Curious about a Supposed Pharmacy Law

1

The brick-and-mortar pharmacy with which I have been doing business the past few years has made a few mistakes lately. A few months ago they gave me the wrong med, and twice they did not give me all the capsules for one Rx.

I became a bit irritated with the third mistake because they shorted me 30 days of a 90-day Rx. I didn’t realize the shortage when I had picked up the Rx because it was in the pharmacy’s white bag which was stapled closed. However, when I got home and opened the bag, the Rx bottle was obviously short. I went back to the pharmacy, and they had me wait an additional day to correct their error. They stated that their loss-prevention person had to verify that there was a shortage in their inventory. Although I was inconvenienced, they did apologize and corrected the Rx the next day.

As for the medication in question, it normally is supplied in a sealed 30-day manufacturer’s bottle, and that is how I used to get it from the pharmacy. Even with a 90-day Rx, the pharmacist would give me three 30-day sealed bottles and label them “1 of 3,” 2 of 3," etc. I never had a mistake when the pharmacy dispensed this Rx this way.

However, about a year ago, the pharmacy changed their dispensing method for this Rx. Now I receive a 90-day supply in a single bottled filled by my pharmacy. It is this extra counting-and-filling process by my pharmacy that has been the point of error with the capsule counts. I asked the pharmacist that in the future if she would just give me three sealed 30-day bottles like the pharmacy used to do. She told me that she could not do that because of changes in pharmacy laws.

This answer from her has me perplexed. I still receive several 90-day Rx in 30-day blister packs, and they are labeled “1 of 3,” “2 of 3,” etc., so I do not understand this supposed change in the pharmacy law. I did a search on the Internet for my state, Georgia, and I could not find any such law.

I receive all of my insulin, medications, and supplies from this pharmacy, but after this third error and being inconvenienced, I am seriously considering going the mail-order route.

The overarching question I have concerns this supposed pharmacy law. Was the pharmacist telling me the truth? Has anyone else had a similar experience with their pharmacy? What is the law?

2

I don’t know what the law is in your State, even if it varies from State to State, but I do know that I receive my medications from a RiteAid Pharmacy here in New Jersey and they are always making mistakes. I ask for a re-fill of a certain drug and they give me the wrong drug. They tell me one re-fill is “too soon” by insurance and give me a double of another? I just don’t understand how they can make these mistakes? Is no-one “policing” these pharmacies? When I point out these errors to the pharmacy they just apologize and give me the correct medication.? My husband too, who is on numerous medications because of a kidney transplant has had medications dispensed incorrectly. I guess you just have to police your pharmacy yourself?
Sheila

3

Yeah, Sheila. I hear ya. My pharmacy used to be much better, but it gets kind of scary when they start making mistakes so frequently. If I find a good online pharmacy, I think I’m just going to transfer the bulk of my Rx there. As diabetics we have enough to be concerned about than to have to deal with frequent pharmacy mistakes as well.

4

My guess is it’s more a pharmacy policy than a law. When I lived in Guatemala where you don’t need prescriptions for anything, nothing was custom counted and filled. You got pre-packaged boxes, or blister packs, etc. I actually found it frustrating to continually open all that packaging and didn’t like the idea of so much landfill. I also wondered how much more expensive things are when they are packaged like that rather than taken from large bulk containers and counted out for you. I also was continually running out of things. So I prefer the counted out thing, but I do understand that if you have an error-prone pharmacy, that is another opportunity for them to screw up. I would personally take my business elsewhere and tell them why and/or report them to whatever body governs pharmacies.

5

I have a strong hunch that the so-called law is only a policy, but I want to do my homework and have my facts straight before I challenge the pharmacist. Then again, if I do change to an online pharmacy, the argument becomes a moot.

I suppose my next question will be finding a reputable online pharmacy.

BTW, I also don’t like all of the wastage that goes along with pharmaceutical packaging, but I like my medications to be fresh and sterile, so it’s a trade off. It would be great of something useful could be done with all our used pen-needle caps and insulin cartridges.

6

I don’t know about any such law, and don’t get my prescriptions as 90 day supplies…



But I wanted to say you aren’t alone in dealing with this pharmacy. I use them for all my prescriptions. I am supposed to get 250 test strips a month…they usually give me 5 boxes of 50. One time they gave me 2 boxes of 50. I didn’t notice until I was in the car…went back in and the aide didn’t understand what I was talking about when I told her my prescription was for 250 not for just 100. Then the pharmacist came over to help out, took 5 minutes looking up my prescription, tried to figure out what happened (well, duh…they can’t count, that’s what happened). Then when they tried to fill the other 150…they were all upset because they didn’t have 3 boxes of 50 strips to give me. The pharmacist kept insisting she had to give me 3 boxes of 50 until I pointed out to her that I’d happily take a box of 100 and box of 50…I just wanted my darn test strips!



Also, another time they were apparently all out of Novolog (how do you run out of insulin?!). They gave me 2 of my 3 bottles and it took 2 days before they had the other bottle to give me.

7

Hubby pharmacist in Texas. He is not aware of any “nation wide” law. His comment is could be cost of drug and how it is ordered; can be secondary to the bottle the meds come in that sometimes he is not allowed to dispense the meds in that bottle and must transfer the meds to another bottle. Or could just be the store’s policy.
Mail order? I am limited to what my insurance covers as to who I can mail order my meds from.

8

It looks like I’m not alone when it comes to pharmacy mistakes. With the volume of Rx that my pharmacy must handle each day, I can understand an error every once in awhile. However, three mistakes in a one-year period for the same customer seems high.

My reason with going with 90-day Rx is the lower co-pay. I only have one co-pay instead of three. Also, I have a generic Rx that is cheaper at 90-day than 30-day.

9
His comment is could be cost of drug and how it is ordered; can be secondary to the bottle the meds come in that sometimes he is not allowed to dispense the meds in that bottle and must transfer the meds to another bottle.

Korrie, now this answer makes sense. Eli Lilly manufactures the pharmaceutical in question, so maybe they are the ones not allowing the med to be dispensed the old way. Thank you!, and please thank your hubby for me as well!

10

I’d ask them again and ask them to tell exactly what the law is. don’t accept a vague answer.

11

Here’s the latest update: The pharmacy admitted to their mistake, apologized, and gave me the 30 capsules they had shorted my rx. However, I never could get a straight answer out of them with regard to clarifying the so-called pharmacy law, so it remains a mystery. Oh well…

12

Glad it was resolved. I never heard of this law either. My CVS is good. I’ve had great service at The Medicine Shoppe maybe because it’s a locally owned franchise & not a corporate store.

I’ve considered on-line pharmacies, but was concerned how easy/difficult it would be to deal with errors. I’ve had insulin go bad & the local store immediately replaced it with no questions asked.

13

I go to the local CVS around the corner where the phrmacists and aides all KNOW me and my prescription needs. They are all quick to resolve any issue with my orders and have even given me ways to save money with my prescriptions…such as how to have the docotor wrtie the scripts for my insurance, etc’; If they have no Apidra,
( I am the only one at this pharmacy that uses it. They will immediately get me bottles from the higher rent ditsrtict CVS a few blocks away that always has Apidra; due to the many patrons with insurance, and higher incomes who use it there…



God Bless

Brunetta