This is NOT how the business of a profession is conducted. This is carnival stuff. I spoke with a local CVS pharmacist last Friday. I reminded her that I always get her call immediately. I reminded her that I consider her a colleague. She is not my enemy. Then I asked her if she was going to play the CVS-stall-call-the-patient-and-beg-game.
I said, “If you do that, Joanne, all bets are off. You will get no cooperation from me.”
She hesitated. ”I am supposed to, but I won’t”.
The following is the official CVS strategy. It was sent to me by a CVS pharmacist who apparently is disgusted with his company.
This is a professional embarrassment. I deleted all identifying names, e-mails, locations. These are messages from a middle manager at the home office in Rhode Island and comments
Sent: Fri, Aug 3, 2012 12:44:34 GMT+00:00
Team,
As we discussed at our Region meeting. When a Wag’s RPh’s calls us for a transfer instead of saying it will be an hour for transfers we should say, we will get back to you shortly. Then the RPh can call the patient to confirm, talk about the benefits of using one Rx and that they can still fill ESI scripts . Then we would get back to the Wag’s RPh.
Thanks
HXXXXXXXXX
Here is the guidance from legal regarding the interpretation of the state requirement:
Q&B has sent a confirming e-mail to the XX, but based on the language of the rule itself CVS can make the confirming phone call.
The rule provides that when a patient, caregiver or a pharmacy acting on behalf of a patient or caregiver requests that a prescription be transferred between pharmacies, the original pharmacy must immediately comply with the request.
Because there would be doubt about the authenticity of the transfer request where the patient or caregiver him/herself is in the pharmacy and requests the transfer, the pharmacy can begin the transfer process immediately.
However, in the interest of public safety, it is reasonable to conclude that it is acceptable for the pharmacy receiving the transfer request to contact the patient to confirm that the requesting pharmacy is truly acting on the patient’s behalf before it transfers the prescription. The prescription would not be transferred immediately upon the call from the pharmacy, but immediately after the pharmacy confirms that the requesting pharmacy is truly acting on behalf of the patient – a requirement of the transfer rule.
Hope this helps, I agree that stating an hour may seem LONG to Walgreens; we should maybe state as already suggested by HXXXXXX– “we will get back to you shortly”.
Isn’t there a “freedom of choice” issue involved here… with federal money?
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If I was in WAG’s RPH’s position.. I would create a short form.. for the patient to sign… that they wish their Rxs transferred and FAX it to CVS before I called for the copies.
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That would meet CVS’ requirement of validating the patient’s request.. which is nothing but BS anyway.
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also if Federal money is involved and they offer a gift card… to stay with them.. that is ILLEGAL… WAGS recently paid a multi-million fine for giving gift cards for transfer Rxs involving federal money.
@Pharmaciststeve Good Point!! It is illegal to give/use any incentive cards for federal programs!!!
As for freedom of choice, Isn’t this the USA?
could offer a “gift card” for not transferring a Rx … be considered BRIBERY?… in the “federal money world” I think that it is referred to as an “inducement” to buy products/services paid for with federal money..
Any lawyer friends out there that can shed some light on this matter! It would be greatly appreciated!!
I would be more than happy to share this with my legal team!!!
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Whistleblower strikes again.
I can’t believe we are being required. It’s embarrassing….and yes there is a fax back form we have to send back to our DM documenting that we attempted to contact the patient.
HOGWASH! I seriously doubt that there is a RULE in ANY State that REQUIRES a Pharmacy to transfer a prescription … WHY? Because when a customer presents an Rx to an RPh it becomes the PROPERTY of the Pharmacy. Prescriptions are ASSETS and are what make a Pharmacy VALUABLE. I am an owner and I only transfer Rx’s for my clients who have moved out of the area … anyone wanting to transfer for a $25 gift card can get a new prescription from their PCP … I don’t GIVE AWAY ASSETS that easily!
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Deb, your entire business & professional life depends on your relationship with your patients/customers. You get a free
pass. You MUST make that call. CVS? The have NOrelationships.
As a pharmacist unfortunately working for CVS I refuse to follow this stupid policy of not transferring to Walgreens – it’s unethical at the very, very least – bite me CVS.
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MAP, I believe that you are bullet-proof. If I am not mistaken, you informed CVS that you intended to comply with
all pharmacy laws no matter what (federal and state). Did you send copy to CCO and the board? If so, unless you do something
really stupid… and you are 180 from stupid .. anything they try would be retaliation. If more RPhs did this, the “Pharmacyscape”
would be transformed immediately. The whole country would be Oregon. Jay Pee
@JP.. I don’t think that anyone has to send anyone within corp that you intend to observe/obey all Fed/State rules/regulations… I would bet .. that … that is part of the company’s policy & procedure manual.
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Basically, the company has told every employee that obeying laws.. is what is expected.
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http://www.ncconsumer.org/Walgreens%20Fined%20$7.9%20Million%20For%20Giving%20Away%20$25%20Gift%20Cards.html
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this is where WAGS got fined for giving out gift cards to pts for transferring rxs.. this fine was because they also gave out cards for Medicare/caid & Tricare
@whistleblower please do!!!! I am very curious to hear a lawyers view on this issue.
JP – correct you are about my intentions being well known and well documented. I’ve also filed with my state BOP with said employer mentioned in my filing. I also refuse loudly to anyone giving me any forms to sign at CVS – I insist it be cleared thru BOP first and so far I haven’t been asked twice. Saying no to bullies like CVS is much easier than some want to pretend – try it – challenge them on everything.
@MAP I never sign anything either!! If they insist, I tell them I will show it to an attorney.
Heck I never even signed a contract!! Why should I sign anything!
I still don’t totally understand the email to the compliance officer and the board, as a way to keep oneself safe, saying I intend to follow all practice laws…
Ralph, if you make your intentions clear, to comply with all laws. Then they can’t tell you that the metrics, waiting times and all the Master of the Universe Spying Programs come first. If they dare to even to hint that you should not comply, their asses are grasses. Think about it. Not email, by the way, I suggest an old fashioned letter sent Certified Mail, return receipt.
@RalPh.. HR/CCO/Legal are the “corporate police” it is their job to make sure that the company -management- obeys all rules/regulations and what is in the P&P for the company.
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The “I intend to follow all practice laws” should be part of the conclusion of any correspondence with CCO.. after elaborating on how you believe that corporate policies or what management is wanting you to do … will cause you not to..
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If you get something from management that you consider questionably legal.. ask that legal provide you in writing that it is – in their opinion .. and decline to follow the mandate until legal signs off. If you can’t get an approval from legal or the BOP over some issue.. you have the professional responsibility to decline to do it… because the company’s P&P states that you will not break any laws.
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Any time that you are coerced to do something that breaks the practice act – fill faster which ends up with more med errors — don’t consult on Rxs — which breaks the practice act…
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if you break any rule/law/regulation at the instruction/encouragement of management and say nothing to legal… you are -legally – on your own.. when something goes terribly wrong.
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the more evidence that you can mount over time.. that the company’s SOP.. is to ignore/circumvent their own P&P.. the more likely.. they will either think twice about firing you… and or will tend to leave you alone… and let you practice pharmacy.
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The company did not create that – normally huge – policy and procedure manual to protect the employees.. it is to protect the corporation.. they are obligate to do what it says.. and only CCO/legal is responsible for this.. and depending on the severity of the violation… HR/CCO can be held PERSONALLY LIABLE for allowing the company violate its own rules or other rules.
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is lowering staffing levels to such a point that you don’t have time to do counseling… providing “sub-standard care”… under Fed/State money… accepting/billing for services.. it is presumed to meet a certain “standard of care” and not doing so.. is considered FRAUD AND ABUSE…
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I ran into a issue last week that I had never seen before.. certain third parties wanted MY NPI.. before they process the claim.. Does this mean that the permit holder is being that much farther removed from liabilities of Rx processing?
@JP and Steve, thanks for all the good info. I’ll keep it in my arsenal..
@Everyone else in this thread: It’s come down in my division of Kroger family of pharmacies… an ALMOST identical layout of the letter in the JP entry who mentioned when WAG calls, we are to call the pt to confirm based on “to ensure that the other pharmacy is acting on the patient’s behalf.”
WHAT UTTER BS!!! They now want us RPhs to turn against one another, I swear they do. I refuse! I will not tell a hardworking WAG pharmacist that we’ll get back to them in an hour, act like no one knows what is going on, talk to the pt about gift cards or benefits of using one pharmacy, etc. IF A COLLEAGUE CALLS, I will assume they are acting on the patient’s behalf, and I have that right to judge they are acting in GOOD FAITH, no one else has that right.
I hate the lack of integrity involved in this. No mention of calling on other transfers, just Walgreens. It makes me sick. I won’t do it.
Should we start calling the patient every time a doctor calls in a new Rx to make sure that they indeed wanted to fill the prescription here?
And these customer appreciation gift cards here in Oregon…. since Oregon ruled out giving an inducement for any transferred Rx, now the MBAs and sellout Rphs want to give customers who stay an inducement for doing so.
Wicked. I won’t be a part of it.
I can 100% CONFIRM that as a cvs pharmacist that we indeed received the same information from our regional supervisor. In addition they will monitor our phone calls to patients who have made the switch from WAG’s to CVS on a call list that is automatically generated weekly. We must call them at least twice and try to get them to sign up with cvs programs such as autofill and text messaging (funny how we are a pharmacy innovation company but yet field a computer system that is a garbage mirror shell of instability). I believe that ( I can’t confirm because my tech hours are so low that I had to reprimand a tech from giving what could be construed as counseling to a patient about a benign OTC product due to me having to be more concerned with metrics to save my own ass) CVS is offering a specific 20% off store coupon to those customers who stay at CVS and we all know they are not checking profiles to see if federal funds are being used for their scripts. This is just the tip of the iceberg with this company. They are already telling pharmacists they are overpaid and hiring young inexperienced pharmacists (you know the ones that trash your pharmacy because they are thrown to the wolves often) at about 10 dollars an hour LESS than the rest of us) and the new employee optimization committee is going to put all of us “overpaid” pharmacists into boxcars and send us off into the unemployment lines while Larry Merlo laughs his ass off…dickbag…
As a Walgreens RPh, I can tell you that we were directed to do this before CVS (officially in my market: San Jose and San Francisco Peninsula). We had previously contacted patients after they transferred scripts based on the “Transfer RX report” to find out why they transferred and what we could do to get their patronage back. Since last year we were instructed to call them BEFORE honoring a transfer request from another company because, supposedly, once the RX is transferred they are no longer our patient and we cannot ask them about an RX once it’s been transferred and filled elsewhere. I don’t know if this was just a California thing or nationwide but the instructions came directly from our RX district supervisor.