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I got this in my email today… It would seem that WAGS has gone a different direction in the auto-refill game, which may be a better way than the mess that a couple of the other chains are doing… because there is no filling/billing a pt’s Rxs before they really need them or request them.
What is interesting, I had this Rx filled near my Florida condo in Dec and was never asked me if I wanted to be “reminded”.. on the other hand… these reminders are NOT BEING SENT from the store that I normally use in Indiana.. maybe.. because the pharmacy staff at the Indiana store knows me and the staff in Florida doesn’t and is trying to be “helpful” ?
Wouldn’t it be better for the staff to communicate directly with pts? In case no one has noticed, I don’t think that a non-personal email to pts every 30-90 days when supposedly their medication should be running out is not going to do much to change their compliance… But at least this process would appear to be legal… unlike the article that David Lazarus … reporter from LA TIMES… did about the auto-refill process of CVS…
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/20/business/la-fi-lazarus-20120720
As a footnote… the email gives you the option to opt-out of these alerts !
Filed under: General Problems
Wag also uses phone calls to remind you to fill rx’s. Of course, it doesn’t tell you which one, or what member of the family… But you can choose yes or no to refill it. It’s borderline harassment. The employees at the store don’t know either. We just ask if there’s anything they need to refill. They can opt out of those phone calls…. But it unfortunately will also opt you out of phone calls that let you know when the refill is ready for pick up.
I like the way WAG is doing it. CVS, as usual, likes to brush with the law. At the Wal-Mart where I work, we discourage customers from selecting auto-refill. The auto-refill option often means we will fill meds that no one picks up and we have to return them to stock. Wal-Mart has started some dipsy program that they call ‘Wildcat’ where we are suppose to phone customers to tell them it is time to get their meds filled and would they like for us to fill them. What a wonderful idea! NO! We are busy, just about all the time. We don’t have time for all this crap. The way I perceive it…if people want their meds fill then they can phone the pharmacy to get us to fill them. Otherwise, leave the damn customers alone! And, another point, I did not go to pharmacy school to be a ‘nanny’ for every Tom, Dick, and Harry.