From the article:
CVS received a subpoena from federal investigators requesting information concerning its automatic refill programs.
In a statement, CVS said its “ReadyFill is a free, opt-in service that helps people stay on their maintenance medications as prescribed in order to reduce the risk of deteriorating health and avoid more costly health care treatment. Only prescriptions that are intended to treat chronic disease and have refills remaining are eligible for ReadyFill. Once enrolled in this program, patients can stop the service for any of their medications at any time. We have strict procedures and processes in place to ensure that we are only paid by insurers for those prescriptions that are picked up by our patients.”
Walgreens said “auto-refills are a convenient service that has proven instrumental in helping patients achieve greater medication adherence and better overall health.”
“These are opt-in services only, and patient consent is required for enrollment in any of our auto-refill programs,” wrote Walgreens spokesperson Markeisha Marhsall in an email to NBC 5 Investigates.
Walgreens said patients are only charged for prescriptions when they are picked up at the pharmacy. The company said in the event an insurer is billed for a prescription that a patient fails to pick up, the claim will be reversed (and the insurer reimbursed) once the prescription is returned to stock.
Eisenberg said he received a refund from his pharmacy and requested that he be taken off an automatic refill list.
Rumor on the street…. there is a CVS employee that has a HAND WRITTEN memo/note reportedly from a DM.. instructing employees to sign up everyone they can to the auto-fill process… and only take them off – if they complain – but I paraphrase..
Eleventh commandment : Nothing is illegal unless you get caught – don’t get caught !
Filed under: General Problems
The companies are calling them “targets”. But performance and bonuses are tied to the percent of pts signed up to auto/ready/easy fill or whatever it is called. Another “metric” masquerading as patient care.
Rite Aid is the same. Rite Aid pharmacists have a quota to meet that is only attainable by pushing people into it. It’s fraud, it’s dangerous. These little old people will pick up anything filled even if they’ve been told to quit taking it. The number of mistakes it DIRECTLY causes is staggering. It’s so obviously fraud though that I can’t believe it’s been allowed to continue this long. Uncle Sam doesn’t take kindly to having money stolen from him.