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Title says it all. How do you handle prescription refunds?
Prescription Refunds
- Thread starter stevephhs016
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Won't do it unless there was a mistake made.
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Same. The only mistake I can think of where we'd give a refund is if the drug went to the wrong patient. If it's an incorrect amount of pills, we just give the rest of the pills.
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I'd just give them a refund. It's not worth arguing over some pills. This happens because we autorefill the medications and a lot of times they are not even on the medications anymore. When I ring up people, I always ask them if what they are picking up is what they wanted. A lot of times, they would tell me that they are no longer on a certain medication, I'd go ahead and inactive it in their profile instead of having it autorefill every month. It prevents a lot of problems later on, such as them not getting an automatic phone call from us, and us not getting a phone call from them asking if they have something ready, but nobody else does it. I'd make the techs do it if I was working there more days. This only applies to the pharmacists working for certain chain and you know who you are 😀
I'm thinking that's illegal, at least in my state. Am I wrong?
Title does NOT say it all. Are you asking when to give a refund, or how to give a refund?
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Yes, it is NEVER illegal to refund a prescription. It is however, illegal to resell the medication.
owlegrad
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I think they were referring to sending back a refunded med as an expired med to get credit for it. Even if it is not illegal at the very least it seems immoral.
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You wont get credit unless it is:
- In the original package
- It's actually expired.
owlegrad
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The poster said they set it to the side and send it back as an expired med to get credit. Seems like allot of work, keeping it set aside until it expires, but the question was, is that practise legal?
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Probably not, though it is clearly unethical.
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If we made a flat-out mistake then yes.
If the patient picks up a medication they didn't need, I usually tell them next time to double check which medication they are receiving before they pay for it. It's not my fault you paid for a medication you're no longer on when you called me an hour beforehand to "fill everything."
If the patient picks up a medication they didn't need, I usually tell them next time to double check which medication they are receiving before they pay for it. It's not my fault you paid for a medication you're no longer on when you called me an hour beforehand to "fill everything."
i've been working as a tech for 3 years and at first our policy was no refunds unless we made a mistake.... and now its case by case basis.
there is so many issues with patients relatives or friends picking up the wrong medication and coming back and or the patient calling up and complaining that the hassle for us to argue and stand by the policy is just not worth it.
___Insert big rx company___ makes a lot of money and can deal with losing a couple of dollars from us salvaging the medication. I think it would be better than losing the patient's business forever or the patient's friends/ relative's business, or the tech/pharmacists employment because they got tired of the backlash they received from enforcing the policy. 😡
on the other hand people dont seem to understand that medications cant be returned and i wish we had the yellow no rx refund sticker because there is no warning to the customers that they cant return unless you verbally tell them.
there is so many issues with patients relatives or friends picking up the wrong medication and coming back and or the patient calling up and complaining that the hassle for us to argue and stand by the policy is just not worth it.
___Insert big rx company___ makes a lot of money and can deal with losing a couple of dollars from us salvaging the medication. I think it would be better than losing the patient's business forever or the patient's friends/ relative's business, or the tech/pharmacists employment because they got tired of the backlash they received from enforcing the policy. 😡
on the other hand people dont seem to understand that medications cant be returned and i wish we had the yellow no rx refund sticker because there is no warning to the customers that they cant return unless you verbally tell them.
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In order to avoid corporate complaints, I refund any non-controlls that were purchased within the last day or two.
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It is illegal because you are selling adulterated/misbranded drugs. You cannot be certain the conditions in which the drug was stored.
This is a total MPJE type question...
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Where I live, it actually is illegal to give refunds on prescriptions, which makes it a bit easier for us. That said, I have done so in cases where I've made a mistake.
owlegrad
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Sending back returned drugs to the manufacturer is not the same as reselling them. No one has suggested reselling the drugs, except to point out that it is illegal. That is not in question. The question is about holding drugs until they expire and then sending them back for credit. The consensus seems to be that it is unethical and possibly illegal.
But what else would you do, besides hold them? You can't resell them, just as you mentioned. It's either return them or toss them in the garbage. Medturn seems to be the best bet of those two.
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Toss them in the garbage! Returning them to the manufacturer is dishonest. Manufacturer returns are for out of dates, not customer refunds.
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So the patient can get a refund but we can't?
I've seen something weird happen at CVS before. We ordered some sort of prescription baby formula. Put a label on the box and sold it. Customer came back fuming a few hours later saying we gave someone else's meds to her.
As it was, there were labels from a Walgreens pharmacy on the actual cans. We did some investigating, we called up the Walgreens. Apparently, the customer for whom they were going to sell it to didn't pick it up and didn't need it anymore, so they returned it as is to Cardinal.
Cardinal, without altering the box or removing the labels, just sends the product as is to us.
I find this hard to believe unless cardinal didnt see the walgreens labels...although i thought walgreens uses Mckesson. Anyhow, Cardinal does not return defaced merchandise, so if they did take this back, it was a fluke.
owlegrad
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Yes! I am not aware of any agreement with cardinal that allows for sending back refunded merchandise. Of course if that is a part of the contract with cardinal, then it is no problem. If it is not a part of the contract, you are committing fraud by doing so.
That pharmacy should never have sent back medication with a label on it, that's a hipaa violation, besides being bad practise. I wouldn't say that sending back the formula was wrong though. The patient didn't pick it up and the pharmacy didn't need it. Remove the labels and send it back. Returning mechandise (in good faith) you don't need is a part of the agreement with cardinal.
I also find this story very hard to believe. We've removed inventory stickers, and had a bit of the bottle's label come off, and then Cardinal refused to accept it, since it was "damaged."
Isn't it fraud?
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I don't believe much that Sparda says
but this is kind of plausible. The Walgreens I worked for used Cardinal as a secondary wholesaler. If we had to order something for the next day, it came from there. If Wags opened the box of formula and put the labels on the bottles, then didn't remove them, I could see Cardinal missing it if they thought the box was unopened. Still sloppy work by Cardinal and by Wags.
owlegrad
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Are you asking me? I would say yes, it is. That was kinda my whole point.
Oh, good! We agree. I think it's terrible of whoever said they did this because you're giving a refund to satisfy the customer but then trying to weasel your way out of having to pay the consequences of your actions.
http://rules.sos.state.ga.us/docs/480/16/03.pdf
While there are certainly work-arounds, perhaps we should drop that NEVER down to lowercase.
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You would have to look through the entire code. So if you make a dispensing error, they have to keep the medication and it can't be refunded? What about a recall. If you look carefully at the snippet of code you posted it's all about bot re-selling the medication.
If it's true, I stand corrected and the fine state of Georgia moves into first place in the most ******ed state in the union. To never allow a refund under any circumstances is *****ic in the extreme.
