re: Pharmacies and the long wait... what am I missing?

quote:

---

I am sure there is the unnecessary paper work that needs be filed. Further, you probably have the pharmacist trying to handle some Medicaid patient trying to get more free stuff.
And to top it all off, I am sure the Walgreens and CVS's of the world have figured out how to just understaff the pharmacy just enough to keep getting money from you and their maximizing profits by keeping labor cost low.

---

This is my feeling as well, though I was hoping to get a knowledgeable response from someone in the industry.

Well the 90% use case is that the pharmacy has all of your info, they just have to fill the script and give it to you.

Which means if they filled when you came in to pay, you'd wait 5-10 minutes while they filled your script.

But now let's say you happen to walk in and 6 people are in line ahead of you. Under the same model, you'd pay for your script within a couple of minutes but then you'd be waiting up to an hour for it to get filled. (Assuming one person filling. Obviously a pharmacy may have more, but not always).

So instead of bitching about what you are, you'd be bitching about long pharmacy lines and waits.

Because these pharmacies also fill scripts from nursing homes and assisted livings where there's over 100+ people with 10 scripts each. Also other people need refills ahead of you. So take a chill pill.

quote:

---

I am a PharmD (hospital) but have done stints in retail.

---

Thanks for the reply.

I just don't see it.

I get that I'm not the only customer, but hell, every business has multiple customers. How many people go through Chick-fil-a everyday?

And I get that there are complications that arise with insurance and whatnot. But damn, it just shouldn't take longer to fill a script than it takes a family of four, all with special orders, to dine at a restaurant.

quote:

---

97% of the time, people aren't standing around twiddling their thumbs just because.

---

I'm not entirely blaming the workers here. If there's something inherently wrong with the system then I'm curious as to what that is and why it hasn't been addressed.

Who hands the pharmacist a paper script?! Haven't done this in over a decade. Everything is electronic, get with the times.

ETA: I jumped the gun; haven't been to a doctor (sans girly checkups) since 2005. Do they really still give the pharmacist a piece of paper? How archaic.

quote:

---

there's something inherently wrong with the system then I'm curious as to what that is and why it hasn't been addressed.

---

There isn't. You're just impatient.

quote:

---

Well the 90% use case is that the pharmacy has all of your info, they just have to fill the script and give it to you.

Which means if they filled when you came in to pay, you'd wait 5-10 minutes while they filled your script.

---

More like 2 or 3... they're just counting pills here.

quote:

---

But now let's say you happen to walk in and 6 people are in line ahead of you. Under the same model, you'd pay for your script within a couple of minutes but then you'd be waiting up to an hour for it to get filled.

---

I was thinking that if it took (using your idea) 5-10 minutes per person then I'd see the line of 6 people and decide to either go elsewhere or just wait.

In my mind the person in the front of the line wouldn't walk away until they had their pills. Then the next person would begin their order. This could be somewhat streamlined by having multiple workers in the operation (one the cashier, the other the script filler) and by having the "complicated" customers step to the side and speak with someone else.

If it is the case of a long line of people and the store wants them milling about in hopes that they'll buy something else, then the store could just use the "take a number" system that the busy bakeries use.

Mr. Gower never made people wait.

Maybe you should go to Mr. Gower's Pharmacy next time.

quote:

---

They have to triple check everything and are so damn sensitive to them being sued for giving wrong pills and shite

---

I remember years ago some company was attempting to introduce a fully automated system. It was essentially a large robotic system that would grab the pill supply, sort out the correct amount, place them in a pill container, affix a label, and then hand it over. The system was much much faster than any human could be and in multiple studies (including an extended "real world" test by the military) its accuracy rate was higher than human pharmacists. However, the APhA raised such a stink that it never caught on.

Another anecdote for you - last year at an LSU Baseball game there was a drug rep sitting behind me and she was quite the talker (she didn't shut up the entire game, and none of what she said had anything to do with baseball ). She was saying that her company was trying to place something like complex vending machines into doctors offices. The doctors could use these to dispense the meds and give them to the patient before they left the office. No need for a pharmacy. But there again, the pharmacists' union was pushing back against these machines and this lady's company was having trouble getting them placed.

quote:

---

Wrong

---

I wish I were.


Since you've got a handle like

quote:

---

PillPusher

---

I'm going to ask if you're a pharmacist/in the industry?

If so, then you could probably guess what my script is.. I take it every morning and has been prescribed to me (in one form or another) since grade school. It also is probably the most prescribed drug in the country to college students.

At any rate, I have been told that it cannot be called in and that I have to have a script for it. The script cannot be for more than one month's supply. And that they recently changed the laws to allow the doctor to write three scripts at once (only one doctor's visit) and allow me to just come by and pick up the other two - one each month.

Believe me, I really really wish I didn't have to go through all those hoops to get my meds, but those are the rules as I understand them and that is what I've been having to do. If you know otherwise then please let me know.