One step closer to the end

[Dr Wario]

Just had the annual RLC meeting for CVS, aside from being fairly boring and uninspired, the major announcement was that soon rphs will be verifying pictures of the drugs taken by production, who will also be bagging the scripts. The spokeswoman stated that this was to increase efficiency...what do you all think is their actual motivation to make this change?

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[zelman]

It is a superior system for accountability if those images are saved.

It also creates the opportunity for work to be distributed to remote locations. Either slower stores can verify some Rx’s for busier stores, or they can work towards getting pharmacists licensed in multiple states so that as each timezone hits peak hours, other time zones can help.

 

[Marzapan]

Just had the annual RLC meeting for CVS, aside from being fairly boring and uninspired, the major announcement was that soon rphs will be verifying pictures of the drugs taken by production, who will also be bagging the scripts. The spokeswoman stated that this was to increase efficiency...what do you all think is their actual motivation to make this change?

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This is what you do as a mail order pharmacist... verify pictures of drugs... obviously this is the step before the shift to 100% remote order verification, where you'd be able to fire all but 10% of the remaining retail pharmacists who haven't been fired due to age/pay/speed already... only probably the hardest working, lowest paid yes-men types will be left standing...

 

[OIN23]

This is what you do as a mail order pharmacist... verify pictures of drugs... obviously this is the step before the shift to 100% remote order verification, where you'd be able to fire all but 10% of the remaining retail pharmacists who haven't been fired due to age/pay/speed already... only probably the hardest working, lowest paid yes-men types will be left standing...

So you are saying there is still hope?

 

[VA77]

I wonder what the time limit is to counsel a patient? When a patient is in store and the pharmacist is there, I would usually say <15 min but when you do a video kiosk or calling from home such as with mail order I wonder what time frame you are required to legally. What I'm tying to get to is what is stopping mail-order or chain to say they took the legal steps to set up a kiosk or toll free number but the patient is left on hold and just hangs up. This strategy is already working for rx transfers because it can sometimes take a day or more to get it. I don't know if there is a time frame on the right to counsel and I guarantee this idea is already being floated or possibly in practice. I'm sure the state BoP will see this as a labor issue and not a safety one.

 

[steveysmith54]

Just had the annual RLC meeting for CVS, aside from being fairly boring and uninspired, the major announcement was that soon rphs will be verifying pictures of the drugs taken by production, who will also be bagging the scripts. The spokeswoman stated that this was to increase efficiency...what do you all think is their actual motivation to make this change?

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I heard Walgreens has been trying this in their "pilot" stores as an effort to get RPh from behind the counter.. hahah yeah right

 

[johnpharm01]

Just had the annual RLC meeting for CVS, aside from being fairly boring and uninspired, the major announcement was that soon rphs will be verifying pictures of the drugs taken by production, who will also be bagging the scripts. The spokeswoman stated that this was to increase efficiency...what do you all think is their actual motivation to make this change?

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Well, the motivation is always a more potential profit for the company and bigger bonuses for those involved in creating and implementing the idea.

If you haven't ever worked as a pharmacist supporting a remote outlet (tech only pharmacy) this is how they work. Every step is recorded, the rph never handles the meds personally. I have always wondered how the liability lands with this. Say you verify one set of tablets, but the tech puts another in the bottle.

One thing is for sure, it takes better tech to do this. Your average one will struggle.

 

[mentos]

I heard Walgreens has been trying this in their "pilot" stores as an effort to get RPh from behind the counter.. hahah yeah right

LoL we've been hearing that for almost a decade now.

 

[BobbyV]

Just had the annual RLC meeting for CVS, aside from being fairly boring and uninspired, the major announcement was that soon rphs will be verifying pictures of the drugs taken by production, who will also be bagging the scripts. The spokeswoman stated that this was to increase efficiency...what do you all think is their actual motivation to make this change?

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Did they give a time frame for when this would go live?

 

[BenJammin]

I wonder what the time limit is to counsel a patient? When a patient is in store and the pharmacist is there, I would usually say <15 min but when you do a video kiosk or calling from home such as with mail order I wonder what time frame you are required to legally. What I'm tying to get to is what is stopping mail-order or chain to say they took the legal steps to set up a kiosk or toll free number but the patient is left on hold and just hangs up. This strategy is already working for rx transfers because it can sometimes take a day or more to get it. I don't know if there is a time frame on the right to counsel and I guarantee this idea is already being floated or possibly in practice. I'm sure the state BoP will see this as a labor issue and not a safety one.

There is no time limit. If you are counseling a patient, a duty under state law, then you're required to fulfill the duty as expected. Doesn't matter if you can do it in 60 seconds or 60 minutes, if you don't fulfill the duty then you've failed to counsel the patient.

 

[firework]

There is no time limit. If you are counseling a patient, a duty under state law, then you're required to fulfill the duty as expected. Doesn't matter if you can do it in 60 seconds or 60 minutes, if you don't fulfill the duty then you've failed to counsel the patient.

His point is, if you let patient wait X number of hours for you to fulfill your duty, you failed your duty.

 

[Pronounce Doxazosin]

It is a superior system for accountability if those images are saved.

It also creates the opportunity for work to be distributed to remote locations. Either slower stores can verify some Rx’s for busier stores, or they can work towards getting pharmacists licensed in multiple states so that as each timezone hits peak hours, other time zones can help.

While this is a nice concept, what will eventually happen is that 1-2 pharmacista will become responsible for verification at multiple low/medium volume stores.

This idea/plan is also contingent on your state regulations allowing pharmacies to operate without a pharmacist physically being present. I don’t know how many states allow this now, but I’m sure CVS/WAG will be pressuring states to change regulations

 

[footfairy]

This failed pretty hard at Walgreens when they piloted the program in the early 2010s. Granted their set up was "to bring the pharmacist to the (fore)front of the pharmacy and increase patient access!" so instead of a remote RPH verifying items uninterrupted, it was a RPH near the in/out window trying to review while being endlessly badgered by customers.

I was an intern back then and I never got a straight answer in what happens when the RPH correctly verifies the drug and then the tech bags it incorrectly.

 

[VA77]

His point is, if you let patient wait X number of hours for you to fulfill your duty, you failed your duty.

What I'm trying to say is the bean counters know there is no money in counseling. What is to keep the mail orders of the world keep a patient on indefinite hold until they hang up. Yes, patients are required to get counseling if they request it but I think I am seeing a trend based on what patients are telling me. Idk, maybe just an anomaly where I am at.

 

[Dr Wario]

Well what happened with queue sharing? Is this still happening because I only saw it temporarily and then it disappeared completely and permanently since then and haven't heard from anyone why.

We sadly have it back, though it just makes more work because the verifying pharmacists reject everything for incorrect number of refills so they don't actually have to put their name on it.

 

[Dr Wario]

Did they give a time frame for when this would go live?

No. Another thing they did say was that they were also going back to a unified que (they were noticing pharmacists were switching between qv and qt hundreds of times per day since of course they don't have enough tech help to let them focus on pharmacist tasks). The computer will tell you the "next best action" which translates to "the computers will control your every movement".

 

[lord999]

There is no time limit. If you are counseling a patient, a duty under state law, then you're required to fulfill the duty as expected. Doesn't matter if you can do it in 60 seconds or 60 minutes, if you don't fulfill the duty then you've failed to counsel the patient.

Unless you're mail order, and then it's ok for them to go to the local chain or independent to ask them, because they care!