Legitimate patients say they are living with pain after pharmacies turn them away
Legitmate patients say they are living with pain after pharmacies turn them away.. from the headline on website
Would someone please explain to me how someone can develop a relationship with a Pharmacist by having your prescriptions filled in a large mail order facility thousands of miles away.. I doubt, if you tried, you would not even be able to get one of those mail order Pharmacists on the phone… let alone develop a “relationship”…
The accident took place decades ago, yet the pain is constant.
Maria Phipps said she lives in agony and only hydrocodone will take the edge off. Her doctor prescribed it but six pharmacies turned her away.
Eric Meyers said his wife, who is disabled and lives with chronic back pain, faces the same uphill battle when it comes to getting her schedule II medicines filled.
The Meyers have traveled to every local and chain pharmacy within 25 miles of their Brandon home. Most have turned them away without explanation.
Dan Fucarino the owner of Carrollwood Pharmacy supports the DEA’s crack down on pill mills in Florida but said the fight to reduce overdose deaths led to tighter controls at national drug distribution centers.
According to the Florida Pharmaceutical Association Pharmacists across Florida are turning away patients legitimate or not over supply issues.
So what can you do to improve your chances of getting your prescription filled?
1. Establish a relationship with your local pharmacy before you need medicine.
2. Don’t call ahead as it appears you are pharmacy shopping.
3. Utilize a mail order service, perhaps one through your insurance.
Congressman Gus Bilirakis supported the shuttering of Florida’s pill mills. Oxycodone deaths are down 86 percent. Now he’s worried about those who can’t get their medicine.
Bilirakis is pushing legislation introduced in January. It would establish a safe pharmacy access program, which prevents high-risk patients from abusing controlled substances but allows them to get their medicines.
The DEA told us it has never limited the quantity of drugs a pharmacy may purchase from a wholesaler but the agency confirmed in an email that it “establishes quotas to drug manufacturers to provide for the legitimate medical needs of the citizens of the United States.”
Filed under: General Problems
That’s the point exactly. With the Monitoring System in place and all the fly by night pain management doctors GONE we should not have any trouble getting the medication we need. Hell, even many doctors who were on the up and up have quit the field of pain management. The remaining doctors are so over cautious that many chronic pain patients are being under treated for pain.
The PMP (Prescription Monitoring Prgm) is a JOKE.. the laws state that a Pharmacist is to get a VALID Fed/State ID from the pt.. the law was written when there was virtually no inexpensive technology to make fake ID’s as there is today. The pharmacy computer system sends the Rx data to the PMP transparently to the Rx dept staff… but..to get a report back… someone has to login into the PMP website and MANUALLY type in all the specific data points to request a report.. then you get to wait for a notification on the PMP website .. that the report is ready ..and then you have to review it.. When the typical Rx dept is doing 500 Rxs a day and at least 20% are controls.. and there is only one Pharmacist on duty… which you get to work a 12 hr without any scheduled restroom/meal breaks meaning that you need to verify a Rx every 1.5 minutes and included in that time.. answer any questions from pts, techs, doc office on phone, double count and keep perpetual inventory on all C-II’s and if you spent 5 minutes dealing with each PMP report.. at 5 minutes each.. that is only 8 hrs of your 12 hr day.. Just like a day at the beach 🙂
Legislator is pushing for a Safe Access Program to help ensure legit ‘high risk patients’ get their medicine but do not abuse them. Pardon me but wasn’t that what the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs were supposed to do? Am I missing something here?