PRESCRIPTION PRICING

[ruralpharmacy]

What is the best method for pricing prescriptions? AWP +/- or Cost Plus? Or any other options. Thank you for the feedback in advance.

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[MrBonita]

The practice I use when someone comes into the independent pharmacy I work at is ask for 100 bucks over the AWP. Believe it or not, majority of people actually pay because they know nothing about the drug. I have charged 100 bucks for Keflex and OTC benadryl because the person had no clue what the doctor wrote. If they don't agree with my price then I negotiate. I have one time sold for 1 dollar over AWP because the person looked like they were in really bad shape and I wanted to do them a favor.

 

[zelman]

The practice I use when someone comes into the independent pharmacy I work at is ask for 100 bucks over the AWP. Believe it or not, majority of people actually pay because they know nothing about the drug. I have charged 100 bucks for Keflex and OTC benadryl because the person had no clue what the doctor wrote. If they don't agree with my price then I negotiate. I have one time sold for 1 dollar over AWP because the person looked like they were in really bad shape and I wanted to do them a favor.

Charging someone $100 for Benadryl is a markedly evil act.

 

[MountainPharmD]

AWP has absolutely nothing to do with the actual wholesale price of a drug. It's a completely worthless number especially for multi-source generics. For example, AWP for Aripiprazole 10 mg is $936.32 yet it can be purchased for around $100. You do have to pay attention to AWP on brand name only drugs because the majority if not all PBM contracts pay brands at AWP - a percent.

If you own an independant you would be very smart to have your own in store discount plan set for patients without insurance. Where you live depends on how aggressive you have to be on your pricing. If you are within 30 miles of a Wal-Mart your pricing will be different than if you were 60 miles away. I can't imagine anywhere in the country you could routinely get away with selling Cephalexin for $100.

 

[farmadiazepine]

The practice I use when someone comes into the independent pharmacy I work at is ask for 100 bucks over the AWP. Believe it or not, majority of people actually pay because they know nothing about the drug. I have charged 100 bucks for Keflex and OTC benadryl because the person had no clue what the doctor wrote. If they don't agree with my price then I negotiate. I have one time sold for 1 dollar over AWP because the person looked like they were in really bad shape and I wanted to do them a favor.

You are ripping your patients off. I hope the guy who changes your flat tire charges you $2,000 for a new one. Better yet, I hope your medical doctor overcharges you for absolutely everything.

You remind me of the doctor who was telling patients they need expensive chemotherapy when they didn't have cancer at all. People listened because he was a doctor. He took advantage of people who didn't know any better.

The pricing of medications is not known to anybody except pharmacy owners, wholesalers, manufacturers, and PBMs. Why would you exploit people like that? The $100 you make exploiting people will come back to bite you in the ass, hopefully in the form of cancer or another terminal illness.

That's f*cked up right.

 

[imcallingcorp]

The practice I use when someone comes into the independent pharmacy I work at is ask for 100 bucks over the AWP. Believe it or not, majority of people actually pay because they know nothing about the drug. I have charged 100 bucks for Keflex and OTC benadryl because the person had no clue what the doctor wrote. If they don't agree with my price then I negotiate. I have one time sold for 1 dollar over AWP because the person looked like they were in really bad shape and I wanted to do them a favor.

you are either a story teller or a -hole.

 

[txpharmguy]

If you can make $15 to $20 gross per prescription (on average), then you'd be doing very well and charging a fair price

 

[MountainPharmD]

To answer the OPs question I have my usual and customary pricing based off AWP + 40% plus a $9.99 dispensing fee. This is what I submit to the insurance. I have several fairly complicated pricing schedules set up for my in-store discount plan. Essentially the schedules are a cost plus model. I take into account the market price for the drug, if it's a control ect. In order to stay legal my in-store discount plan is run just like the chains stores run thiers. People have to sign up for it every year and and I charge a small $1 fee. Just like the chain stores this allows me to get the maximum reimbursement from insurance and charge a competitive and fair price to those without insurance.

 

[owlegrad]

To answer the OPs question I have my usual and customary pricing based off AWP + 40% plus a $9.99 dispensing fee. This is what I submit to the insurance. I have several fairly complicated pricing schedules set up for my in-store discount plan. Essentially the schedules are a cost plus model. I take into account the market price for the drug, if it's a control ect. In order to stay legal my in-store discount plan is run just like the chains stores run thiers. People have to sign up for it every year and and I charge a small $1 fee. Just like the chain stores this allows me to get the maximum reimbursement from insurance and charge a competitive and fair price to those without insurance.

Just FYI CVS discontinued that plan. Now they have a free plan that essentially works like any other discount card. Actually it was a bit of a pain because the people who are on the plan that liked it was upset that it was discontinued. Happened after the target acquisition I don't know how related it is. Perhaps with Obamacare CVS decided that most people would have insurance and it wouldn't be worth running a discount plan.

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[lane one]

The practice I use when someone comes into the independent pharmacy I work at is ask for 100 bucks over the AWP. Believe it or not, majority of people actually pay because they know nothing about the drug. I have charged 100 bucks for Keflex and OTC benadryl because the person had no clue what the doctor wrote. If they don't agree with my price then I negotiate. I have one time sold for 1 dollar over AWP because the person looked like they were in really bad shape and I wanted to do them a favor.

Haha so you sit on the couch and catch up on TV shows all day, then someone comes in for some benadryl and its game time?