Cost of Meds

diplomat · Apr 1, 2011

I started working at a independent pharmacy recently and got a glimpse at what the actual cost of medications are. I knew it was significantly less than what they charge the patient but I was clueless as to how inexpensive pharmacies purchase medications.
Furosemide- bottles of 1,000 for about 10 bucks
Omeprazole-bottles of 1,000 for 95 bucks. That is less then 10 cents per capsule. Then they turn around and charge insurance companies 30 bucks.
Generic Soma-bottle of 1,000 for 20 bucks...
etc, etc, etc...

Places like CVS and Walgreens are making an absolute killing on this stuff.

spacecowgirl · Apr 1, 2011

diplomat said:
I started working at a independent pharmacy recently and got a glimpse at what the actual cost of medications are. I knew it was significantly less than what they charge the patient but I was clueless as to how inexpensive pharmacies purchase medications.
Furosemide- bottles of 1,000 for about 10 bucks
Omeprazole-bottles of 1,000 for 95 bucks. That is less then 10 cents per capsule. Then they turn around and charge insurance companies 30 bucks.
Generic Soma-bottle of 1,000 for 20 bucks...
etc, etc, etc...

Places like CVS and Walgreens are making an absolute killing on this stuff.

Not really. A prescription is more than the med. It's the bottle, the label, the printer, the software, the adjudication system, the techs, the pharmacist, the lights, the heat, the rent, the advertising, the maintenance....it's about $10/rx not inclusive of the price of the med itself. Now look at what you actually get paid per RX and see why margins are in the crapper.

All4MyDaughter · Apr 1, 2011

Plus what they charge the insurance company is not necessarily what the insurance company actually pays per the terms of their contract.

crazybob · Apr 1, 2011

You're lucky if you get paid AWP-0%.

Doctor M · Apr 2, 2011

diplomat said:
I started working at a independent pharmacy recently and got a glimpse at what the actual cost of medications are. I knew it was significantly less than what they charge the patient but I was clueless as to how inexpensive pharmacies purchase medications.
Furosemide- bottles of 1,000 for about 10 bucks
Omeprazole-bottles of 1,000 for 95 bucks. That is less then 10 cents per capsule. Then they turn around and charge insurance companies 30 bucks.
Generic Soma-bottle of 1,000 for 20 bucks...
etc, etc, etc...

Places like CVS and Walgreens are making an absolute killing on this stuff.

You make an average of $15 dollars per rx. Not all drugs are inexpensive and you dont sell the bottle right away. Generics are the way to go, but as someone already posted, there are bills to pay and salaries to pay. And what you may not know yet is that pharmacy benefit managers do not pay you what you submit. You have to fill a lot of prescriptions to run the business. Its not all $10 dollar bottles of furosemide. There are lots of $100 bottles of insulin and $1600 boxes of enbrel.

Doctor M · Apr 2, 2011

crazybob said:
You're lucky if you get paid AWP-0%.

That only happens with cash paying patients, and even then we dont charge full price.

Cost of Meds

diplomat

Full Member

spacecowgirl

in the bee-loud glade

All4MyDaughter

SDN Mommystrator

crazybob

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Doctor M

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Doctor M

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