Hi all
I ordered some supplies over the phone with Animas on 2/23 and when I look at their website it just keeps saying, “Being processed”. I ordered in plenty of time and still have ample supplies (I wanted to spend sufficient time living with other types of sets, not just the 2 in a sample), but am wondering if this length of time (10 days and not even sent out) is normal so I can plan for future ordering with enough lead time.
My orders take 2-3 weeks as Cigna has to approve it each and every time. So I always order on the first day I’m able to put in a reorder.
I actually do not go through Animas I go through a medical supply company. I usually have mine in less that 3 days time from the time I order mine. I think that you should check with your insurance company to see if there is a hang up there. My doctor writes a prescription for a years worth of supplies so all my supply company has to do is call the insurance company and they OK it that day. They contact Animas and they then order the supplies for me. When I get close to the end of my prescription the supply company automatically orders a new prescription from the doctor and I do not have to do a thing.
Zoe, it smells like insurance games. I saw the same thing with Edgepark when I started - I went direct to Animas and Dexcom. Fewer problems but still had to insurance verifications the first order of every year.
I have CareFirst BC/BS of Maryland for my insurance coverage. Even when Animas must contact my physician for a new prescription for supplies it never takes more than 10 days. I would say either your insurance has the order tied up or Animas could be waiting for a new script from your doctor. I would call them and ask what is tying up your order. Then you know who you need to complain to.
I go through neighborhood diabetes for my supplies. Some stuff I get through animas (the iv prep and such and have it sent to my ins company). It does depend on your insurance company. Some will give a quick reply and some takes its sweet time. I use to be a biller and believe me the crap I had to go through to get stuff approved for patients.
Yes, I think you are right, Phil. Mainly I had to know if this was a normal wait time, and it sounds like it is not, so I’ll call Animas. I’m a bit confused by the variety of purchasing situations you all describe. I will buy from Animas because not only does my insurance cover it at 80% (I realize that if I requested they would cover another supplier as well), but I also have a further 30% fee reduction from Animas so it is the best deal. I’ve never had any problems with my insurance not approving something before.
But what do you all mean when you refer to doctors orders? The things I’m talking about ordering are infusion sets and cartridges. Do you need a prescription for that? I didn’t really work with my doctor, just Animas who went to the doctor’s office and put a form in front of the doctor and asked him to sign. The doctor just writes my prescriptions for insulin, strips and my other medications which I get from Medco. He wouldn’t have a clue about pump supplies and I just assumed that Animas set that up if it was needed. This is a new experience for me having another supply company. Animas told me that my insurance did approve me for supplies at the 80% level so whatever was supposed to be done was done. I’ll call Animas and see what the holdup is. Maybe they or the insurance company need to compute deductables as it is the beginning of the year. Thanks for all your info. I’ll let you know. I’m pretty confused!
Zoe, my doctor has to write a letter of necessity every time she writes a new prescription for the supplies for the pump. It depends on what the expiration date is on the prescription and letter of necessity is. If she does not put a date down they have to get new paperwork each time I do an order. I did not know that the medical supply company that I use told me that.
Maybe it’s just the insurance company, Amy, and it works differently for pump supplies.
I don’t know that my doctor wrote a prescription for the supplies to begin with, Unicornzzz! At least not one I ever saw. He doesn’t know anything about pump supplies. Do you think when Animas went to the doctor’s office to get approval for the pump they also had him write those prescriptions? I’m assuming that must have happened without me knowing or Animas wouldn’t have sent me the initial supplies when they sent my pump! But maybe it is what you are saying, needing new paperwork each time I do an order. I happen to know my doctor was on vacation this last week.
I tried to call Animas but the order department isn’t open on Saturday. I’ll call on Monday. This piece of the puzzle seems confusing to me…too many cooks! I don’t feel confident of things working properly without me having a hand in it directly. No control issues here!! I loved when I lived in Guatemala and I just bought what I want from the drug store, no intervention by anyone else…not a doctor…not insurance! (Of course, my budget didn’t love that too much!)
Zoe, I would give Animas a call. With all due respect to Animas, their website sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. Good luck, Billie
Thanks, Billie. Yes, I’m going to call them tomorrow. I had backed up my online order with a phonecall because I just intuitively didn’t trust the website. If nothing else it just lists full price for each item with no indication of what you are really paying which made me nervous!
My orders always arrive 7-10 business days after I call them in. I never went through and set up the online ordering functions, so I just call every time, and they just reorder what I ordered last time. I think waiting 10 days for it to get shipped is ridiculous. Mine get shipped the day I call them in.
Thanks, aztype1. I thought it was too long but now all of your responses make me sure of it. If there was some kind of problem with the order, they should call me! First thing tomorrow morning I’ll call them!
I have an online order sitting there since Jan 19. I call once a week or more and they consistently read from a script and say “We are sorry about this and I apologize for the delay. I will have someone follow up and get back to you.” That has not happened. They are unable to effectively execute a follow up task. And the last several phone calls to them they have been saying “Waiting on insurance. I will have someone follow up on this right away and get back to you”. Then I immediately call my health plan and they say nobody is waiting on them as they have no record of any contact from Animas. So I call Animas right back and they say “We are sorry about this and I apologize for the delay. I will have someone follow up and get back to you.” Inept.
Are you sure they are human beings you’ve been talking to? I think the automated responses have gotten sophisticated enough to mimic real human beings.
I’m kidding of course, but that’s about how effective they sound! How awful!
They are humans. See how it goes when you call them Monday. If they say there is some sort of hold up due to something, ask at what point would something trigger a call or an email to the customer informing them of the status of an order.
They do not seem to have a mechanism in place to do this. So when they say they will call you back with an answer, they know it is not true because they do not.
My experience is that they have an automated system to fire off a fax to the insurance/doctor or whomever but there is not a system in place to follow up if a timely response is not received. Never should a customer have to repeatedly call to find the status of an order. They should do the updating.
Well I called this morning and they didn’t really explain anything being wrong. They said “we’ll ship it out today”. When I asked if this is a normal turn-around time so I’ll know to plan for it, they said “we say 7-10 business days but it doesn’t usually take that long”. It was still within that time frame. Times always seem less when you talk about “business days”. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t called. (And I’ll still see when I actually receive it).
One thing that was cool is they started looking up my account before I’d even said my name. I asked them how they knew and they said they do it by phone number. That’s a first for me! Most phone systems you have to give your name (and birthday, etc) to a recording and then you have to give it to a live person. That was pretty smooth.