Reid: Obamacare could be “train wreck” without more money
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57582588/reid-obamacare-could-be-train-wreck-without-more-money/
From the article:
“Max said, ‘Unless we implement this properly, it’s going to be a train wreck.’ And I agree with him,” Reid said during an interview with conservative talk radio host Rusty Humphries.
Humphries clarified, “So we’re not spending enough money, and we’re not implementing it properly?”
“Yes,” replied Reid. “We have the menu but we don’t have any way to get to the menu.”
“I wish we had some money to do this on its own,” said Reid, “But [the president determined] he’s going to take money from some other things that he feels are less important in the health care bill and put it on letting you and others know what’s in the bill, and what they can do to either accept parts that would be helpful to them or not.”
I read in another article that Obamacare is going to provide the “best healthcare” for the least amount of money… that is a very scary thought.
For pharmacy, this could unfold in several different ways.. or combination of all possibilities.
1. the chain pharmacies pull back hours of most of their Rx depts – and create a “hub store” that would run 24/7 and the satellite stores would operate 50-60 hrs week.. Pharmacists who work on salary may find themselves basically running a “one man store” .. while kept at the same salary that they now get, or RPH’s are reduced to less than 32 hrs so that the employer doesn’t have to provide health insurance and their salaries and/or hourly rates will drop as much as 1/3 of what is now the industry average.
2. More states will increase RPH to tech ratios… follow the lead of KY.. where there is NO RATIO LIMITS.
3. The shortage of PCP’s will get the chains to go after prescriptive authority for RPH’s and this could boost profits in the Rx dept.. just like vaccinations have. Could we see … Dxing on demand.. just like everything else we do? Maybe we could Dx at the drive thru window… “just keeping them moving”
4. Imagine WAGS new “RPH out front” being a prototype for when – not if – we get prescriptive authority.. The RPH’s would be less “out front”… but.. semi-private situation… type in the order at the terminal.. and pt.. goes to the Rx dept to retrieve their medication… the filling/processing of the Rx medication will all be done via computer confirmation and/or computer robot. Dxing, MTM, counseling done by the RPH… as part of the interaction.. if the RPH will not be doing initial Dxing of chronic disease… will refer the pt to the “nurse-in-a-box” in the store for at least Dxing chronic conditions.. prescribing and/or follow up could be handled by either.
Regardless, that sucking sound that is fairly faint right now.. is money being taken out of your pocket… either as lower salaries/hourly rate… and/or increase in out of pocket health care/insurance costs.
Filed under: General Problems
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