Normally a pharmacy will have some 15%-20% of all prescriptions filled are for a controlled medication. Previously, at least part of a Pharmacist’s annual bonus was based on the number of prescriptions filled along with meeting a number of other metrics.
The number of prescriptions filled per week is also used to allocate the number of technician hours that a Rx dept can have.
I had previously been told that our favorite chain/PBM had removed these control Rxs from the formula in determining the Pharmacist’s bonus.. I was later informed that this new weekly Rx count was also being used to determined technician man-hours that a Rx dept is allowed.. which basically means that the Rx dept is going to be UNDER STAFFED some 15%-20% of their volume… giving the Pharmacist(s) a reason to decline to fill prescriptions for controlled meds, provide poorer service and/or increase the probability of the Pharmacist making medication errors… trying to fill more prescriptions than technicians staffing level would provide any degree of what could be considered a safe staffing level.
TODAY.. I was make aware that RITE AID has implemented this same sort of program.. That means that those two chains represents about 20% of all the pharmacy outlets.. This does not mean that other pharmacy chains have or have not implemented the same or similar program..
In corporate America.. there is a lot of “Monkey see.. Monkey do ..” Normally, it is usually after the fact that all/many of the followers of the first monkey.. figures out that the first monkey was a idiot
Filed under: General Problems
Leave a Reply