Somehow, it's ALWAYS my Fault

A lady appears at the counter. She's here to pick up her "Steroid Box" that the doctor called in for her. I assume she means a Medrol Dose Pack. I look on the shelf. Nothing. I look on the computer. Nothing. I sigh. This is never easy. I tell her that we don't have anything for her.

"No, my doctor said he'd call in a Steroid Box yesterday. Did you look under my name?"

No, why would I do that? Duh, I was looking up Minnie Mouse and Queen Elizabeth.

"I don't have anything here for you. Maybe the doctor called one of our competitors?" We have two pharmacies within walking distance.

"No, the doctor CALLED IT IN HERE." 

My tech repeats what I said and the lady leaves. I think I saw a trail of smoke blowing away from her ears.

One hour later her doctor's office called. It's one of the office staff. She tells me how she called in a Medrol Dose Pack yesterday and is perturbed we didn't fill it. I politely tell her that we don't have a prescription for the patient and I politely ask if maybe she called a competitor.

"No, I CALLED IT IN THERE." I think I saw smoke coming out of the phone.

So she gives me the script again over the phone. I type it in and send it off for adjudication. I get an instant reject... too soon, just filled yesterday. I look at our company-wide database. It wasn't filled at one of our locations. We have another location within a few miles and doctors constantly get us mixed up. But this lady's Steroid Box was not to be found in our system.

This means the office called a pharmacy, but not my pharmacy. That pharmacy filled it (that's how they make money, and oddly enough, we do too) and when I try to run the claim, it gets rejected. I call the insurance and explain the situation, but the lady with the Indian/British accent won't tell me where it was filled. That's their policy and screw you, have a nice day.

Hours pass and 150 prescriptions later the patient's son comes in to get the Steroid Box. I explain the situation to him. He smiles and he leaves. Fifteen minutes after that the doctor on call phones in to give me a verbal script over the phone... yep, you guessed it, a Steroid Box for my smokey lady. 

One more time I explain the situation. The doc is upset because I can't tell him where his own office called in the prescription. More smoke comes out of my phone. I tell him it is likely one of the two competitors close by. I even offer to give him the phone numbers. He thanks me but I can tell he still thinks it's somehow my fault.