Monday, January 27, 2014

Stop the Madness!

Please ask your pharmacist if manufacturer coupons are right for you. Because they're a real pain in the ass and we're going to tell you NO.

FreshKote is an eye lubricant that is now available OTC. So Focus Laboratories says, hey, let's issue a coupon so that people can get the medication half off! But instead of a bar code to scan at the register, we'll just put in billing information with a BIN, group, and ID number so that the pharmacist has no way of getting reimbursed unless they have a prescription!

That's what happened with Mr. Dryeye a few days before the end of 2013. He raced in with this Manufacturer Coupon which allows him to save a whopping 50% off a bottle of the product and tells me, "One bottle, please."

I looked at the coupon. It has billing information like usual for a prescription, so I ask him for the prescription. He says his doctor refused to write one because it is over the counter now. (Why would a doctor refuse that? Maybe what Mr. Dryeye isn't telling me is that HE refuses to go back and see the doctor... you know, with those pesky office co-pays and all).

So then I look at the fine print so I can show Mr. Dryeye that he needs a prescription. And what does it say:

To Pharmacist: Submit a PRIMARY claim to PDM using BIN: 610020. This card is valid for prescription and over the counter use.

Nice, Focus Labs... tell the patient they can use this for the product when we can't use it.

Mr. Dryeye is now panicking because it's almost the end of the year and unless he gets his 50% off he's going to have to pay $17 more for a bottle of eye lube. Cry Havoc! Let slip the Dogs of War! Mr. Dryeye immediately dials up the 800 number on the coupon and starts in on whoever answered the phone, right there, at the register, in the middle of the store. He's not yelling but he's pretty loud and I know within moments he's going to try and hand me his cell phone.

Whoever he's talking to doesn't understand why there is a problem. Maybe at other pharmacies you can just enter BIN, group, and ID information at the register and get 50% off, but not at Goofmart or any pharmacy that I know of in the tri-state area.

He says, "I have the pharmacist right here... Sleazy. You want to talk to him? Ok?"

I HATE WHEN PEOPLE DO THAT!

He hands me the phone and I immediately change it to speaker phone mode. HIPAA be damned! I tell the lady that I have no way to bill it because I don't have a prescription and I can't run it as a prescription without a prescription and if pigs could fly we'd have flying bacon sandwiches.

I hand the bacteria-laden phone back to Mr. Dryeye. I've become Howard Hughes but at least I don't spend the Christmas holidays whining about having a cold like some bloggers. Mr. Dryeye walks off still talking to the lady and the tech and I go back to work to try and make up for the lost time for this little misadventure.

Ten minutes later, Mr. Dryeye walks by the pharmacy and I hear him say, "Let me talk to your supervisor!" in a loud tone.

Twenty minutes later Mr. Dryeye walks by the pharmacy in the other direction. I can hear he's STILL talking to Focus Labs about this manufacturer coupon crap.

Thirty minutes later he's back at the register. "Well," he says, "They're going to extend the expiration date until the end of March and I'm going to have to get a prescription. Please order it for me."

I nod yes and click the order button on the computer.

I tell you, if $17 ever, ever becomes that important to me, please euthanize me. Please.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Customer comes in Sunday & says " I have a project for you ". Shows me a cell phone text of the bin, pen,I'd & grip #'s in a text box. I have a deductible I will never meet. So I re- bill searching the info she has. There are 17 pages, who is the coupon supplied by ? I don't know, here's a # you can call. As I try a couple of the options, I convince her to call. Required info got ton, I save her $30 on the drug. At pos she says to me, is this good for all future fills or do I need to get another coupon for next time ? Go home and look at the actual web site & then answer that question. Love my customers !

Anonymous said...

Customer comes in Sunday & says " I have a project for you ". Shows me a cell phone text of the bin, pen,I'd & grip #'s in a text box. I have a deductible I will never meet. So I re- bill searching the info she has. There are 17 pages, who is the coupon supplied by ? I don't know, here's a # you can call. As I try a couple of the options, I convince her to call. Required info got ton, I save her $30 on the drug. At pos she says to me, is this good for all future fills or do I need to get another coupon for next time ? Go home and look at the actual web site & then answer that question. Love my customers !

Anonymous said...

You'll never see them again. They'll pull that crap in every pharmacy within a 20 mile radius until someone does it just to make him go away.

Jono said...

$17 is more than I make in an hour, but I'm with you. Just give me the big green needle.

was1 said...

had a customer going to some scandanavian country to visit relatives for a month. wanted an extra refill on his blood pressure med "just in case". he spent 90 minutes on the phone, clogging up my counter trying to get his insurance to pay for the med. they refused. i asked him... how much were your plane tickets? $3000 X 2. how much do you think you'll spend while you're over there? probably at least $100 a day. then what the hell is the problem in spending $15 for to pay cash for a refill instead of paying a $5 copay? blank stare.... gotta love it.