Anyone aware of any technology changes coming to WM pharm to help our workflow?

[sozetone]

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Was wondering, i kept hearing after the major cuts in august that they would implement changes to help smooth our workflow. If anyone knows WM , you know we have the most cumbersome system to operate......anyone heard of anything cool that is coming to help speed and efficiency? I'm out in CO and nothing amazing as of yet.....we are still grinding hard and its a toxic system at this point.....

there was a rumor bagging might get streamlined.... but that was over 6 months ago.....

 

[mentos]

Why do Walmart pharmacists always bring up bagging? Do they have some special type of bag that takes longer to close or something? No other pharmacist anywhere counts it as an extra task. At CVS you put the vials into a bag and staple it, done.

 

[Sine Cura]

At CVS there is no extra bagging step as the paperwork prints when you're doing QP and the pharmacist "should" bag the scripts at the end of QV2. Bagging takes < 5 seconds.

At Walmart there is an extra bagging step as the paperwork prints out after product verification with associated accuracy scans (making sure the Rx in the order bag actually belong to the order bag and the paperwork printed out belongs to the order bag) and anyone can do bagging, including unlicensed sales associates. This step always has to be actively initiated and also times out so if you didn't finish doing accuracy scans you have to re-print everything and "toss the old paperwork."

What happens a lot of times is that since techs/clerks are glued to the registers and the in window that pharmacists end up doing most of the bagging anyway. However you "have to" print out the paperwork at some point.

As for changes to improve workflow at the pharmacy level, being a pessimist I think it's the beginning of the end and they don't give two craps about improving workflow aside from incremental changes in Connexus. They'll probably consolidate pharmacies first starting by eliminating Neighborhood Market pharmacies (this is total speculation and I don't have any insider info being a peon). I mean if you look at nominal gross profit and net profit for stores in some regions of the U.S. it's horrific (look at California with high labor costs and horrible reimbursement from Medi-Cal) so I believe this is inevitable

 

[Chrish]

One can argue majority of electric rxs being pre-populated is “amazing” since all you have to do is hit accept.

On the other hand, volume has drastically increased at least in my neck of the wood. That combined with Good Rx epidemic where even 80 years old grannies now present those discount cards at every transactions, sort of negates this advantage.

Any ways, with every improvement they will be looking to cut more hours. So be careful what you wish for.

 

[Sine Cura]

You still have to teach techs to type what's covered (don't leave it 90 days supply when it's only covered for 30ds; don't use PMDD fluoxetine), type what we have in stock (don't type some rando branded generic of OCP; type what we have)

 

[rxdawg21]

Why do Walmart pharmacists always bring up bagging? Do they have some special type of bag that takes longer to close or something? No other pharmacist anywhere counts it as an extra task. At CVS you put the vials into a bag and staple it, done.

Bagging is a full time job at a busy Walmart with no staffing support for it. It started in 2013-14 secondary to errors being made with wrong patient info/bags mixed up. The new bagging prevents that

 

[King2440]

Y’all have mobile 4pt?

 

[mentos]

Bagging is a full time job at a busy Walmart with no staffing support for it. It started in 2013-14 secondary to errors being made with wrong patient info/bags mixed up. The new bagging prevents that

Last time I went to a Walmart, most of the checkouts were automated self checkouts. They should take one of those cashier jobs they eliminated and make them a full time pharmacy bagger.

 

[trailerpark]

They need to get rid of the drop off window. EVERYONE goes to pick-up for EVERYTHING. People are way too stupid to learn 2 different windows. 2 is too many. They all walk past drop off and try to hand a script to the cashier, add a discount card at pick up, check prices at pick up, get something filled at pickup, etc... Some do everything except pick up a script. Even regulars! Especially regulars! Nothing annoys me more than when I say "do you got a pick up?" they say "yes" then I get name and date of birth and tell them I have nothing ready and they pull out the script. "Do you need to drop that off? "Um I dunno how a pharmacy works- I'm only an adult human."

They also need to get rid of the 6666 auto reject. My god I put 6666 into the PA field just to get the rx to 4 point so I can actually see the rx to see if it's typed correctly. Need to change insurance? Back to 6666 rejection. Switch to discount card? Back to 6666 rejection. Need to convert a insurance to the new plan? Every try throws it back to 6666. Can we not just keep any double checks on the 4 point screen so I can actually see the RX.

And why the hell do OTC drugs like cetirizine always choose the one we don't have in stock when they're inputted? Always the equate brand instead of the giant bottle we order that's covered for most people.

Stop with the nonsense DURs. "Levothyroxine should be used cautiously in the elderly" I'm sorry lets call the doctor a put a stop to some old lady's recreational levothyroxine abuse. What am I suppose to do with that DUR- really!?

Don't even get me started on these Medicare Events or Walmart Wellness Day! Waste of time!

Walmart rarely improves work flow. One of the things they did do was change the appearance of e-scripts to 4-point faster and I love that they won't accept discount cards for any opioid anymore. Some nut sack called today asking for cash price for oxycontin and oxycodone and the over 500 a month shut her down fast. "How much with goodrx?" "THE SAME".

 

[mentos]

They need to get rid of the drop off window. EVERYONE goes to pick-up for EVERYTHING. People are way too stupid to learn 2 different windows. 2 is too many. They all walk past drop off and try to hand a script to the cashier, add a discount card at pick up, check prices at pick up, get something filled at pickup, etc... Some do everything except pick up a script. Even regulars! Especially regulars! Nothing annoys me more than when I say "do you got a pick up?" they say "yes" then I get name and date of birth and tell them I have nothing ready and they pull out the script. "Do you need to drop that off? "Um I dunno how a pharmacy works- I'm only an adult human."

They also need to get rid of the 6666 auto reject. My god I put 6666 into the PA field just to get the rx to 4 point so I can actually see the rx to see if it's typed correctly. Need to change insurance? Back to 6666 rejection. Switch to discount card? Back to 6666 rejection. Need to convert a insurance to the new plan? Every try throws it back to 6666. Can we not just keep any double checks on the 4 point screen so I can actually see the RX.

And why the hell do OTC drugs like cetirizine always choose the one we don't have in stock when they're inputted? Always the equate brand instead of the giant bottle we order that's covered for most people.

Stop with the nonsense DURs. "Levothyroxine should be used cautiously in the elderly" I'm sorry lets call the doctor a put a stop to some old lady's recreational levothyroxine abuse. What am I suppose to do with that DUR- really!?

Don't even get me started on these Medicare Events or Walmart Wellness Day! Waste of time!

Walmart rarely improves work flow. One of the things they did do was change the appearance of e-scripts to 4-point faster and I love that they won't accept discount cards for any opioid anymore. Some nut sack called today asking for cash price for oxycontin and oxycodone and the over 500 a month shut her down fast. "How much with goodrx?" "THE SAME".

I'm surprised CVS and Walmart haven't copied Walgreens. Dropoff and pickup are all done at the registers. It was especially annoying as a solo overnighter when you had to keep walking back and forth between dropoff, pickup and drive thru. If the drive thru is combined then why aren't the registers??

Before I knew anything about pharmacy, I didn't know what drop off was either. I was like, "I'm here to pick it up now not later" so I would go to pickup with my script LoL.

 

[Sine Cura]

I'm surprised CVS and Walmart haven't copied Walgreens. Dropoff and pickup are all done at the registers. It was especially annoying as a solo overnighter when you had to keep walking back and forth between dropoff, pickup and drive thru. If the drive thru is combined then why aren't the registers??

Before I knew anything about pharmacy, I didn't know what drop off was either. I was like, "I'm here to pick it up now not later" so I would go to pickup with my script LoL.

The newer Walmart design does consolidate drop off and pick up.

If alone and with the old layout (or at CVS) you can close the drop-off counters and funnel everyone to pickup.

I honestly cannot imagine it at a CVS where the drop off line is 20+ deep and you have 3 people working drop off already... because pick up is likely to be similarly long

 

[mentos]

The newer Walmart design does consolidate drop off and pick up.

If alone and with the old layout (or at CVS) you can close the drop-off counters and funnel everyone to pickup.

I honestly cannot imagine it at a CVS where the drop off line is 20+ deep and you have 3 people working drop off already... because pick up is likely to be similarly long

If you close the drop off line at CVS, you still have to walk back there to enter their script.

 

[owlegrad]

I always thought Walgreens one window workflow seemed genius. The countless hours spent funneling people from one window to another was so tiring at CVS. Not to mention making people wait in two lines if they picked the wrong line just seemed cruel.

 

[Chrish]

Biggest waste of money and resources at WM are those health events. I don’t know which brain surgeon is coming up with this but I don’t see a single benefit from spending literally millions of dollars on this garbage.

Once pcsm job becomes extinct ( should be in a year or two), hopefully this nonsense will go away as well (although some of us may not be with the company to see it).

 

[Sine Cura]

It's not just the health events but doing a ****ing shopping comparison cart? Walmart is the #1 grocer and #1 retailer by sales in the United States. Dumbest **** ever

 

[sfachine]

Does Walmart allow people to pay for groceries etc at the pharmacy window?

 

[Hels2007]

I always thought Walgreens one window workflow seemed genius. The countless hours spent funneling people from one window to another was so tiring at CVS. Not to mention making people wait in two lines if they picked the wrong line just seemed cruel.

Walgreens used to have separate drop-off windows, they switched to the single window sometime around 2007 - first in select markets, then spread it out to all the stores. Second drive through lanes got eliminated sometime around 2010 - that was always a stupid idea anyway, I don't know why it lasted so long.