Aw yuck. What a hellish "new year's week" it was.
It included a major software change in the way we submit on-line claims to insurances. The end result, in a nutshell, is that there are approximately 1,000 new and different ways for a claim to reject, and I think we saw every one of them.
It included the usual insurance plan changes for customers, with the associated freak-out when
their new copays were revealed to them at the cash register. "But I've always paid (X) dollars!!"
was #1 on the week's hit parade. #2 was, "I don't have a deductible!!" followed by a grumbling
return later in the day, after they had called their insurance company.
It included one of the major corporations in town switching to a new pharmacy benefits card.
I don't even work for them, and I knew about it months in advance. These employees are educated, white-collar workers -- some are even health care professionals. Do you think even ONE of them had the card with them when they came in? Do you think the majority even understood that the benefits they signed up for during open enrollment screamed "CHANGE" ? Alas, no.
And of course it included the transfers out of Walgreens for Express Scripts customers. Most of the Walgreens I called had a message asking me to leave the information for the transfer and they would fax it to me. However, since no one plans ahead and many people wanted it while they waited, I had to ask to speak to someone right away. To my surprise, all the Walgreens pharmacists I talked to seemed pretty darn nice about it. I can't imagine how they are dealing with all that.
It also included assorted other computer glitches I don't even want to get into.
One of my co-workers said she felt like crying. Me, I had to fire up the ol' cocktail shaker
at the end of the week. Simple, yet effective.
We shall steel ourselves for the week to come.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The first couple weeks of Jan is always a good source of blog material. Nothing ever compares to the Jan when Medicare D was launched. I will forever remember that insurance nightmare.
January sucks. Each and every year.
Very funny and accurate reflection of how things really are behind the counter! So frustrating to see and experience how pharmacy retail practice has worsened over the years since I graduated.
Post a Comment