the onset of maturity, maybe it's the crankiness of stress, but you know, tonight, I just don't think it's funny.
CVS had the chutzpah to sue to challenge the suspension by the way, and says “We are reviewing the decision, evaluating our options and determining the best way to continue to serve our customers”
I might suggest, that if they were the slightest bit worried about the best way to serve their customers, none of this would have happened. I might suggest, that the best way to serve your customers CVS, is not by enabling them in ways to kill themselves.
Back when we were in control of our profession, that used to be obvious.
13 comments:
You have to think like a corporate exeutive. I suspect that after the Rite Aid corporate manager read this post he quickly called CVS advising them not to hire you. I know it's pretty stupid thinking that you would want to work at CVS but you must remember that corporate execs are pretty stupid.
Right now CVS is probably figuring out if the profits made before they were caught is worth trying it again. Profits Rule!
I'm just curious if anything happened to the prescribers pumping out these scripts .. unless CVS just filled them by conjuring them up with their evil powers..
You know that corporate is all about the numbers. They are about money, and how they can squeeze out every penny until it is dried up.
I'll bet you though, that every one of those tortured souls were asked at the pharmacy counter, not about the addiction that was destroying them, but if they had their annual flu shot.
That's some funny shit right there!
Excellent post. Excellent.
CVS's new We Care system, while it has some streamlining features for their system, also forces the time to fill waiters and "acute" meds down to 10 minutes instead of 15, if you do things the way corporate wants. A friend had 19 scripts due in 8 minutes and he and 1 tech put in a waiter, letting the computer choose how long it should take to fill it. The computer of course chose 10 minutes. The real problem is there are fewer and fewer pharmacists around who remember that they are supposed to be the boss in their pharmacy.
I once turned in a script writer. There were several ODs. He paid off the judge and I had the mob after me.
I work for an independent pharmacy in the midwestern U.S., for a company that happens to own a couple of other pharmacies as well. Yes, we push the annual flu shot, Zostavax, and now tDap, but we go the extra step to make sure these patients are not abusing anything...controlled rx or otherwise. We use the PMP like it rules all and take the time to talk to each and every patient about their pain, be it physical or mental. We go to funerals of family members, we give condolence cards signed with heartfelt passages from each pharmacy employee. I grew up in southern CA; I chose to relocate to this area of the U.S because I was looking for a pharmacy school that would lead me to a job in community pharmacy where the pharmacist can still take the time to care as much as we should. I am glad I made this decision because it led me to this job, where I have been a pharmacist for just about 4 weeks (after working for the same pharmacy since my 2nd year). I have hope when I read stories like this, knowing that I am not a pharmacist contributing to the death of patients. I could have gone for the higher-pay, more hours, corporate retail pharmacist position, but I didn't...and hopefully I am saving some patients and my own sanity in the long run! Thank you, DM, for keeping my eyes wide open.
I have yet to hear anything positive about "WeCare". But I do see the irony in the name.
A question for attorney types or others who have similar knowledge: If company sends corporate email to a personal email address and to a personal computer or smartphone (NOT corporate email on a "closed" system), is the email now the "property" of the recipient and no longer proprietary information? Thanks.
Walgreens is restructuring.Looks like the store manager will be hanging around the pharmacy more often. They don't even know how to do most pharmacy tasks.
When I graduated 20 years, it was the same issue back then if you worked in a corporate store. Store manager versus pharmacist and of course, the board of these corporations are for the most part headed by pharmacists who have decided that a store manager should have the last say over a pharmacist. Over the years, the power has shifted between these two positions back and forth depending on pharmacist shortage or not.
I worked in a rehab facility in a community where doctors were doing this. I live in one and see it walk the streets every day. It makes me die a little more inside knowing there's profit from it. I've always known. I left the profession entirely out of hopelessness.
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