Big Evil Say That They Are The Leaders In Pharmacy
Larry Merlo, RPh, CEO of CVS. Notice that it doesn’t say College of Pharmacy behind him. A business school. I absolutely have no respect for the non-pharmacist bean-counting numbers crunching MBA Masters of the Universe that have ruined the business of pharmacy. We need to send them to the variety store where they belong. Get their asses out of the pharmacy.
I receive messages from pharmacists, almost daily. They talk about their life at work. Too often they are about CVS, “Big Evil”. Here is another one. I also get plenty of questions from pharmacists asking, ”Why don’t you ever talk about Walgreens. There are the biggest chain. I heard that they are horrible. I would never work for Walgreens.” They reason I do not pass on incriminating accusations about Walgreens is because there aren’t any. I get very few e-mails complaining about Walgreens. The ratio CVS:Walgreens is about 100:1. A couple months ago, a Walgreens pharmacist and shareholder wrote a public letter to Greg Wasson, RPh, the CEO of Walgreens. She lambasted him. She called for his resignation. You can scroll down and find it. This pharmacist was righteously pissed off. The Ratio CVS:Rite-Aid is about 20:1. The RAD share price, as I write this, is $1.16. How much can I write about “Big Stupid”. The RAD CEO is a grocer. If Rite-Aid pharmacists want to give me a fresh view, I’ll put it up. I’d like to know how the non-pharmacist, non-tech “Wellness Ambassadors” in white coats have worked out. Yes, the same program that caused the United States Senate to hold a hearing to ask RAD executives, “How do you let customers know that this ill-trained ambassador is not a pharmacist?” What a frikkin’ embarrassment to our profession. CVS cheats and Rite-Aid stumbles along, one missed payroll or one missed Cardinal payment to lights out.
A Day in the Life at CVS
I am back from the darkest hours of my professional career! Earlier this year, I was forced to sell to CVS as managed healthcare hit the state of Texas. Before this point, I had been and independent Pharmacist all my career and had been working for independents since I was 15 years of age; I am currently 38 years old and graduated in 1997 from Pharmacy School. Words can not describe how much I loved independent pharmacy and continue to do so. As the world turned, I found myself waking up to a surreal nightmare that had become a grim reality. I found myself working for our sworn enemy. In my personal thoughts, I found myself working for evil personafied and all that is corrupt. Instantly, it became a gargantuan conflict of morality interest and the weight of the world on my shoulders proved heavy. To work for CVS, or not? The terms of my stores’ acquisitions stated that I had to work for 6 weeks with CVS in order to make the patient transition a smooth and easy one. Yes, my patients suffered starting on day one, and voiced their opinion how horrible CVS treated them, and how much time they had to wait for their prescriptions. I felt that I had let them down. In sum, I felt, I let everbody down. I had a heavy heart daily. I became ashamed. Even all my former employees voiced their distraught feelings to me and how they were treated by corporate and CVS coworkers. They were given the worst hours, the worst duties, other techs barking at them and not taking time to welcome them, or train them. And that’s because the acquisition was a merger. Therefore my employees and myself had seniority above others. Corporate and CVS coworker morale equated to anger, anxiety, indifference, unfriendliness, and being inhuman….And this was the tone set on all their stores I worked, no matter where I went. In the meantime, I needed to provide a living for a wife and three kids. I quickly became unhappy and depressed suiting up every day to work under these horrible conditions. My base salary for a 40hr week was 147k ($71/hr), four week vacation, and full health and dental benefits. Even with this salary, I decided one day to resign. I concluded that CVS could not buy my profession but most importantly, my soul. I further concluded, not only are they a threat for the existence of the profession of pharmacy, they are a threat for the safety and the best interest of patients. It is the most cynical and unfair expectations any company can have on any employee and more so on our profession. Their primary concern is not the patient, but production and stealing clients through Caremark (Be wary when you ask for a transfer, If you are on hold too long, chances are, they are calling the patient to convince them to stay and sometimes offering $25 dollar gift certificates).
The bulk of the pharmacist duties entail production and technical work. The day starts off by working solo for the first 1 or 2 hours. Of course this is done to save on tech income and it totally leaves the pharmacist in last place of a relay race. You end up catching up at 10pm after your 14 hour shift. In result of this, you provide horrible service. You are behind all day, and are counting and pouring, on input, ringing up the window, ringing up the register up front,….Nevermind counseling patients and getting to know the community. Nevermind being accessible for questions and answers for the community. Nevermind establishing pharmacist/patient relationships in order to have a sense of trust. Nevermind doing drug regimen reviews and verifying the accuracy of the prescription. You are a glorified technician that is differentiated by only your salary. Techs are given the power to administrate the pharmacist through a work flow chart. The end result is poor quality assurance and quality controls. The pharmacist’s medical knowledge is not exploited and rarely used. Time and Time again I verified refills that where given out the second and third time that were verified incorrectly the first time by other pharmacists and thus being given as misfills. And nobody is accountable! I’m not saying I walk on water. We are all human and can have misfills and have had them, but their system is apt for misfills. To augment the situation, they do not encourage counselling. In fact, they discourage it. Since they have a monitoring system that turns red and directly posts the results with your district manager, it puts pressure on the pharmacist to fill, fill, fill, fill, and nevermind verify or talk to a patient. Forget about it!..You can not make time for that. You go on red and you surely get the manager calling you the next day. Again, Cynical! And some pharmacist re drop the rx if it is not filled on time according to CVS standards. They cheat the system because they are worried and concerned about their manager calling them the next day. CVS is a prescription mill company and not providers of pharmaceutical care or healthcare. They refill and fill everything. Who cares if it is a drug/drug drug/therapy duplication. Everything is filled on a schedule by it’s automatic refill system. Nevermind interventions on unecessary drugs or d/c’d drugs. Fill everything and call the patient. The trained call go as such, “Dear Mr. or Mrs. so and so, Im calling because I am concerned about your health. You havent picked up your med.” When can you come by, or when can I expect you?” Hypocrites! It’s only done because management breathes it on them to turn over rx’s! Not because they care! And nobody stands up to management in voicing the concern of the pharmacist for the best interest of the patient.
Yet, one of their mission statements reads, “We are the innovators of pharmacy.” ” We are here to reinvent pharmacy!” I’m appalled how pharmacist look the other way, not stand up for the profession nor the patient, and work for this company. It is inconceivable how Texas government awarded these crooks with a bid to service former Texas medicaid and hurt our hard earned bottom line to take it by spread pricing and give it to caremark, and CVS. Incredible! How does this occur in our countrly? How can kids out of pharmacy school not be forwarned about their practices. Shouldnt pharmacy schools have a moral and ethical responsabilty along with state board of pharmacist to expose these practices. Shame on you CVS!
Today I work for two independents and I am happy again. Although I earn less salary wise, and have no benefits, the trade off is priceless! I come home happy to my family and practice pharmacy everyday. I still long for the the days of my professional glory. I hope someday I can return as an owner and be successful once again. In the meantime, I vow to always look out for the best interest of our profession and more so for the patient.
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I too am in Texas and am ashamed that the state legislature(Rick Perry and his cronies) were duped into selling out the the state run medicaid program to FOR PROFIT PBMS under the guise of cost savings….roughly 30 Pharmacies have closed in Texas since March of 2012 and more possibly will. The letter detailing this Pharmacist’s experience with CVS is gut wrenching. If the letter writer wishes to be an owner again, please have him write me @ broncofan7@ymail.com. We may be able to work something out.
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I am in Galveston and, since I am a pharmacist and not a technician, I have barely noticed the new PBM involvement, but had no idea of what has been really going on. Just not on my radar. Now I see. Bronco, keep us up to date. Send to jpgakis@hotmail.com and I will put it up right here on the main page.
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Bronco, do you think it is strange that these pharmacy owners of barely-making-it pharmacies still think that they are “Captains of Industry”, vote GOP and still believe the free-market system is in their favor. Listen to this. How is this for socialism? Have the federal government buy all the drugs and pay us a fair dispensing and counseling fee for each dispensed Rx. Like that? Service would rule. The government would not allow ridiculous prices. The formulary system. The formulary writers would get wined and dined and laid by Pharma, but the price of drugs would be controlled. Pharma then would have an incentive to actually go after really new drugs that would give them patent protection.
There was another med error before the Nevada BOP this month with a CVS store.. and their response was the same as the last one… they didn’t see why they had any liability just because they were the permit holder.
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As this writer plainly stated.. their only interest in the Rx dept is the revenue generated.. the patients and the staff are just the “vehicles” to reach that goal… miss fills are just a cost of doing business .. so you could come to the conclusion.. that so are patient’s deaths from such miss fills.
Trusting the government to be fair.. is for those that are delusional or in denial..
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Last year the Indiana Medicaid did a cost of filling and came up with a $10+ figure.. the dispensing fee was then $4.90.
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So what did they do… LOWERED IT to $3.00.. the Indiana Pharmacists Alliance & others took them to court.. spent 100K+… OUTCOME … fee is now $3.00 !
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come to find out that this government entity had managed to get an amendment to the existing laws.. exempting them from having to have a public hearing on any medicaid rate changes.. some back-room politics at its finest…
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That amendment has now been rescinded …but the damage is already done.
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IMO… until people get proactive about their health and don’t expect every encounter with the a healthcare professional to be paid for by someone else.. Our system is NEVER going to stop spending more and more money…
Maybe the area I work in is different but long waits at my CVS are rare and typically are due to situations brought on by patients have unreal expectations. Is CVS perfect…no. But at least in my CVS and the district that I work in things run smoothly as long as the people working have a work ethic that is reasonable. In my opinion if you are on the clock and not working as hard as you can you are stealing from the company. This goes for all forms of business not just pharmacies. Most of what I see on this site is whining because CVS expects you to work hard when you are at work.
OSU person, lucky you ….I have been in this business a long time and I personally have seldom come across pharmacists who are slackers ( I can only think of two!) Most of us have no time to do anything at work but work. I do believe that respect for employees should at least be on equal footing with the fiduciary duty to the stockholders. I guess I am naive and delusional to expect that. You speak of a “reasonable” work ethic. Is there anyone who starts the work day with the thought “I hope I do a lousy job today.” Sometimes being the best pharmacist you can be is not enough.
bcmigal has it right…not many pharmacists are slackers. Don’t think these chains should be worrying about this, and no need to have all these metrics. There are so many aspects of what we do that can only be measured qualitatively and can never be measured quantitatively. Good pharmacists are good people person’s too. They can relate with patients and work to help those patients. This qualitative aspect cannot be measured by key strokes on a computer by some program. It cannot be measured in how long it takes to fill a rx. The chains like CVS and RiteAid have a very narrow minded view of pharmacy and cannot grasp the bigger picture.
@Osupharm11,
I have to say it’s quite a leap to assume every CVS pharmacist that comments here is a lazy CVS pharmacist. I am not lazy at all; in fact I work my ass off every day for this company and even when I am at home I spend a lot of time working on my own freaking time. The problem I think most CVS pharmacists have with company is the workload we are expected to complete each day, lack of adequate staffing, lack of breaks, and a lot of unethical things we are asked to do. Answer the phone AND run to pick up AND get the drive thru AND take the doctor call AND call the customer to tell them they don’t know what they are doing and need to refill their medication (even if they ask you not to call) AND call a customer and tell them to come get their med AND that damn phone is ringing again AND spend an hour dealing with one insurance issue AND drive up two is needing help AND refuse to transfer out a medication until you’ve talked to and bribed the customer AND You’ve got 5 people in the waiting area wanting flu shots AND sorry but you’ll have to hold it, no peeing today, sorry, AND fill all 50 of those escripts within the hour AND the system is down fill anyway AND check for outdates AND what do you mean you haven’t completed the order yet….ooohhh, AND if you have time please do fill prescriptions, accurately if possible AND deal with DURs AND counsel too…..do you see my point yet? Does working “as hard as you can” include passing out at work? I know of a few pharmacists that passed out of work due to exhaustion but were too afraid to leave to get checked out…CVS is a McPharmacy…no worse, at least at McDonald’s if I am making a fricken hambuger I can focus on making a hamburger without 10000 million distractions…o, and we are just dealing with dangerous drugs that can kill or injure if dispensed improperly. There is a reason why a lot of older pharmacies aren’t an open format…maybe just a pick up window/drop off window. They understood back then that we really don’t need customer’s yelling at us from across the store wanting to show us their boob cheese when we are in the middle of making sure the medication we are about to sign off on is correct and won’t harm the person we are giving it to…
I’m with you, McPharmacist. It’s not just the culture that has been created by the limitless list of tasks that is so disheartening. It is the heavy cloud of fear that looms over us if we have the misfortune of missing the metrics. If I only had a nickel for every time I have heard “it doesn’t matter what kind of person you are if don’t meet expectations” I could have retired yesterday. If discussing legitimate concerns is whining, then I am guilty as charged. OSU, I found your comments to be insulting to every pharmacist. Ok, your turn….
Don’t forget being able to brown nose and kiss ass. You can kill yourself, meet their metrics, but if you do not act like the district manager is GOD and kiss ass when anyone above you walks in the door, you will not make it with CVS. Never mind that the other pharmacist is sleeping with the cute young tech and the older techs are having their hours cut and schedules changed. He is a great ass kisser and is loved by management. Never mind that he cannot even fill a prescription. There, I feel much better and even though I am living on a beach in northeast Brazil, I am still so angry about the events of the last 2 years. I still miss my customers and coworkers. Try complaining about sexual discrimination and finding out that management LAUGHED about it. Don’t count on the state antidiscrimination boards to do anything. There is no investigation, only “he said, she said”. The above CVS pharmacist must be one of those looking to move up into management.
McPharmacist: “I have to say it’s quite a leap to assume every CVS pharmacist that comments here is a lazy CVS pharmacist.”
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I have NEVER assumed a CVS pharmacist to be lazy!
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“and even when I am at home I spend a lot of time working on my own freaking time.”
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Huh??? Am I missing something here??? You are working for the company on your own time??? Why???? My motto: no pay..no work.
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“and a lot of unethical things we are asked to do”
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Huh??? Am I missing something here??? Why would you do or consider doing something unethical???
prickly pharmacist, no ‘brown nosing’ here! I once sent a note to the home office that the regionals and DM’s were worthless. Then, had to meet the DM and regional. Did I back down? Nope…gave the regional a list of more complaints.
JP, that pic of Larry Merlo makes him look like a creep. Do you think he might be a creep???
:)
Peon,
“I have NEVER assumed a CVS pharmacist to be lazy!”
I wasn’t responding to you…it was directed at @Osupharm11
“Huh??? Am I missing something here??? You are working for the company on your own time??? Why???? My motto: no pay..no work.”
There are some things you don’t have time to do at work when the buck stops with you…most of my time at work it’s balls to the wall busy…I am thankful to get 5 mins to try and complete non dispensing related tasks
“Huh??? Am I missing something here??? Why would you do or consider doing something unethical???”
I never said I do an of those not up to snuff things they ask me to do, but it doesn’t stop them trying to tell me to do them
@McPharmacist… If someone stole something from CVS.. what would they do to them??? Throw them in jail??
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They are “stealing” time from you and your family.. I guess their ethics – if they have any ethics – only applies to everyone else.. in regards to stealing..
Osupharm, what are u on?
All cvs is a slave driver,.!!!!!!!!!!
There is no way anyone can accomplish what cvs expects. It is impossible to meet all the metrics.
TO ALL CVS PHARMSCISTS: WHAT WERE RESULTS LIKE ON UR ANNUAL ENGAGEMENT SURVEY? MY DISTRICT SUCKED! Poor morale lack of motivation employees felt unappreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!
“TO ALL CVS PHARMSCISTS: WHAT WERE RESULTS LIKE ON UR ANNUAL ENGAGEMENT SURVEY? MY DISTRICT SUCKED! Poor morale lack of motivation employees felt unappreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!”
You want to feel better. Rite Aid makes that a goddamn metric too! Our PIC was begging all the staff to give good numbers so the uppers wouldn’t come down on us for bad assessments. HA! Needless to say the ratings were abysmal even with the falsified fluff. And yes, we still hear shit about it months later from management.
I guess am the only one that works in a CVS that doesn’t think it’s impossible to live up to the set standard. My store is 90 SSS, up until this month(had a full timer leave and just floaters all month)>90 execution, high 80s KPM and climbing, >4% above budget for the year on scripts and on pace to be in the 8-9% range, excellent inventory control, a glitch involving 340b pricing for a local hospital away from >10% above MCP. March we were rated top 20 company wide in stores own sales. All with one of the lowest rates of misfilles in our region. My team busts it all the time and we get the job done. I don’t have to do brown nosing because my results keep everyone in the district office quite happy. I guess I just don’t see the problems that everyone seems to always be screaming about on here in my store or any store I’ve worked at. The sole exception being a store that had a PIC that rarely showed up on time, shopped in the store while a work, and talked more than checked. That store was a mess but when she was removed all returned to normal. So maybe it’s my experiences that make me question work ethic of those that seem to have so many issues.
OSU…nice to know every one has a lousy work ethic but you. I think you are a figment of your own imagination. Or we all should be smokin’ what you’re smokin’!
OSU – I can understand your point of view. Hell, 5 years ago, I was you. I had the same attitude about the ‘doom and gloom’ pharmacy blogosphere’. I was with the same company, even. I was the PIC of my very own CVS. Under me, our pharmacy’s numbers were above budget, triple S was high 90′s. We were the golden store of our district – my DM told me at one point he wished that every one of his pharmacies had a pharmacist like me. We worked hard, and times were good.
Then the metrics changed, and the district had its hours slashed. New demands from corporate were put in place. The mood from district changed considerably, and we just plugged along as we always had – working our asses off for our patients and hoping the numbers would shake out. We worked harder, and it didn’t matter. 16 hour days, working on days off, no lunch breaks ( can’t let those RXs go red in the queue ). Didn’t matter.
During a meeting with my DM and DPM I informed them that I had concerns for the safety of our patients – that to achieve targets on metrics, we would have to divert staff from activities that would ensure the safe dispensing and delivery of prescriptions. I was told to hit the metrics, or they would fire me.
At a regional meeting, we were told we could no longer use the discount cards the county provided for patients without insurance. In the same meeting, they crowed about growth in cigarette sales. It was disgusting.
Then I witnessed the company violate the law in a manner that deliberately compromised patient safety. I complained, and was ignored. I made a complaint to our state board of pharmacy – and was fired a day after the investigator came to our pharmacy. This was after 6 years with the company, and not a single negative review.
OSU, I would imagine from the ’11′ in your handle that you may be a recent graduate. You sound like you have a good deal right now, just like I did 5 years ago. Enjoy it while it lasts, but don’t confuse it for the larger issues at hand. Your pharmacy is a microcosm, as is your experience – this is not intended as an insult, rather a point of fact. Your experience is limited to you, and cannot be applied to the profession in general.
Ride it out while it lasts, my friend. One day – perhaps sooner than you think, they may come for you, too. When they do, our arms will be open to you.
I sense a “ladder climber”.. just wait till he finds out how high the price is.. to even stay on the ladder… let alone be able to move up it.
OSU That is great you enjoy CVS so much. I have been there for three months and as soon as I find a new job I am out of there. Since I have started I have experienced first hand that CVS does not have patients. They only have customers. The company is not an innovator in pharmacy they are a joke. I have been floating and have seen terrible things. I worked a 14 hour shift and only counseled two people! My state requires every new RX have counseling. My technicians did not really give my customers an option for counseling as the tone in their voice greatly discouraged it. I worked in another location and spent 20 minutes teaching someone how to use a glucometer. My techs were pissed at me because I was doing that. They told me they had never seen any pharmacist ever teach someone how to use that. Uh last time I checked Medicare required instruction on all glucometers dispensed. I am so sick of hearing about metrics and how they can get me bonuses. I get paid so much money I don’t need bonuses what I need is another pharmacist. I cannot believe our supervisors encourage us to cheat our metrics. What is the point of having metrics if they are faked. It is ridiculous. My state has no RPH to tech ratio so it is often I work with 5 techs working. I can’t supervise that. I have no idea what they do all day long. I am so focused on verifying scripts in hopes they don’t turn red. My supervisor also promotes not verifying refills! It is terrible. I catch so many errors when i verify refills. I won’t even let me own family fill scripts at CVS because it is so dangerous. I am even more excited for September when we have to call our patients and beg them not to switch to walgreens. How unprofessional and I think very unethical. Lets hope I find a new job before then. OSU enjoy CVS you can have it. I am sick of watching them break the law in more ways than one.
@wrongaid I cant believe they use that as a metric!!!!!! Just shows how much they really care (not)!!!!!!
@Osu one of these days the reality will hit you! Brace yourself Cvs isnt all u think it is!! Try talking to pharmacists in your area who have been with cvs & ask if they think company has improved in the last few yrs”’ any one wonder why tom ryan left when he did. He saw what was coming”!!!!!!!!!!
To me… this is a very disturbing statement…
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All with one of the lowest rates of misfilles in our region
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The first mis-fill violates the practice act.. and that infraction.. means that you break the company’s policy & procedures…
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So the company tracks mis-fills… apparently no CQI here… just track that they happen… just another data point on some MBA’s spread sheet… who have no consequences for helping to establish criteria that are the genesis of those med errors.
I have decided that most “ladder climbers” with CVS already have either a loose screw or are very naive. All large corporations operate the same way. You have to have that corporate mentality and buy into the company. Their success is all that matters. I hear it from people working in large corporate hospitals, also. The corporation rules. It is almost a cult mentality. Cruel and Vicious Sadists (CVS).
Serph, I hope you are wrong. If you are then I’ll see all these walls come crashing down around me at the mercy of THE MAN. From my perspective if you were able to make these “lofty” expectations before and I can now there lies one explanation. Cvs intentionally targets its Rphs that do the best and push them til they break and then lose the good employee while leaving other stores alone so they can get up to the point they can knock them out. Seems like a very bad business plan to push out the cream of the crop. The only other thought I have from my experience that is probably different from others is that I have always worked at high volume pharmacies. At least 2 full timers and a 25-30hr a weeker. Currently I work with two other full timers. This does help pull off some of the pressure and allows for a lunch break if we are slow but there have still been many days that neither Rphs take the lunches. To me it’s not a big deal I’ve rarely chosen to take lunches at my job, both before , during, and after Rph school.
Not really a ladder climber. Pic is plenty.
I would worry if a company didn’t track misfilles. No one who works in pharmacy for any real length of time will be perfect. If a company didn’t track misfilles you could argue it is both contrary to patient safety and bottom line. Knowing who is the liability is a must. They are more likely to hurt someone and therefore cost the company more money. Also knowing why an error happened is important so it can be avoided. This was not something where there was a threshold to stay below but just info from my DPM who gets all incident reports.
I am not saying pharmacy is better today than 30years ago. I just argue that the metrics and the budgets are not impossible and not without benefit and certainly not evil.
OSU…I won’t be as polite as the others….I think you are smug and arrogant.
I’m guessing young and indoctrinated. We’ve all been there. Print out some of this post. Fold it up and put it away somewhere. Find it in a few years and have a good laugh.
Osupharm11… How many do you fill per week? How many RPH hours and tech hours??
@osu i agree with bcmigal! And i think u r full of bs! Still think u might be a corporate snitch
@Osupharm11… Explain the CVS incident reporting as you know it ..I know the procedures … Let’s see if you are who you say you are!!!
Roughly 3500 per week 120 Rph hours 350ish tech hours.
As far as incident reporting. F6…employee id, password, find the inciden reporting link, give various details, who you are, who the patient is, who made the error, med, reason for being wrong etc. it’s a pages worth of stuff. Haven’t written done a tremmendous amount so specific are fuzzy. I work again Friday if you want more info I’ll look at it.
I did talk to my new partner today and she was talking about how she floated to another region for a month or so while waiting for a full time spot here and said it was a nightmare at the three stores she worked at. There is one in our district that she compare it to. I will say if that is what most stores are like there is a valid arguement here. I just don’t see it. Sorry if I am seen as drinking the kool aid but I love my store. It’s a great place to work. Flu shot goals came out today and I’m gearing up for flu season! Want to hit goal by November. I may be a corporate tool but I know I provide excellent care at my pharmacy and get the whole job done.
@Osupharm11,
I am curious at how you feel about the companies forced transfer out policy to Walgreens. Specifically the part about lying about being busy and that it will take an hour to get to it…essentially refusing to transfer out a patient’s medication when they request it and lying to another healthcare professional…last time I took the oath it talks about maintaining the highest principles of moral, ethical, and legal conduct…
I do understand the company’s concern, about Walgreens just stealing scripts without the patient’s authorization…but two wrongs don’t make a right…and I believe Walgreens wouldn’t require their pharmacists to do such things….if I was a patient waiting on my script at Walgreens I would be pissed
A lie by any other name is still a lie.
PS. I think all of you are correct. OSU is probably not a real person but a corporate plant hoping to suck us all into his/her trap. Nobody is that nuts. I not going to play anymore. I am taking my toys and going home.
@Osupharm11….how about 4400-4500 with 340 tech hours??? Overlap RPH at drop off … No exception to this rule… This includes pharmacist ringing at register . Pouring everything that comes out of script-pro onto counting tray because of all the errors . How would you like to be that QA RPH??? What is your location??? Central PA here. Does Cvs pay for the lunch break you folks take???
%Medicaid? That is a more telling number than total scripts. I’ve worked nearly 100 Rite Aids. A few are tolerable and they are always low % medicaid.
Another metric I made up myself: How many people out of 10 do you have to physically show how to use and sign the electronic signature capture device? Most of the stores I work now are 9/10 stores. The decent stores I’ve worked are 2/10 (very rare).
My point being, these stores he is describing do exist but they are damn rare. He better hold on to that position for dear life.
Southern Ohio area, pretty high Medicaid rate, in Ohio there are multiple plans for Medicaid it’s would take some math to figure. Our average script price is pretty low because of Medicaid though. Luckily we haven’t had to deal with Walgreens because there isn’t one in the immediate area. So any Walgreens transfers would be legit and to somewhere at least a 30 minute drive away. We take lunch when we are able. Not clock out or anything. If its really slow I let my partner go on an hour lunch or leave early etc. it’s fine if ya’ll think I’m some corporate snitch. I could care less. We do have a KL60 in the store, which is a puny little brother to the scriptpro. I do hate that machine compared to the scriptpro I’ve worked with. The automation policy is completely moronic. Rts bottle in the first 2 hours is just asking for a mistake. That policy needs to state something about during overlap times being fair game. Got me on my soapbox about that machine, I have forwarded up plenty of complaint/suggestions about that issue. This is another area that I have seen a difference that seems to be unheard I elsewhere. I send up complaint/suggestions to my DPM all the time and they are forwarded on up. I’ve seen multiple suggestions added to rxconnect and the most recent regional manager visit one of the first things he asked about was what my issues with the KL60 were cause he’d seen my rant on it. I do believe some of the higher ups listen and respond to problems. Seems to be something people don’t think is even possible from a lot of the comments I’ve read.
3500 per week and all you have is a Kirby Lester? Now I know you are not a real person.
I think you are thinking of the Kirby that you drop pills in. This is an automation match that have 60 cells for dispensing. The “advantage” is that it’s about 1/2 the size of a scriptpro and we are in a fairly confined space. I’ve worked in smaller more confined areas but I can see the space issue that a scriptpro would create unless we did a complete remodel of the pharmacy.