More “be well” at Walgreens in Florida ?

17 Responses

1. 

   boilerrph87, on December 9, 2014 at 1:01 pm said:

   Marci….Yes I DO know that codiene is sold OTC in England…I’m probably one of the few pharmacists in the country that know that because a classmate of mine is married to an Englishman also and she worked with my mom in the chemistry dept at university where we live. When she went to visit his family, she used to talk about buying and bringing back several bottles of it to for her headaches. HaHa, reminds me, my hubbys cousin is married to an Englishman, maybe I should ask them to bring me back some when next they go over (wink, wink. nudge nudge, say no more) Oh and one more thing….one day early is going to be a problem?…just getting there takes thats that long anyway if you count getting thru both airports, flight time and customs on the other side right???( I’ve never been overseas so pardon if I’m wrong on the time it takes.) Soooo when would you have time to sell that extra day of pills???? (insert sarcasm here)

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2. 

   Peon, on December 9, 2014 at 1:28 am said:

   This is a very slippery slope on which pharmacy is heading. The pharmacists that refuse to fill prescriptions with the ridiculous reasons that are being given is an open invitation for a lawsuit. And, what chain is going to back up a pharmacist that refuses to fill a prescription because “they don’t feel comfortable filling it”. How stupid can these pharmacists get? They must have a valid reason. All this stupid mess is going to come back and bite them. We are not POLICE, and our job is not to police narcotics. Our job is to fill valid prescriptions. It is the job of the DEA to put the pill mills out of business.

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     industry, on December 27, 2014 at 6:11 pm said:

     peon,
     I think your post contains an answer for our refusal to fill issues and I have been posting it on this site for weeks. Anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason, however they must be aware of the possibility of a counter suit if the suit does not have any valid arguments which could make the suit a frivolous action. If you have a valid and legitimate prescription and a pharmacist refuse to fill seek out the advice of an attorney. It is my opinion that it could be malpractice for a pharmacist to refuse to fill a legitimate RX or in any way deliberately or negligently cause a patient suffer damage by violating a statute. I think a few lawsuits would probably either cause new legislation to
     be introduced or result in pharmacists actually being afraid to refuse to fill a legitimate rx. Maybe several of us could agree to help provide the financial support to a few really good cases of refusals.

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       rk, on December 27, 2014 at 8:58 pm said:

       Good luck finding a lawyernif you by some miracle come across one willing to sue please let me know as ive contacted about 30 of them since all this bs started over 2years ago and cost me a well payong government job, to being evicted, hungry,losing everything,to now being on disability forced to a state that makes me worse,no qualoty of life,and broker then ever in my life as i cant afford to live on 1200 a month disability and in too much pain to work dr wont increase meds as he says 50 mg of hydrocodone a day os very high.even though ive been on it for almost 2 years ajd havr obviously built a tolerance.

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         industry, on December 27, 2014 at 9:02 pm said:

         You could try Mr. Robert Nutter in Tampa, Florida he is one of the best attorneys around and he is also a registered pharmacist. Thanks

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3. 

   Txpharmguy, on December 9, 2014 at 12:42 am said:

   Without revealing the policy, checking the profile and state PDMP is part of the process on certain medications. Also, proximity of Pharmacy, to MD office, to pt home address is something that is also taken into consideration by the verifying pharma0

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4. 

   boilerrph87, on December 9, 2014 at 12:06 am said:

   Anonymous…insurance companies will allow refills when 75% of the prescription is considered ‘done’ so 5-7 days til the next fill. It’s the pharmacy that decides that it will only fill 2 days prior to the next fill on controlled substances…an arbitrary decision by their corporate, so I have figured out. I had WAGS once tell me my son’s Adderall wasn’t due until 3 days AFTER his last fill date…I said ” No thanks, being a pharmacist, I know you’re lying to me, I’m taking it elsewhere ” She just stared at me, dumbfounded. Havent had anything filled there since. I only went to fill it there because it was the only other 24 hr store beside CVS which I wont shop. I took it to Kroger’s and waited (it was already 2 days to his due date anyway), The 2 day issue is a problem if we have a bad winter. Where I live the 2 day policy seems standard around here but only on controls, everything else seems filled as soon as the insurance pays I’ve noticed

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5. 

   rk, on December 8, 2014 at 11:55 pm said:

   Where did it say anything about early refills??the article said he was trying to get his prescription filled.

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6. 

   boilerrph87, on December 8, 2014 at 9:40 pm said:

   I remember seeing many comments that independents refused to take their insurance and jacked the prices up cash wise if they filled their pain meds to where the patient has to choose between medication and bills/food for the month and there are also problems with CVS refusing their scripts. I’d like to hear if anyone has had problems with other alternatives with WalMart, Meijer (if there is a presence in FL or other states) or any of the grocery chains (Winn Dixie, Kroger etc…) and if so what reasons those places have to refuse to fill these scripts. I would think they would want the business. IMHO, It’s almost like everyone in the state is in collusion to refuse and herd everyone to WAGS who then does a mass refusal of scripts so no one gets anything. WRONG WRONG WRONG The independents price gouging on the cash pricing is wrong on so many levels, has anyone been successful on getting them reported for price gouging or insurance contract violations?

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     rk, on December 8, 2014 at 11:57 pm said:

     Yess ALL OF THEM IN lee county florida , the same as they all say, we dont have it, we arent comfortable, i dont carry that ,etc

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       marci, on December 9, 2014 at 1:01 am said:

       I live in Lee County. Wags refused to fill vacation scripts for me one day early so I could leave the country (script stamped ‘may fill early’) and I had already called the insurance company to get prior ok and they were waiting for pharmacy to call and ok it. He outright REFUSED to call as he ‘was not comfortable’ and didn’t believe I was going to be (his words) where I said I was going and demanded my flight information as ‘people like me’ (pain patients) apparently don’t go to England (my husband is English…). This is blatant discrimination. I had been a customer there for over a decade without a blip – no early fills, years of records he could have looked at but didn’t. He had just been hired as as a new pharmacy manager and decided to hassle me instead. End result: I took my clinic’s advice and interviewed other pharmacists in the area and moved ALL of my scripts. No more issues since. Reported him and WAGS thanks to Steve as well.

       You can not convince me that he was following any guideline intended to ‘help me’. Not calling my insurance company and using his so called ‘professional judgement’ not to fill my scripts, when I’m prescribed monthly meds which are FDA approved for a disease I’ve had for 20 years is not helpful. The stress he caused raised my BP which triggered a serious pain flare and swelling/spasm which with CRPS is serious. He kicked a fuss because I needed a courtesy of a ONE day early fill – just to pick it up one day early!! I gave them the scripts with plenty of advance days to work on it but said I did not need to pick it up until the day before I left as I completely understood the guidelines, (as I had already spoken with the insurance company). I was then told that my meds have a high street value in the UK and I could be selling them!! What other type of patient is accused of selling their meds instead of taking them? It’s insulting! I told him that codeine is sold over the counter in England, which he did not know and he did not believe. In the end, he told me my script would be ready the day AFTER my flight left and not a day prior, and still never once called my insurance provider. So much for 14 years of being a loyal WAGS customer. They will never see another penny from my family.

       I had never had any issues with WAGS prior to this idiot starting there. If they want to stop dispensing pain medication then they should just say so and not lie or insult legitimate patients. There should be pharmacies specifically for patients with these needs and to accommodate them respectfully. This is ridiculous.

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7. 

   rob, on December 8, 2014 at 8:13 pm said:

   They did the same thing with me over my valium prescription this month. I had to go to cvs who sells the crap generics. Walgreens on Econ and Underhill is a nazi pharmacy.

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     Pharmaciststeve, on December 8, 2014 at 8:31 pm said:

     I continue to be confused why people keep going back to these pharmacies or giving them any money at all… If some business told me that they didn’t want to sell me something in their store – for whatever reason – They are dead to me… I don’t/won’t BEG anyone to take my money and sell me something..

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       rk, on December 8, 2014 at 11:54 pm said:

       I agree and which is why i javent shopped at any walgreens or cvs in 2 years and continue to ask friends and fanily to ban them as well every chance i get, only 9 other??they should be tols that there are THOUSANDS that this is happening to. Everyone NEEDS to start writing to all news stations and newspapers tv shows etc about this discrimination. It happens at all pharmacies too not just chains, i know cuz i used to live in lee cty florida and before i moved i had to go to 7 to 9 every month and called others.

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8. 

   boilerrph87, on December 8, 2014 at 8:02 pm said:

   That seemed more of a puff piece than an investigative piece…and Wags BS continues

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9. 

   Anonymous, on December 8, 2014 at 7:26 pm said:

   Steve. I know you think that pharmacies are making these decisions on their own, but insurance companies are also not allowing early fills as they figured out that if patients fill even 3 days early the patient gets 33 days worth of medicine free each year.

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     Pharmaciststeve, on December 8, 2014 at 8:24 pm said:

     As long as the insurance applies the same “early refills” days equally across all meds for all disease states.. that is fine.. if they are doing that with just controls.. then they are discriminating against a class of pts.. In fact a very large class of pts. All to many pts believe that NO means NO with an insurance company… when in reality NO means.. you need to appeal the decision. I have had to deal with a number of appeals with my wife’s med for the last 9 years with Part D.. To date.. I have NEVER lost an appeal… Only once I had to ask them if they really wanted to go a ALJ appeal hearing because the pt wasn’t going to do the appeal a Pharmacist was.. and I told them that YOU WILL LOSE… took them two days to see the light.

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