Have you ever wondered what takes so long from the time that your physician calls in your prescription, or the moment that you refill it over the phone, until it is actually ready?
We have all been there. You are standing in line at 3:30 in the afternoon. There are different lines to which you are directed. You might be dropping off a paper prescription, or inquiring about your insurance coverage. Perhaps you are standing in line behind other people. Or you are sitting, near a $1.00 coin operated massage chair, or a weighing and blood pressure unit that is usually occupied by small children who have been left unattended. From the pickup line, you see a car pulling up. Twenty minutes later, that car is still there. There is conversation through a muffled microphone and the slamming of metal doors. Finally, the customer drives away, and the pharmacist is busy filling yet another bottle of medication, seemingly clueless to all the chaos around her.
What happens at the pharmacy, and how can you make the picking up and dropping off medications a little easier?
Plan Your Prescriptions
Some people are good planners. They know exactly what their pharmacist needs to fulfill their prescriptions. There is never a lapse in their insurance coverage, nor do they attempt to fill prescriptions before the insurance companies approve the purchase. Normally these consumers have ongoing conditions that are treated with the same medications month after month, so they get used to the process, and really make life easier for the rest of the customers standing in line.
It is usually the unprepared consumer who has a prescription in hand (that she later requests the generic form for) and who has no proper verification of her insurance plan on file. Sometimes she also expects the pharmacy to contact her prior retail pharmacist to transfer her medication, hopefully to save a few dollars or a trip across town.
What You Need to Know About Filling Prescriptions
With proper planning, refilling or placing a prescription order does not have to be such a hassle. Here’s what you can do to treat the common refilling headache, while you are standing in line waiting for your next cure.
• Have realistic expectations. Do not expect the pharmacist to contact your physician to request a refill, and have it refilled within a few minutes. Your doctor has to approve any medication refills. Usually, that takes some time because he is busy with other patients. If you know you need to refill your drugs, contact your physician’s office early in the day, and follow up with the pharmacist to ensure receipt of the refill, before you head over to pick it up. Sometimes things get lost in transmission and your prescription request may have never been received.
• Know the prices of your medications. When you drop off your prescriptions find out the cost that you will be paying at pick up. You will know then what you can afford and what portion will be paid by your insurance carrier, if any.
• Don’t drive through for pain reliever. It happens. We all get lazy or have infants that are sleeping in the car. While there is an aspect of convenience to the drive-up pharmacy window, there is no reason to abuse it by making over the counter medication requests. Unless you are disabled or have some sort of medical condition that might prohibit you from physically going into the store, save the drive-up window for the customers who are picking up their refills and requests.
Above all, understand the long hours, customer complaints, doctor’s orders, and medical insurance “headaches” that your pharmacist deals with every day. While pharmacists certainly have a lucrative career, they spend tedious hours administering thousands of drugs and pills to their consumers every week. Their accuracy rate and attention to detail is crucial to the health and safety of the public.
If you are ready to make life and the process of ordering and fulfilling prescription requests a little easier, you might consider online pharmacies. Not only can you shop, place, and refill doctor order prescriptions online, you can have your prescriptions sent right to your door, at a convenient time, so that you can save all that waiting for the doctor’s office instead. There is always something to be said for better planning.
Image Sources: epSos .de and Mike Mozart
