Monday, November 8, 2010
The Incredible Missing Prescriptions
I know some folks out there who work for big chains perhaps aren't directly involved in the mailing-out of prescriptions. Everybody has to do it now (for free) to remain competitive. But what is your company's policy when the patient tells you they didn't receive it (and it's documented as being mailed, the address is correct, etc.?) People seem to feel it's our responsibility to simply replace it, at no cost to them, and that is regardless of whether we can bill insurance again. We are getting burned on this big-time. I'm curious to know how it's handled elsewhere.... Thanks!
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We deliver in person not by mail. Customer signs when they receive. I can't recall anyone ever pretending they didn't receive it.
Do you have them sign when received?
Maybe pay for insurance? It'd probably be worth it, especially if the drug was not one of the 'possibly eligible to be a $4 generic' med...
Yeah, I'm thinking if the prescription cost is over a certain amount, we should refuse to mail it.
We don't require a signature (I think that costs extra). People want the convenience of coming home to the mailbox and having it all there...
Our manager hand delivers it to the post office and if the patient swears up and down they don't receive it, he has them call their local post office to see if they are holding it. If there is still a problem of the drug not being found, he tells them we will redo it one time but will not mail anything out to them again, b/c we are not a mail order pharmacy, if they want that service they need to contact one.
I worked for a big chain and we never mailed prescriptions....I would actually refuse to do that if someone asked. Maybe if you send with priority mail (the one with flat rate) just add delivery confirmation and at least you can tract that online and show them it was deliver. I don't think delivery confirmation is that much more.
We always get a signature, it costs a little extra, but not a significant amount. The signature thing also comes with insurance provided by the mail service so if it really does get lost, we get re-imbursed for it by the mail company. We implemented it because we had a person swear blind they hadent recieved a very expensive item (worked out to cost about the same as 450 signature 'upgrades'). We never did get to the bottom of it, but we were responsible for its delivery, so we had to take the hit and re-send it.
Interesting information... maybe this mail out thing is not as widespread as I thought. I will look into the signature thing, though. Unfortunately I get the impression a lot of our customers who work don't have anyone home during the day to sign and have trouble getting in to the pharmacy to pick them up. If we don't mail, we lose their business.
If no one's at home to sign for the meds, they could possibly get them mailed to them at work.
The pharmacies I work with actually usually charge an $8 mailing fee, unless the reason the patient can't get the med is because we didn't have it or all of it. We have a few patients from Alaska that routinely get prescriptions mailed to them.
Unless your pharmacy has shorter hours than your local competitors, it might be worth it to charge a small mailing fee to cover the cost of mailing and insurance.
I work for one of the big "chains," and we generally don't mail out prescriptions. We do have one pair of patients who are snowbirds, and we mail them their drugs during the winter months. They pay for postage, usually - this year, they brought in some of those flat-rate boxes. We haven't had any issues with them.
I would think that explaining the risks involved with mailing out prescriptions to patients is fair game. Delivery confirmation is an option that you can offer to patients - even/especially if you're willing to pay for that. However, if they decline delivery confirmation, then you aren't liable to replace any drugs that don't arrive. That might be a fair trade off?
Good luck!
I work for big chains and we only mail if we must. we use FED-EX express. fully tracked....from door to door. never have lost one yet, but I am not absorbing the cost if it is. either the Insurance pays for a "lost" rx or the patient does.
I work for a big chain as well. I've heard of some stores offering a delivery service, but those are few and far between. The only mailing out we do is for completion prescriptions that have not been picked up and when phone contact was unsuccessful. When delivery could not be made, these were always mailed back to the pharmacy.
Our formal delivery service is handled through a separate entity within the company whom we trust has all the necessary resources to ensure these sorts of "what ifs" don't happen.
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