PHARMACIST STEVE

I am writing to you because I found your website and you had very good information on there, plus your email. You sound like an awesome advocate for someone like me. I have attached the email that I am sending to RiteAid leadership, so that you can see the issue.

I am writing regarding an incident I had with the Pharmacist at the RiteAid  in MD.

Last Thursday, I ordered my rx from my provider as usual and received a notice from RiteAid that it was too early to refill and would be refilled Friday 2/4. By 2pm I had not heard anything regarding my refill, so decided to head to the RiteAid and try to pick it up, since this has happened before. I had my fiancé call on the way and inquired about the status, I was told that they needed my ID and I would be good to go.

When I get there, I wait in line for 10 min for anyone to even acknowledge me, even though I was the only person in line. The pharmacist then told me that I can only get a 7 days refill, then she changed her mind and I could only get 7 pills total, even though I have been getting my refill every 15 days of 50 pills for the last 6 months that I have been on this dose. She said that my insurance is not allowing her to do more and she would lose her license if she helped me, I informed her that I have not been going through my insurance for the past year, due to them not covering my medication. The previous Pharmacists at that RiteAid  and never lost their licenses, worked with me and were able to get my medication through GoodRx, I never had any issues until last Friday when she blindsided me without any time to fix the issue, due to how late in the day this happened and because it was a C2.

I obviously became very emotional when I was informed that they were doing this and rightfully so, I had called before I got there and received none of this information, because they never bothered to reach out and/or tell me when I called, I was too late to reach out to my providers office that late in the day on a Friday. I had no choice but to take the 7 pills I was offered, otherwise risk going into physical withdrawal.

I was completely humiliated by the Pharmacist and made to feel like I was less then human, as she allowed a line to form to witness my humiliation, just because I have a chronic pain condition. I already have to deal with the stigma associated with taking a controlled medication but then I also have to deal with the judgement and bias every time I try to get it filled by the unprofessional Pharmacist that works there. I work a full time job and live a very full life and am able to do this because of the medication I am on to control my issues associated with my TBI, I am not some junkie trying to get one over on someone. I have been getting my medications filled at RiteAid because prior to this new pharmacist taking over, I was always treated with dignity and respect. As I was leaving the store, a sales associate saw me crying and pulled me to the side to find out what was wrong. She listened intently and asked me to write my information and story for the store manager because this is a new pharmacist and she indicated that she has been a problem for lots of people since starting. As of right now, I have not received a call from the manager.

As an American with a chronic pain condition, my rights are protected by the ADA, in fact I have an ADA contact with my current employer due to my issues. As such, the pharmacist violated my ADA rights by refusing to fill the RX written by my provider. The way I see it, that means RiteAid violated my ADA rights, so therefore I will have to fill out an ADA complaint against both RiteAid and the individual pharmacist that denied me the rx as written by my provider. 

As you can see from above, what this pharmacist did was in direct violation of my ADA rights. I will be filing complaints with the Maryland Board of Pharmacy, the ADA, Maryland Medical Licensing Board, and a HIPPA complaint.

If this medication was not a C2, instead being insulin or albuterol, I would have walked out of that pharmacy with my rx, no problem but because I require a controlled medication, my rights are violated. I have worked both as a Case Manager for Adults with Disabilities and currently work for a software company that makes an EHR. I am very familiar with the steps to log a complaint against a company and have done it multiple times, not just for my clients but for myself. I also am very familiar with PDMP and the erx software, as it is all integrated into the software that I work with, I also know that the pharmacist could have easily looked at PDMP and seen that I have not gotten any other controls any place else, only my home pharmacy RiteAid, even after I was discharged from the ED 2/3, I did not get any other meds because I knew I would be ok with my refill coming 2/4.

I am very disappointed with my experience and still feel very humiliated, I know have to either find someplace else to fill this or I am screwed and my quality of life will deteriorate. It is because of people like this pharmacist that genuinely sick people are pushed to the streets for pain relief, thus putting them at risk of death or maiming by overdose.

My insurance provider even offers a discount program similar to GoodRx, which shows they know that this sort of thing can happen and they have established something to help people like me. I have taken the liberty of supplying a link, as well as the screenshot of my medications price.

I would really like to continue my relationship with RiteAid but at this time, I do not see a path forward. I am hoping that this note brings some light to the villainization around people that need controlled substances, as the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that we are suffering. 

---

  In reading your email… I was waiting to see two words or phrases … “new Pharmacist” & “female pharmacist”..and  your email did not disappoint me…  over my career the vast majority of female pharmacists I worked with, are typically… single, divorced with kid(s), or married to a loser…  they are the BREAD WINNER…

I have taken the liberty of forwarding your email to a person I  know that is at the “big shot level” at Rite Aid Corporate.  She is not a pharmacist but her Father was.   That being said…  You can file the complaints that you listed… but.. I doubt if anyone will respond and/or dismiss it without any action and/or claim that they don’t have the resources to deal with it.  Given it was late on Fri… IMO… this Pharmacist’s decision was INTENTIONALLY going to throw you into cold turkey withdrawal – since you appear to take 3-4 doses a day.  If you file complaints you might also want to file one with the medical licensing board… since one of the basics of the practice of medicine is the starting, changing, stopping a pt’s therapy…  So, it could be viewed that she was practicing medicine without a license.  A pharmacist – per federal law – can provide the balance of a C-II that was “short filled” – normally because of lack of inventory within 72 hrs… so by the close of business today – you will have forfeited the balance of that Rx.  I suspect that your fiance talked to a pharmacy tech…  it is quite normal for a tech to pull the e-Rx and process it and print the label…  the pharmacist had not seen it yet and the tech got no warnings from the pharmacy software – so the label was printed and waiting for your ID – which would have been scanned at the register when you came to pick it up.

Her perception that she will lose her license for cashing out your Rx… is because the DEA says that it is a RED FLAG for filling a controlled med for CASH – when the pt has insurance …  to the best of my knowledge, there is no ‘DEA EXCEPTION” for a pt that has insurance and they won’t pay for the controlled substance.   I suspect that this pharmacist has not been out of school long and that is what was “stuffed”  into her little brain at pharmacy school.

Rite Aid may have a policy that they will tell you “we can’t force a Pharmacist to fill a Rx”… which is correct… but.. if they are not happy with the decision making processes of a Pharmacist… they can fire them.

The easiest thing for you to do is find a independent pharmacy, where you will be dealing with a Pharmacist/Owner – who tends to be a lot less judgemental…  and more interested in taking care of pt and helping them maintaining their QOL. Take all your Rxs to them,  as you email indicated this pharmacist is a “new one”… so the independent many be getting a lot of pts moving their meds to his/her store … since she started at Rite Aid.  Here is link to find a independent pharmacy by zip code  https://ncpa.org/pharmacy-locator   I had my own independent pharmacy for 20 yrs… I have a good idea of the mindset of those who own their own stores.

please keep me in the loop on how this shakes out

---

I wanted to fill you in on the latest developments. Like you mentioned on your website, apparently a lot of patients do not take the time to fight back. The district pharmacy manager from Rite Aid called me this morning and profusely apologized for the situation. They are reaching out to my provider right now to get a new rx. He told me that corp was very impressed with my email and how I had everything written step by step what happened. The pharmacist did not do her due diligence and could not come up with a logical excuse for why she would not fill my total rx, only giving me the 7 pills. He was really stuck on the fact that she actually filled the rx but only for a few. He mentioned that if she had such an issue with the rx, she shouldn’t have filled it at all but she did. He said that she should have looked at my history and seen what had been done prior. He commended my knowledge of CRISP and PDMP, he also gave me his personal cell phone number for future use.. I still plan on moving to a new pharmacy but will fill it there this time.

Thank you very much for all your advice and help 🙂

---

I shared this pt’s email with a friend whose “adult kid”  who is some sort of “big shot” at Rite Aid corporate HQ… and this pt got a very prompt response from the office of the  General Counsel for Rite Aid.  Who apparently reached out to the Rite Aid District pharmacy manager and it appears that some actions were taken on behalf of this pt and her immediate need for pain meds were taken care of.

Filed under: General Problems