One of the more difficult things to achieve when working in a pharmacy is to remove doubt from a patient's mind. People are skeptical by nature to begin with, but it seems to be even more with anything that involves doctors and pharmacies.
How are they skeptical?
Let me count the ways.
This could take a while.
For one, they doubt that generic is as good as the brand name. This seems to be especially true of those on pain management (I need brand name Vicodin/Percocet/Demerol/Ultram) and those who come from the dentist with an antibiotic (but the dentist specifically said NO generic Amoxil!). We can preach to most of them the virtues of generics and win them over, but there's always one or two that just don't care.
They usually get whittled down when we run the claim to the insurance and it comes back with an excruciating high price (gotta love the old copay plus the difference in cost idea that insurances like to use), but isn't even foolproof. No, someone always invariably wants to pay or has such amazing insurance (they pay out their ass for their coverage) that it's covered.
This is particularly annoying when it's only one person who gets the brand name that hasn't been used in 3 years to begin with and we now have to keep it in stock so they can get their precious brand name every month. Then the real kick in the pants is when they get switched a week after you've opened a fresh bottle for them, thus rendering it impossible to send the crap back.
I'll admit, there are instances when they have legitimate issues with the generic. Sometimes people are allergic to one of the fillers. It happens. But those of you still stuck on "the brand name is holier than generic" bullshit, get a grip. It's not. Hell, a lot of times the generic is made by the same company that makes the brand version. How wild is that?
Open up a bottle of Adderall XR. Now open up a generic. One of the manufacturers uses the brand name in its bottle.
Try explaining that one to the masses. It's generic, yet it's brand. Understand? Good.
Another issue we receive doubt on is insurances in general. We spend more time trying to explain to people that we have NO control over their copays and what's covered than we do actually filling prescriptions.
Look, I am of the belief that it shouldn't be that complicated to get whatever treatment/service you need for a legitimate medical condition. I don't think doctors and nurses should have to jump through 17 hoops just so a patient who needs Abilify gets that medication (thanks Buckeye, by the way). All the same, we shouldn't have to explain 17 times over why your insurance doesn't want to pay for this.
I want you to get better. I want you to be stable/pain free and all that crap. I really do. I am not gaining by telling you that your insurance requires prior authorization, nor do I know specifically what they want the doctor to provide. Generally it's proof that a cheaper method didn't work for you, but sometimes it's just because they don't want to pay $500 to cover Abilify.
In the end, I do not know how anyone's insurance plan is structured. I do not know what's covered, what isn't, what requires prior authorization, why it's $47 this month when it was $39 last month, or why they only cover 30 instead of 90. I generally don't. Sometimes I can guess, but there's no guarantee.
You want to know what your plan is all about? You have to call to find out. I don't have a magic button on my computer that brings up everyone's insurance information. If I did, I'd probably go crazy because I'd be spending all my time at work explaining people's plans to them.
**Intermission**
On a side note, I am tired of reading/hearing people say we can't say prior authorization to patients, that it's too complicated for them. I've been a tech for well over 10 years and have yet to have someone so completely baffled by it that it took more than a couple minutes to explain.
Seriously, it's not that hard to sit and say "this requires prior authorization, which means the doctor or nurse has to tell the insurance company why they want to use this instead of generic option A." 95% of people have gotten it over the years and the rest are such lost causes that it doesn't matter what you say to them, they don't stand a chance of understanding.
People can be stupid, but a lot of them can have things explained to them relatively easily.
**End Intermission**
In the end, the only thing that we are assured is that insurances are complicated and we have no control over what happens with them. It is frustrating trying to explain to someone why they are paying $60 for their cholesterol meds a month, but we are usually more than happy to give their doctor a call and ask to try something cheaper.
What ends up being really frustrating is there's always that one doctor who will say no, he only uses that medication, that they'll just have to suck it up and pay for it.
People doubt us when we say a drug is on backorder. This is becoming one of the more frustrating situations, especially thanks to the generic Adderall shortage that's been going on for the entire year.
I had a woman one time tell me that I just didn't want her to have her medication when I tried to tell her the manufacturer wasn't supplying it. She said that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard, that no drug company would EVER let that happen. I had to actually print out the screen on the ordering computer, then show her where it said long-term backorder, no release date available. Even then she was huffy with me, telling me to call her "whenever you bother getting it in for me."
Some people just can't believe that a drug can not be available.
But it happens. A lot in fact. More so now than in recent memory. I can remember a few years ago it was a huge surprise if something wasn't available. It's slowly becoming more commonplace as the years have gone by, almost to the point where people's common reaction is nonchalant because they've been hearing the same story all year long.
Yet there are those out there who can't understand it. They think we just don't want to give them their medication.
I can't do much about that perception and am not going to spend a lot of time explaining it to someone who just doesn't want to get it.
Some don't understand why it takes 15 minutes to fill a prescription. Well, a lot of times it doesn't take that long. More often than not, we can get someone out in less than 10 minutes. Yet sometimes, that's not fast enough.
Most in pharmacy have heard someone say "all you have to do is slap a label on a box/bottle. Why does that take so long?" Most have rolled their eyes at this question before going into the lengthy talk about having to enter it in, run it through to insurance, print the label, find the stock bottle, count out the pills (if applicable), pass it down to be verified, then finally be done with it.
Some get that it's not an instant process, but some think it is, or at least should be.
It's that old drive-thru mentality. People want it ready when they are, regardless if it's been 5 minutes or 5 hours.
In the end, doubt is a part of all professions and I guess we should be thankful it's not worse than it is.
I just wonder if the trust will ever come back like it used to be.
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