Having some very strange problems with our local small pharmacy.
I am curious on a couple of points. Do many tumembers use online pharmacies for their primary diabetic supplies (ie their “normal” pharmacy)? Regardless, if you did how would you go about choosing the “right one” given there are many, many out there?
Insulin, strips tend to be something we cannot do without for very long
If THEY “screw it up” you have no room to maneuver. A local pharmacy because of your personal relationship sometimes offers could provide a “temporary fix”.
Anyway I wanted to get some opinions as to the basic pharmacy issue see different views and thoughts on the topic?
I’m pretty loyal to my local Walgreens - I like the security that I can pick up whatever I need at any time… whether it’s test strips, or insulin, or something else. Plus, if I travel, as long as I can find a Walgreens, I know I can still get my stuff, I don’t really have to worry about packing ‘extras’ - I just pack what I know I’ll need, and rely on my ability to go to Walgreens if something happens.
I live in a small town though, and both of the pharmacists at my Walgreens know me by name - I realize that isn’t the case for everyone and I have had a few bad experiences with Walgreens in the past.
I have tried using my insurance company’s mail order pharmacy in the past, and they can’t seem to get an order to me without messing it up somehow… changing amounts without contacting me or my doctor because they’re certain it MUST be incorrect and then shorting me. The savings ($20 over the whole year for my test strips, for example) really just isn’t enough to make it worth dealing with… not when I end up going and getting what I need locally anyways.
It may be different with using a 3rd party mail order pharmacy, but my experiences with Express Scripts, Caremark (before they joined up with CVS) and now RightSourceRx have just not been all that great.
I love my Walgreens also. However, I started using MEDCO for my drugs because it ended up saving me about 150 bucks over three months. That is not too bad. I now use an online pharmacy to get my test strips and pump supplies. I do not have to pay a co-pay, which is also nice. They barter with the insuracne company and settle for a price. No need to charge me a co-pay. I have used them once so far (new pumper), and it went great! I get two day shipping and the customer service was awesome. I emailed an order fro test strips yesterday. Ten minutes later I got a reply that they were processing, and ten minutes after that I got a notice that they were shipping. I liked that.
So, an online pharmacy works great for me for my strips and pump supplies. Medco works good for me for my other drugs and insulin. I save quite a bit of money by going through Medco. I pay 80 bucks for five vials on humalog for three months. The co-pay at Walgreens would be about 35 bucks each vial. I pay through Medco one months co-pay for three months.
Your mileage may vary on Medco because it will depend on your insurance and if they even cover them. I would get my drugs through the place that I get my pump supplies, but MEDCO will not work with them. Too bad. I could save a whole lot more.
You just have to check around. I use Focus Pharmacy for pump supplies. I like them and have had no problems. Same with Medco. I know people do have problems with them though.
On a strictly financial basis, mail order is the way to go.
As long as you order in advance, you shouldn’t ever run short. I always order a couple weeks in advance. I am very comfortable with it, although I am home to accept deliveries relatively quickly. Test trips wont do very well sitting on the stoop in the winter time, and insulin although it is packed with cold packs wont do well in the summer either.
If they screw up, I also feel I can call my Doctors office and have a script called in to the local pharmacy. Like others, I use medco as it is part of my insurance plan.
I pay a significant financial penalty (higher cost) if I use a local pharmacy. My insurance requires me to use CVS Caremark mail order for test strips, insulin, and other maintenance medications (cholesterol and blood pressure). Pump supplies are covered thru my pump supplier (Liberty). My only issue with Caremark is the way they do NOT pack insulin for temperatures encountered in shipment and delivery: they justify MINIMUM packing based on a VA study for regular insulin – not the newer rapid-acting Novolog and Humalog insulins. To date, I am concerned but apparently have not received compromised insulin.
Previous mail-order supplier was Medco. I was very pleased in every respect with their performance!
Same here, Gerry. I’m using Medco mail-order now after a lifetime of using local pharmacies b/c my new plan prefers mail-order and penalizes local. I was worried at first, but this month, three months of insulin arrived well-packed, cold, and on the date promised to my hot Texas doorstep. So I think mail-order and internet are fine. I use Edgepark mail-order for my CGMS sensors and Omnipod mails my pump supplies, so I never have to go to the pharmacy anymore. It’s weird.
Does your insurance plan have a preferred online or mail-order pharmacy to suggest to you, Stuart?
I have pretty much a “standard” insurance company, not an HMO. While I do get reimbursed, I have to pay up front and then file a claim to get my money back. I discovered Focas Express Pharmacy. While they are “mail order” you get one month at a time, shipped overnight at no extra expense, and if your insurance pays 80%, they will write off the 20% after you make your deductable. They have been great! I have had no problems, and you can even order pump supplies for MiniMed through them. Check them out, and see if they can help you.
I use a mailorder to save money on my insulin and maintance drugs. I go to the CVS to pick up my strips because there really isn’t any savings using online to fill it. I have found that you can order a month early using mailorder and that gets it to you on time but another thing is that they will rip you off in a heartbeat. I say that because I am on some Hypertension drugs and were charging me like 25 bucks for the copay. I checked some of the pharmacy sites around me and found that I could get the one drug that was on their list of low cost drugs for 9.99 for a 90 day supply. That plus some other drugs they supply you can get cheaper by shopping around. Don’t trust them to give you a fair shake because they are going to shake you down rather than shake you up and match pricing.
My insurance company is now forcing us to use a mail order pharmacy. I was extremely nervous about it. Like you stated, what it they screw it up. My first order came within just a few days. My doctor had not specified that I use the quick pens and I received vials. I had no experience with them at all and I had no syringes. I freaked out and, of course, it was on a saturday. Thank goodness I still had enough in my pen to get me through. Now, my local pharmacy would have recognized the difference or when I went to pick it up, I would have and made the change. I realize it wasn’t their fault but what an mess. I had never even used a vial and syringe before.
My second order didn’t come and didn’t come. I finally called and they told me it would go out the next day. Two days later I still didn’t have it so I called again. (By this time, they had had my insulin order for 2 weeks.) I was told that I needed to speak to a Pharmacist. He explained that they have an automatic mail opener and it sliced through my scrip and he couldn’t read it. I asked why did they just realize it after two weeks, for which I got some lame excuse. He then asked me what the scrip was for and he would fill it. I swear! I got it the next day.
Sorry, not a mail order fan.
One warning about Medco. They throw away their notes in January annually. I’m allergic to Fosamax. Major heartburn. My internist has ordered Actonel each year. My prescriptions for the year are ordered in October.
Every January Medco throws away their notes. The next time Actonel comes up for refill, Medco asks the physician’s office to order Fosamax, since it’s cheaper. The girl in the office oks Fosamax. I find my Actonel refill order changed to Foxamax. (I’m a 17 year snowbird.)
Medco this year told me to ask the physician to order it with DAW on it. (Dispense As Written). So Warning: if you have something you don’t want changed. Have it written DAW.
Medco goes for giving you the cheapest alternative.
Another warning. I let my doctor FAX the prescriptions direct one year. Medco decided I didn’t need my syringes til January. I couldn’t intervene to get the syringes’ address changed to down south from the time of the FAX. So from that time on I had the doctor write two prescriptions, one for three months that I mail in when it’s time, and one for one month that I use at the local pharmacy if something goes wrong. This week, in fact, I’m using one of the one month prescriptions to tide me over since the three month prescription will run out before my visit in October.
“Point of information” re: your emergency back-up plan (ie have the doctors call in whatever the script)
Instead of calling them to get whatever is messed-up by somebody why not get a second perscription written for ALL your supplies and drop them off at “the local pharmacy” and merely never fill it/them unless its an “emergency” situation?
That way no delay/lag at all in an already potential “emergency” situation. Just “…hey Mary need to fill that perscription I have with you but never filled…an emergency has come up, and time to fill it…”
If you’re OUT you’re out and while there are stop-gap emergency measures any of us can take to reduce the “flames” they’re temporary fixes. I can preserve my short acting last 15 units in the pen a crazy amount, but my sugars will climb doing it you know .
A couple of years ago (after losing my health insurance and my job) I was forced to use a couple of Canadian pharmacies to get Humalog. Without a Dr. or a scrip, that was my only alternative. The first one I tried had it at a reasonable price, so I pulled the trigger. It was Humalog, but the bottle and packaging was in some language that I still cannot identify - maybe Romanian or some Slavic language. Scary. I tired a couple of others, and some took over a week to arrive, and that without any attempt to keep it cool.
One thing that you might try is to check out the reputation of the pharmacy by doing a Google search. If you see gripes or rip-off claims, forget that one and try another.
In my 11 years with diabetes I have only gotten my supplies via- mail, and never had a problem with this… Most of them will work with you in anyway in emergency situations. I forget what mail order pharmacy it was at the time, but I needed something asap and they sent it same day delivery!!! which was something I didn’t even know existed… So I stand by online pharmacies. Edge Park is the one I currently use. Never had an issue with them… Good luck!
It has to be written ON the prescription - DAW underlined or Dispense As Written.
Everything was in the charts about how allergic I was. The girl responding to Medco when it requested the change did not look well enough in the charts.
Another thing I’ve done: I order insulin on Sunday night or early Monday morning online so it’s starts its Medco’s procedures of processing early in the week. Since they deliver insulin by UPS which is only weekday delivery, I get it before the next weekend. The cold packs do not keep it cold enough if left over a weekend in some warehouse. Not for me, not in Florida, anyway.
I use Medco (insurance requirement). For the most part, they have been ok, but I have had a few issues with them not sending out a prescription on time (delaying my insulin for almost 2 weeks, forgetting to contact my MD for pre-approval of my testosterone). Fortunately, they will approve emergency prescriptions at my local (not a chain) pharmacy, if I am out of something. I love my local pharmacy’s service, but Medco saves me enough money that I can’t afford to get rid of them.
