"Rot in hell Drugmonkey. If you think a few weeks of unemployment are tough, you just wait until we're done with you"
Ha ha....he's quite a kidder that DeAngelis. Next up we have CVS Supervisor Ryan Barna. Mr. Barna oversees about 50 CVS stores in the New Jersey area.
"He's not kidding Drugmonkey, we're going to bury you"
Very well then, but first things first. Mr. DeAngelis, recent stories in the Los Angeles Times paint a picture of CVS customers systematically being enrolled in your automatic refill service without their consent. These are serious allegations, as this could, under some interpretations, be considered insurance fraud, as claims are being filed for medicines a patient never asked for. Both the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs and The California Board of Pharmacy have expressed concerns, and the LA Times articles imply that this might be happening as a result of pharmacists being pressured to meet a quota of program enrollment. We've flipped a coin backstage, and as a result you get to make the opening statement.
(Note, every statement below attributed to DeAngelis and Barna come straight from the Times articles. Except for the final statement, which really happened in my imagination.)
"It is not our policy to refill prescriptions without a patient's authorization"
Very well then. Mr. Barna, do you have a rebuttal?
"You need to go out and make this happen this week and every week going forward"
I see. You were, of course talking about a specific number, 30% of phone calls to patients that were expected to result in repeat business. It would seem that we have a clear distinction between the positions of the two of you then. Mr. Barna, if I could ask a followup question. What would happen if pharmacists did not meet this quota?
"Major personnel changes. Please understand this is not the road I wanted to go down, but action plans/phone calls/advice haven't yielded the result we're all looking for & it's time for a change in leadership in certain stores."
OK, but our topic is whether CVS ever filled prescriptions without a patient's authorization. Mr. Barna, if pharmacists called patients and could not reach them, what did you instruct them to do and say regarding those patient's prescriptions?
"We tried calling you several times this week on this past-due prescription" and that "I went ahead and filled it so it would be ready for you."
Mr. Deangelis, this seems pretty clear. Do you have a rebuttal?
the company says this is an example of an overzealous manager going too far, not a practice followed by CVS pharmacists nationwide.
Mr. Barna, you called the procedure you outlined to the pharmacists you supervised...what was the term? CVS.....
"best practices."
Yes, best practices. And I will point out here that the Times articles point out incidents of unauthorized prescriptions being filled in both New Jersey and California. Mr. DeAngelis, is it possible for one overzealous manager in New Jersey to affect your operations in stores located on the other side of the country?
"It is not our policy to refill prescriptions without a patient's authorization,"
Yes....I seem to remember hearing that somewhere before. And with that ladies and gentlemen we've reached the end of tonight's debate. Mr. Barna, since Mr. DeAngelis got to make the opening statement, we'll give you the final word.
"Thank you. As spirited, and at times heated, as tonight's debate was, I'd like to point out that my opponent and I actually have a great deal we agree on. We are both working for a strong and profitable CVS, and share a desire to make the company the best it can be. More importantly though, we share a bigger goal. Your immediate and total destruction Drugmonkey. Mr DeAngelis and I could not hate you more, and wish nothing but for you to be erased from this very planet, preferably in a painful way. Short of that, we would like to make it possible that both you and the LA Times shut the fuck up."
And on that note of agreement, we close this night's debate. Tune in next time, when our topic will be "A share or Rite Aid stock or a Diet Coke, which is the better value for your dollar and a half?" Until then, have a wonderful evening.
(Special thanks to the multiple alert readers who tipped me to this story)
18 comments:
My company enrolls people in autofill with out asking the patient. Then the computer calls the patient when the rx is ready. This results in a lot of unwanted rxs being filled then either returned after 10 days or picked up by unwitting and unknowing family members.
We are given a list every month of who should be enrolled and we are to enroll them without asking. I thought this was common practice in the pharmacy chain business. I however would think the insurance companies would put a stop to this as it fills each rx 5 days early resulting in 1 extra fill every year of each medication. Our state laws do not allow us to enroll anyone on state insurance for that reason.
I always chuckle when a company spokesperson says "we have no quotas". Call them "targets" but they still walk like a duck.
Quotas, targets, goals, measures, metrics, blah, blah, blah. Whatever CVS wants to call it, they'll call it. The truth is, we are told to fill scripts regardless of patient consent.
I'm glad I no longer work there.
I too am glad I am no longer with the company. I worked in South Jersey in a district neighboring the one in question. All I ever heard from my colleagues in that district was how big of an asshole he was. He would condescend pharmacists, managers, and technicians. He should have been fired a long time ago!
Ah ha. It all now starts clicking. Ten or fifteen years ago when my husband and I were putting in extra payments on our 15-yr fixed mortgage, and paying it off as fast as we could with over 50% down, Wells-Fargo bought the mortgage and soon started 'enrolling' us in unsolicited programs, such as collecting fees to join a airline discount program, or some other group for discounts on memberships, or something in which we had no interest being involved as it was something we did not do. Maybe it was for time-shares or travel clubs, or automobile loan discounts, but it was all about arranging payments for things that were no skin off Wells-Fargo's back to provide. They told us that if we didn't elect to say 'no' that we were automatically enrolled and would be billed. I couldn't believe it but I saw they did charge us for the 'low monthly fee' to be a part of their club, so my response was 'this is a fraud' and 'we never agreed to anything' and 'ignoring is not the same as agreeing to pay', and I threatened the state Better Business Bureau, or if that didn't work, Dear Abby was going to have a letter to print about the subject.
No further communication, but we got our books straightened out, no more 'offers' to join anything, and then the loan was sold again.
Or there is CSI...which has us fill things the customer hasnt asked for...that one has been around for a few years
One of my former co-workers told me today that another 15-20% cut in tech hours coming for 2013,however the new hours will go into affect probably dec.1. Someone will get hurt!!!
RAD has a "target" courtesy refill number too - at least in my district. It was "suggested" by one district manager that we enroll people without asking, however I know that is technically against company policy. (Meaning I doubt anyone would get in trouble for doing it unless there was an actual complaint from some regulatory agency.) My biggest gripe with courtesy refills (other than getting yelled at by people who don't understand it) is what happens if we fill something we shouldn't? Grandma comes in to pick up her medicines (that she didn't order and that unbeknownst to us, she has been taken off of), she brings them home and takes them (being barely competent to handle her own meds in the first place) and has an adverse reaction... Whose ass is on the line then? You know it ain't gonna be anyone in corporate's...
I can't wait for CVS outsourcing. I will be able to get my Rx filled in China and mailed to me at a lower price with a free tube of the famous Chinese toothpaste
RAD calls it ACR (Automatic Courtesty Refill). Our "quota" is 40% I think. We have multiple misfills EVERY FUCKING DAY! This is for real if any Board members ever review these sites. Every single day we find out some dumb shit has been taking something the doc discontinued months ago. They will pick up and ingest anything given to them. Do we report these mistakes? Fuck no! It would be our own asses on the line if we did! I can not believe that ACR is still legal. It baffles my mind that state boards can't or won't see it for what it is. A blatant scam. Trick people into filling things they don't need or want. Even if it is a needed script the scam works out by filling 1 extra script per year because the system will fill the script a few days early each month.
In the last week I've received two "reminder' calls by my local CVS to pick up a refill I never authorized.
Again, Pharmacy board members are NOT competent to deal with high powered chain mouthpieces. They barely know the regulations themselves in most cases. If I was said mouthpiece I would ask some technical questions of one of these "board lawyers" in open court and watch the humming...hawing..prevaricating etc. (probably the judge would stop it) It is just possible that this latest steroid fiasco "might" put some feet to the fire. All depends on how the money flows.
Peter Tietjens
After being place on probation for not meeting CVS's "goals" for autofill and PCI fill regularly, I was demoted to a floating pharmacist. Now that I have worked in every store in our district, I see that the majority of our stores frequently enroll patients to these services without their consent. What has our profession come to? We used to be "America's most trusted profession" but now we've become the "The profession most trusted to take the money under your mattress." I refuse to trade my integrity for my job.
This september, at the age of 39 I have returned to college in order to attain a Masters in Education. Being a teacher pays less, but I know I'll sleep better at night.
Only ReadyFill??? (For that the "target" is 40% or more filled each week, which means enrolling without asking). But wait. That's not it. How about having to convince a patient which was prescribed a Zpak and Nasonex(2 refills) 6 months ago, that he in fact has an allergy and must refill his Nasonex. I had pages of those each week, and was basically called by my DM an incompetent(Mr. Barna's neighboring district), because we could never reach CVS's quota (or target). Misfills are done on a regular basis, as they want to push those Past Due refills(last filled 3 months' ago, therefore, most likely D/C by the MD)?
CVS is mostly operated by the people having no medical, and in many cases no education whatsoever. My store manager(as my DM put it - he was my superior) was a high school graduate with few years of experience in CVS. No education at all.
Corp just moved the staff rph from my old store because their numbers for 'past dues' wasn't meeting target.. now the manager is so scared, she told the techs to fill all the medicaid rxs because they can just waive the copays to get the patient to pick them up.
All 4 of the full time techs are giving notice and 2 plan on notifying the board... not sure they'll get anywhere, but good luck to them.
I wish I had the guts to contribute to this...be sure to click on the link for the documents....
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20121019,0,1491028.column
I used to love being a pharmacist. So sad. I am in mourning for the profession, and working on my next career. I thought when i graduated pharmacy would be my forever job. Things have changed so drastically in the field I worked so hard to become a part of. When I leave, punch the alarm code and lock the door on my last day one might expect a little part of me inside to die, but I will not be looking back i'm pretty sure its already dead.
Stavros is partially right: outsourcing is what they are angling for. They want to be able to set up mail order for the scripts that are maintenance drugs, and mail them in from India. So he's wrong to look forward to Chinese toothpaste.
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