Cvs mycustomer

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Are you assuming I want to be rx supervisor...?? Where did I say that.


A customer who has a bad experience is more than welcome to let me know, because I can't fix it if I don't know about it.



How ever to compare this vs to another where people are cheating by doing the surveys them selves.. Or enrolling people on readyfill without permission and in clear violation of cvs policies do deserve to get fired. Those people IMO are dangerous...

As far as being a Pharmacy supervisor goes I would be willing to be bet you will be on the bench for a long time. At least until you figure it out that your still counting pills years from now and then they will get someone else who wants to climb the ladder and will jump thru hoops for them. They will want you where you are so you can fix problems for them. Some may actually see you as a threat to their jobs.

I really dont know any rx supervisors who actually worked the bench for any length of time of could step in and do the job. Mostly Ken and Barbie doll types or someone who knows someone. None of them I know could do 12 hours on the bench and function. None of them.

As far as the supervisor that should be punished for telling stores to sign people up for Readyfill with out asking them: They sit on the right hand of the Regional and NOTHING will ever happen to them.

 

[sosoo]

i heard the bonus is tied to script volumes now, and not on metrics anymore? ie ppl who work in higher volume stores get bigger chunks regardless of how terrible their triple s or kpm? i may have misheard. ^^

 

[doublehh03]

i heard the bonus is tied to script volumes now, and not on metrics anymore? ie ppl who work in higher volume stores get bigger chunks regardless of how terrible their triple s or kpm? i may have misheard. ^^

No, it also ties with your service and KPM scores. Scripts obviously matter, and higher volume stores get bigger bonuses/incentives and rightfully so (though still not enough haha).

To the OP, service matters. Ever since I've taken over a store (I was a staff for a year) as manager last March, our MCE went from 70 to end of year 85 and was an excellent store. Script count start slowly building up and we hit around 3200 several weeks to end the year during the busiest weeks. Normally we are a 2700/week store. Now this year, we are doing 7-10% (some weeks 15-16%) more scripts per week than we did same week last year. So customers do recognize great service. I work in an area where there is another chain pharmacy and 4 independents in a 0.5 mile radius and we just get busier by the day. And I take pride in that.

But really, do not judge everything entirely on the MCE score (unless it's bad and your sup starts bothering you lol). I work at my store daily to understand what kind of service is being provided (and we're extremely busy). Corporate has raised my targets to ridiculous level so I don't really care about reaching it, but more about the processes and customer feedback (I do get a ton of surveys).

Although I work for CVS, I really work for my patients. Although I work at a busy store, I know more than 50% of my patients by name and vice versa. I address them EVERY single time they get into pick up and drop off line. And so on. And my team simply follows. People get caught up in trying to reach metrics and all this garbage, but the things CVS measures is what you should be doing already (if you put yourself on the other side as the customer).

I think to the OP, don't worry about trying to reach your target. Worry more about providing great service (as best as you can with what you've given with) and your customer retention rate will skyrocket. Trust me, I feel busier every damn day it's ridiculous.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

No, it also ties with your service and KPM scores. Scripts obviously matter, and higher volume stores get bigger bonuses/incentives and rightfully so (though still not enough haha).

To the OP, service matters. Ever since I've taken over a store (I was a staff for a year) as manager last March, our MCE went from 70 to end of year 85 and was an excellent store. Script count start slowly building up and we hit around 3200 several weeks to end the year during the busiest weeks. Normally we are a 2700/week store. Now this year, we are doing 7-10% (some weeks 15-16%) more scripts per week than we did same week last year. So customers do recognize great service. I work in an area where there is another chain pharmacy and 4 independents in a 0.5 mile radius and we just get busier by the day. And I take pride in that.

But really, do not judge everything entirely on the MCE score (unless it's bad and your sup starts bothering you lol). I work at my store daily to understand what kind of service is being provided (and we're extremely busy). Corporate has raised my targets to ridiculous level so I don't really care about reaching it, but more about the processes and customer feedback (I do get a ton of surveys).

Although I work for CVS, I really work for my patients. Although I work at a busy store, I know more than 50% of my patients by name and vice versa. I address them EVERY single time they get into pick up and drop off line. And so on. And my team simply follows. People get caught up in trying to reach metrics and all this garbage, but the things CVS measures is what you should be doing already (if you put yourself on the other side as the customer).

I think to the OP, don't worry about trying to reach your target. Worry more about providing great service (as best as you can with what you've given with) and your customer retention rate will skyrocket. Trust me, I feel busier every damn day it's ridiculous.

Thank you!!! Amazing!! That is the point. Focus on taking care of the customers and the numbers will take care of themselves. I only care about the number bc it provides me with feedback and areas of focus.

I Don't worry about it unless my sup is riding me. I worked with 6 sups and none of them had ride me bc they know my team will always have the right behaviors... No matter how bad my score is.

I killed my mce last year and they raised it to a ridiculous target of 85 this year! Crazy bc this store was challenged for a few years running until they placed me there. What ever happen to attainable in "smart" ???

 

[HouTX]

I'll focus on taking care of my customers in a sane manner. I won't have the opportunity to make 50k in OT but I can always find PRN/PT work elsewhere

 

[owlegrad]

I killed my mce last year and they raised it to a ridiculous target of 85 this year! Crazy bc this store was challenged for a few years running until they placed me there. What ever happen to attainable in "smart" ???

Wow this is exactly what happened to my store. We were a challenge store at one point and our goal for last year was 78. I think we ended with an 81 and now our goal is 85. Um, what?

 

[doublehh03]

No, it also ties with your service and KPM scores. Scripts obviously matter, and higher volume stores get bigger bonuses/incentives and rightfully so (though still not enough haha).

To the OP, service matters. Ever since I've taken over a store (I was a staff for a year) as manager last March, our MCE went from 70 to end of year 85 and was an excellent store. Script count start slowly building up and we hit around 3200 several weeks to end the year during the busiest weeks. Normally we are a 2700/week store. Now this year, we are doing 7-10% (some weeks 15-16%) more scripts per week than we did same week last year. So customers do recognize great service. I work in an area where there is another chain pharmacy and 4 independents in a 0.5 mile radius and we just get busier by the day. And I take pride in that.

But really, do not judge everything entirely on the MCE score (unless it's bad and your sup starts bothering you lol). I work at my store daily to understand what kind of service is being provided (and we're extremely busy). Corporate has raised my targets to ridiculous level so I don't really care about reaching it, but more about the processes and customer feedback (I do get a ton of surveys).

Although I work for CVS, I really work for my patients. Although I work at a busy store, I know more than 50% of my patients by name and vice versa. I address them EVERY single time they get into pick up and drop off line. And so on. And my team simply follows. People get caught up in trying to reach metrics and all this garbage, but the things CVS measures is what you should be doing already (if you put yourself on the other side as the customer).

I think to the OP, don't worry about trying to reach your target. Worry more about providing great service (as best as you can with what you've given with) and your customer retention rate will skyrocket. Trust me, I feel busier every damn day it's ridiculous.

Thank you!!! Amazing!! That is the point. Focus on taking care of the customers and the numbers will take care of themselves. I only care about the number bc it provides me with feedback and areas of focus.

I Don't worry about it unless my sup is riding me. I worked with 6 sups and none of them had ride me bc they know my team will always have the right behaviors... No matter how bad my score is.

I killed my mce last year and they raised it to a ridiculous target of 85 this year! Crazy bc this store was challenged for a few years running until they placed me there. What ever happen to attainable in "smart" ???

LOL My C/P target is 87 and overall MCE is 86 (new excellent status). So anything less than that, I get a 1 on my SOS (I found out when I got an 84 in January). but like I said, b/c of my high targets, it's not about the scores, but the feedback, as it's always been.

I think people should be asking themselves when they get into retail pharmacy: do you really like people and interacting with people every day? That's basically what it is. I have heard pharmacists in my district whine (and I work arguably the hardest district clientele-wise in the chain - as pointed out by my DM and regional manger) about these "crazy" customers and all of that. And I've seen those. But once you take care of them and set the right expectations, they will be the most dedicated customers.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Wow this is exactly what happened to my store. We were a challenge store at one point and our goal for last year was 78. I think we ended with an 81 and now our goal is 85. Um, what?

Same... But our goal was low 70s! I don't know how we are going to pull it off.

 

[doublehh03]

Same... But our goal was low 70s! I don't know how we are going to pull it off.

Every store's target went up (some more than others based on performance last year), unless you bombed then the target will be lowered. Mine was 75.

So I don't even bother about reaching target b/c CVS corporate does this to make it harder to reach your bonuses/incentives. That's one of the things I don't like about how CVS operates. You award the people who work hard and excel, not make it harder.

 

[ancienbon]

Does anyone know when will we get our yearly raise at cvs?

 

[owlegrad]

April according to WLM.

 

[Aviane]

Our front store manager has been telling us all to update emails when we scan cvs cards but does this mean we will have more mycustomer emails sent? Does the email automatically populate into the patient's profile or do they have to sign up online for it to show up there? Basically I've been slacking on addressing by name when they don't use their cvs card since I assumed they wouldn't get a survey, but now I see that some patients have emails in their RX profile. Which email will the survey send to, or are they always the same email?

 

[Old Timer]

Our front store manager has been telling us all to update emails when we scan cvs cards but does this mean we will have more mycustomer emails sent? Does the email automatically populate into the patient's profile or do they have to sign up online for it to show up there? Basically I've been slacking on addressing by name when they don't use their cvs card since I assumed they wouldn't get a survey, but now I see that some patients have emails in their RX profile. Which email will the survey send to, or are they always the same email?

I just want know, ARE YOU STUPID OR WHAT? Your employer pays you six figures and part of what they pay you for is addressing people by name, so just do it and preserve your six figure salary. Did you ever notice that if you call Verizon they always say the same thing. Now here is the payoff, if you address people by name and speak to them, they are less likely to give you lower scores and your superiors will not be all over your ass. You have their name in front of you, use it.....

 

[Aviane]

So can somebody answer my question, do they get a survey if you don't scan their card?

 

[Old Timer]

So can somebody answer my question, do they get a survey if you don't scan their card?

No. But they can scan their card at the front store and they ask did you visit the pharmacy in the last 30 days....

 

[Sunshine98]

You award the people who work hard and excel, not make it harder.

with any chain once you reach the "goals" all they do raise the # higher the next year. Hence is why Im not so bent out of shape when it comes to a bonus. You can do enough to get something.

 

[SClENCE]

I like how in the training videos they show only 1 customer in the whole store, and during the training classes it's implied that there will be 1 person at each workstation

In reality 1 tech is running production and drive through while the other is running drop off and pick up while the pharmacist is giving 8 flu shots and you have 6 waiters, 3 pharmacy calls, and some 100 year old guy yelling because CVS called him for a refill reminder and he thinks it means that a script is filled and waiting

In my opinion customer satisfaction drops very quickly when people have to wait extensively for a script. If it was as easy as addressing by name and scanning their rewards card there would be no excuse not to get a top score... but unlike the fictional universe that corporate lives in more than one customer comes to the store at once, there is not 1 tech at every workstation, and dealing with rebills/flu-shots/checking in the order/CII inventory/filing scripts/adherence calls/refill requests/counseling/walking customer to the OTC item/etc all take time

To fix the problem they cut tech hours and tell us to stick to what the assignment board says as far as workstations. Oh and they suggest that we file scripts and do CII inventory on OUR OWN TIME and watch these mandatory videos during lunch breaks

Then they survey the techs to see if they are satisfied with CVS, the scores are horrible, so they tell the techs to come up with an action plan to improve these scores. Yeah so you don't like your job? Make an action plan on how you can enjoy it more...

I like the staff in my store, I don't mind the actual work, and you have the good and the bad customers as does any store... but I'm not really sure what to think about CVS as a company. Beings a staff pharmacist would be tolerable, but I would never take a position as PIC seeing as you have to answer for all of these metrics

 

[farmadiazepine]

I feel you... But I float a lot. I made 50k in Ot last year. I am in 4k volume store, but have managed a few stores from 1800-2300, and opened new ones.

As my previous pts says, it's up to the PIC to train the techs.... And manage that. I float at stores where a year later, the tech still only knows pick up...

If the customer service is bad, that is to be expected... The resolution to fix that customer score is to train the techs, transfer experienced techs, and ask for interns while managing customer expectations. We all have customers who want ten scripts in 15 mins. I just explained to them that I will do my best to rush them out.., there are a few ppl ahead of you, and I can text you when it's ready..., but a more realistic time in 30-45 mins to make sure I fill this safety.

I have been to stores where techs will tell the customer to come back in two hrs which pisses the customer off bc they may not know why, or techs who say np.. 15 mins... And the customer ends up screaming because it's not ready.

Normally I am "anti-everything you say" because I think you drink way too much of the CVS Kool Aid BUT I definitely agree with you on this. It really is the job of the PIC to train technicians. Pharmacy Manager means exactly that: MANAGE THE PHARMACY. That includes proper training of technicians, getting your people up to speed and able to perform their job competently. I work in a store right now where a year later the technician is still doing pick up and doesn't know how to do anything else. It's really, really sad.

 

[farmadiazepine]

I like how in the training videos they show only 1 customer in the whole store, and during the training classes it's implied that there will be 1 person at each workstation

In reality 1 tech is running production and drive through while the other is running drop off and pick up while the pharmacist is giving 8 flu shots and you have 6 waiters, 3 pharmacy calls, and some 100 year old guy yelling because CVS called him for a refill reminder and he thinks it means that a script is filled and waiting

In my opinion customer satisfaction drops very quickly when people have to wait extensively for a script. If it was as easy as addressing by name and scanning their rewards card there would be no excuse not to get a top score... but unlike the fictional universe that corporate lives in more than one customer comes to the store at once, there is not 1 tech at every workstation, and dealing with rebills/flu-shots/checking in the order/CII inventory/filing scripts/adherence calls/refill requests/counseling/walking customer to the OTC item/etc all take time

To fix the problem they cut tech hours and tell us to stick to what the assignment board says as far as workstations. Oh and they suggest that we file scripts and do CII inventory on OUR OWN TIME and watch these mandatory videos during lunch breaks

Then they survey the techs to see if they are satisfied with CVS, the scores are horrible, so they tell the techs to come up with an action plan to improve these scores. Yeah so you don't like your job? Make an action plan on how you can enjoy it more...

I like the staff in my store, I don't mind the actual work, and you have the good and the bad customers as does any store... but I'm not really sure what to think about CVS as a company. Beings a staff pharmacist would be tolerable, but I would never take a position as PIC seeing as you have to answer for all of these metrics

And this is actual reality at CVS.

 

[lt23]

I don't know what state you live in, but this is easily a class action lawsuit.

I like how in the training videos they show only 1 customer in the whole store, and during the training classes it's implied that there will be 1 person at each workstation

I
To fix the problem they cut tech hours and tell us to stick to what the assignment board says as far as workstations. Oh and they suggest that we file scripts and do CII inventory on OUR OWN TIME and watch these mandatory videos during lunch breaks

t would be tolerable, but I would never take a position as PIC seeing as you have to answer for all of these metrics

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Every store's target went up (some more than others based on performance last year), unless you bombed then the target will be lowered. Mine was 75.

So I don't even bother about reaching target b/c CVS corporate does this to make it harder to reach your bonuses/incentives. That's one of the things I don't like about how CVS operates. You award the people who work hard and excel, not make it harder.

The target is always the same, which is 86.. or excellent. I don't think any target was lowered in the company. We were given fake targets to help us reach our ultimate goal of 86. I was complaining about taking a ****ty store, and making it almost perfect in a short period of time.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Our front store manager has been telling us all to update emails when we scan cvs cards but does this mean we will have more mycustomer emails sent? Does the email automatically populate into the patient's profile or do they have to sign up online for it to show up there? Basically I've been slacking on addressing by name when they don't use their cvs card since I assumed they wouldn't get a survey, but now I see that some patients have emails in their RX profile. Which email will the survey send to, or are they always the same email?

..... Yes, when you scan cvs cards, it will update the mycustomer emails more. Ideally, you want everyone to get that survey so you have a higher sample size. Stores that have more surveys usually do better. The reason why is customers who are pissed off will go out of the way to screw you over. If you have more people answering, it equals out that bad survey. If your store gives ****ty service anyway, then it doesn't matter... because no matter what, your score will be ****ty. In other words, give out CVS cards and update the e-mails because it can only HELP you.

Also like Old timer said, address people by name.... Even if you don't scan their cvs cards, the front will. I hate that **** because customers wont remember if your address them by name or not after 30 days. Usually my bad scores are from "within the past 30 days" which indicates that the got the survey from the front. Any scores with a time and date indicates it is a pharmacy survey and usually has good scores.

In either case, addressing name is an easy way to get points because no matter how long you take with their scripts, it is a yes or no question... so either you did it or not. If you do, then you get 12 points. I had many surveys where I got Yes - 1 - 1 - Yes..., So even if a customer is not happy with "fill time", I still get points on the Yes/ No questions. And yes... you will always have customers who thinks that it should only take a minute to fill a prescription.

For me, it is easier to address by name then do first fill counseling which is worth only 10 points.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

I like how in the training videos they show only 1 customer in the whole store, and during the training classes it's implied that there will be 1 person at each workstation

In reality 1 tech is running production and drive through while the other is running drop off and pick up while the pharmacist is giving 8 flu shots and you have 6 waiters, 3 pharmacy calls, and some 100 year old guy yelling because CVS called him for a refill reminder and he thinks it means that a script is filled and waiting

In my opinion customer satisfaction drops very quickly when people have to wait extensively for a script. If it was as easy as addressing by name and scanning their rewards card there would be no excuse not to get a top score... but unlike the fictional universe that corporate lives in more than one customer comes to the store at once, there is not 1 tech at every workstation, and dealing with rebills/flu-shots/checking in the order/CII inventory/filing scripts/adherence calls/refill requests/counseling/walking customer to the OTC item/etc all take time

To fix the problem they cut tech hours and tell us to stick to what the assignment board says as far as workstations. Oh and they suggest that we file scripts and do CII inventory on OUR OWN TIME and watch these mandatory videos during lunch breaks

Then they survey the techs to see if they are satisfied with CVS, the scores are horrible, so they tell the techs to come up with an action plan to improve these scores. Yeah so you don't like your job? Make an action plan on how you can enjoy it more...

I like the staff in my store, I don't mind the actual work, and you have the good and the bad customers as does any store... but I'm not really sure what to think about CVS as a company. Beings a staff pharmacist would be tolerable, but I would never take a position as PIC seeing as you have to answer for all of these metrics

Cvs has not cut tech hours for the last two years...

There might be stores that are not making their script budget and told to reduce their tech hours. There are also stores where they used a **** load of tech hours in the beginning of the year, and have to pay it back. Check with your PM.

Frankly, I do not see how CVS can cut anymore tech hours as we are operating with minimal hours.

A lot of times, if you are running all stations with 1 tech, it is because your PM did not do the schedule properly, you had a call out, your team members are telling everybody to come back at 6pm and not doing waiters in the morning, or your techs are not calling customers when there are issues so now everything is blowing up.

If you have 3 phone calls at a lower volume store, it is because your pharmacy is not enrolling prescriptions in readyfills. I bet you 2 out of those 3 phone calls are asking for refills on stuff that they take every month. If a customer calls me asking for refills on something that they take every month, I will ask them if they want us to automatically fill it for them next time so it will be in stock and they don't have to call it in anymore. If a person is calling to see if their scripts are ready or not, or if a doctor called in their script, I offer them text messaging so they will know next time.

Every store has its own challenges... but my store does 4k script volume and our phones are dead.

A few years ago before electronic prescribing, readyfills, text messages, it was off the hook (at 2-3k volume stores). Now, I get a lot less.

 

[M0df]

All the points are true regarding systems designed to reduce phone calls etc. But I'm not sure why you so firmly believe that across the whole company hours were not cut. I don't have access to such information to be so certain. I can't imagine you do even if you float often. I know others posted that hours were reduced. In any case, new budgets are coming and we shall see what they are. I just see your store as more of an outlier (as you said you managed few stores before and it did not go so smooth as here) in terms of staff and management.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

All the points are true regarding systems designed to reduce phone calls etc. But I'm not sure why you so firmly believe that across the whole company hours were not cut. I don't have access to such information to be so certain. I can't imagine you do even if you float often. I know others posted that hours were reduced. In any case, new budgets are coming and we shall see what they are. I just see your store as more of an outlier (as you said you managed few stores before and it did not go so smooth as here) in terms of staff and management.

Because I have seen it time and time again. Stores over use tech hours in the beginning of the year; stores not making script budget, and are forced to reduced their hours. The Pm instead of saying that hey, we used too many hours in the beginning, or we are now filling enough scripts just says corporate wants to cut our hours... so I cant have you work this day... or come in later..., or leave earlier.

I am not everywhere..., but I have transferred between markets. If anything, we have been asked to increase staffing, including extra pharmacist hours especially since the falling out of Walgreens and Medco.

If you can say that for certain, your store is not over payroll YTD, you are making your script budget, and that your sup asked you to cut hours, then okay... it is what it is. Also check your MCP (manager controlled profit) on your SOS. If it is a 1, it is a very good indicator that the pharmacy is being mis managed as mentioned above.

I don't understand why a store that is performing and bringing in sales above budget would be forced to cut hours to save marginal $...

especially when sales is hard to come by in today's market...

Its basic economics... more staff = more sales..., there is a marginal point where it is most efficient. If you cut below that point, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Upper management don't get an increased bonus from saving tech hours. They get bonuses based on sales.

 

[M0df]

I wasn't referring to late season push to get under budgets. That has always been the case. At this point my supervisor is focusing on utilizing mySchedule and scheduling to demand.

I have seen tech and/or rph hours cut in my current store and previous stores year to year even with targets achieved. They might have been relatively minor reductions, but they were there. And I would hear PICs from other stores questioning that part.

 

[NateRobinson]

As for people going nuts about sample size and how 50 surveys a month isn't enough, WELCOME TO LIFE.

Anyone know what Nielsen ratings are? There are 99 million TV's in the USA. Only 20,000 homes have Nielsen boxes. So, shows are judged on this small sample size. You don't see tv directors going nuts and saying "well maybe the other 98 million people are watching but these 20,000 aren't!!!"

Myce ISNT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT nor fair some of the time. Neither are Nielsen ratings. Or mostly anything in life. Learn to adapt. Stop bitching and learn to survive.

 

[doublehh03]

Upper management don't get an increased bonus from saving tech hours..

That's ABSOLUTELY false.

 

[doublehh03]

I wasn't referring to late season push to get under budgets. That has always been the case. At this point my supervisor is focusing on utilizing mySchedule and scheduling to demand.

I have seen tech and/or rph hours cut in my current store and previous stores year to year even with targets achieved. They might have been relatively minor reductions, but they were there. And I would hear PICs from other stores questioning that part.

MySchedule demand isn't accurate for every store as it is still new. It does cut some stores, and over on some stores. You need to talk with your sup about that.

 

[doublehh03]

The target is always the same, which is 86.. or excellent. I don't think any target was lowered in the company. We were given fake targets to help us reach our ultimate goal of 86. I was complaining about taking a ****ty store, and making it almost perfect in a short period of time.

Stores that struggle or didn't meet target will have their targets lowered. I took over a store after my recent market transfer that vastly under-performed and had their MCE and C/P targets lowered by 2 points.

CVS reassesses your past year's performance in comparison to the chain's performance, and generate your target.

 

[doublehh03]

As for people going nuts about sample size and how 50 surveys a month isn't enough, WELCOME TO LIFE.

Anyone know what Nielsen ratings are? There are 99 million TV's in the USA. Only 20,000 homes have Nielsen boxes. So, shows are judged on this small sample size. You don't see tv directors going nuts and saying "well maybe the other 98 million people are watching but these 20,000 aren't!!!"

Myce ISNT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT nor fair some of the time. Neither are Nielsen ratings. Or mostly anything in life. Learn to adapt. Stop bitching and learn to survive.

Pretty much. Everywhere you work, there will be methods to judge your performance by. CVS is no different.

But MCE is a huge metric at CVS. You do well on that, you can go over 20-30 tech/rph hours and no one can say a bleep.

 

[SClENCE]

Cvs has not cut tech hours for the last two years...

There might be stores that are not making their script budget and told to reduce their tech hours. There are also stores where they used a **** load of tech hours in the beginning of the year, and have to pay it back. Check with your PM.

Frankly, I do not see how CVS can cut anymore tech hours as we are operating with minimal hours.

A lot of times, if you are running all stations with 1 tech, it is because your PM did not do the schedule properly, you had a call out, your team members are telling everybody to come back at 6pm and not doing waiters in the morning, or your techs are not calling customers when there are issues so now everything is blowing up.

If you have 3 phone calls at a lower volume store, it is because your pharmacy is not enrolling prescriptions in readyfills. I bet you 2 out of those 3 phone calls are asking for refills on stuff that they take every month. If a customer calls me asking for refills on something that they take every month, I will ask them if they want us to automatically fill it for them next time so it will be in stock and they don't have to call it in anymore. If a person is calling to see if their scripts are ready or not, or if a doctor called in their script, I offer them text messaging so they will know next time.

Every store has its own challenges... but my store does 4k script volume and our phones are dead.

A few years ago before electronic prescribing, readyfills, text messages, it was off the hook (at 2-3k volume stores). Now, I get a lot less.

Actually the tech hours were cut in January and now they are reducing them again. The DM said the reason is because of lowering reimbursements. I wouldn't know but there is no question that the hours are cut. We are actually #2 in our district in script count!

A lot of the phone calls are actually people calling to figure out WHICH SCRIPT WAS FILLED because it is on ReadyFill. Inquisitions on refill requests/prior auths... asking what their co-pay will be etc. The funny thing is when Walmart fills a script the text notification tells you the medication and the co-pay. And then there are the people who are calling in attempt to get their CIII filled early and the people wanting to know how much the electric toothbrushes cost (no joke). And then there's the 90 year old guy who walks into the store with his outdated Medicare card... the guy in line behind him who is furious because we won't bill two primary insurances on the same script, and the lady at the drive through who thinks we are trying to kill her because her insurance won't cover her medication. If it wasn't for these customers that take a good 10-20 minutes to get out of the store we would be okay... but these issues are what the tech hours do not account for

I actually don't mind working for CVS... I think that the people that work in my store are GREAT. As far as CVS as a company... I'm still not sure how I feel but based on their poor training program, and brief interactions with our DM I am not impressed. My PIC and the two staff pharmacists and even a floater have to me not to work for CVS as a pharmacist. It's hard to ignore such strong opinions by multiple people who have been in the field for decades

The only good reason that I can think of to work for CVS is the fact that I have already learned their computer system. This week one of our staff pharmacists denied a fill on Oxy that was 8 days early. Had to explain the story to 4 different people from corporate! It would be comforting to know that the company your work for cares about the health of the patient and values the license of their pharmacist, but at CVS I'm not sure that's the case.

 

[Old Timer]

CVS DOES NOT cut tech hours during the year. In the almost 14 years I worked for them they only changed operating budgets once and that was when Walgreens was dumb enough to have the falling out with ESI. They raised budgets mid year. Other than that, corporate does not mess with operating budgets during the year. Your PIC or DM may make you reduce hours if you have gone over previously or if your district is over hours.

Over the last 2 years CVS has reduced my tech hours each year. In 2013 they kept my hours the same but raised my scripts and in 2014 they kept my scripts the same and lowered my tech hours. They also lowered my pharmacist hours each year.

They are moving control of everything to Rhode Island. DM's and Supervisors had the ability to move hours around their respective districts as long as they stay within budgets. Not any more. They think every store is the same and can use the same model as if an urban inner city store is the same as upscale suburban store which is the same as rural store.

MCE is a complete and total joke. There are not enough surveys. With over 2500 scripts per week I am rated on less than 25 surveys every month. Additionally there is no data integrity. I love the surveys where they say they had 10 in stock, 10 partials and 10 out of stocks. Sure that's a real accurate survey. Of course some time you luck out like this week when I got a survey and they said they had 90 in stock rxs. 90, really. Or the customer that gives you a 4 for wait time and then leaves a comment that it really should be a 5. They can't edit the data. But in the words of Hyman Roth, this is the business we have chosen. This is what they want so you give them what they want. If they want you to address people by name, you do it.

 

[HouTX]

and there's a crack...

 

[brianna05]

CVS does in fact cut tech hours whenever they want. In my district, we were instructed earlier this year not to use our tech hours that was printed on the green sheets. Instead our Rx supervisor would email us the hours that we could use on a monthly basis which was based on the script count for the previous month. They would give us "options" for example we could use 160 hours weekly for the 4 weeks in the month or if we felt we would be busier the first two weeks of the month then we could do 170, 170, 150, 150 hours weekly which would still average out to 160 hours. However since MySchedule came out they have pretty much left us alone as long as we are at 81% optimization.

 

[brianna05]

A

 

[brianna05]

Also starting November 1st we have to do split shifts (NO OVERLAP). Our store is 8-9 Monday to Friday and 8-6 Saturday and 10-6 Sunday. That works out to 83 hours weekly.....split between 2 pharmacists that is 41.5 hours weekly. So now we have to work at least 3 split shifts every week, one of the days that the split has to be Mondays. They leave is up to the pharmacists how they will do the split as long as the math works out to 41.5 hours weekly. My partner and I just split it in the middle so we will each work 6.5 hours on the days that we split. This is in Florida.

 

[Old Timer]

CVS does in fact cut tech hours whenever they want. In my district, we were instructed earlier this year not to use our tech hours that was printed on the green sheets. Instead our Rx supervisor would email us the hours that we could use on a monthly basis which was based on the script count for the previous month. They would give us "options" for example we could use 160 hours weekly for the 4 weeks in the month or if we felt we would be busier the first two weeks of the month then we could do 170, 170, 150, 150 hours weekly which would still average out to 160 hours. However since MySchedule came out they have pretty much left us alone as long as we are at 81% optimization.

No that's not CVS, that's your field team. When the green sheets change that's CVS changing it. Just because your field management cant handle staffing and hours does not mean Rhode Island reduced hours.

 

[owlegrad]

We were told our hours might change to account for hydro going CII, has anyone seen that happen?

 

[M0df]

MySchedule demand isn't accurate for every store as it is still new. It does cut some stores, and over on some stores. You need to talk with your sup about that.

No argument about MySchedule being inaccurate versus green sheets but my sup is fairly new and talking to him about it led me nowhere.

As a side note, front store lost hours when CVS stopped selling cigarettes.

What Old Timer says makes sense regarding shifting of controls to RI but I think the 'flex' is disappearing in general. While I'm told I still have freedom to move around hours to serve the needs of the business, in reality, I have no hours to move around.

 

[doublehh03]

We were told our hours might change to account for hydro going CII, has anyone seen that happen?

Nope. MySchedule still hasn't accounted for such consuming tasks such as Waiting Bin or load for a lot of stores.

 

[doublehh03]

No argument about MySchedule being inaccurate versus green sheets but my sup is fairly new and talking to him about it led me nowhere.

As a side note, front store lost hours when CVS stopped selling cigarettes.

What Old Timer says makes sense regarding shifting of controls to RI but I think the 'flex' is disappearing in general. While I'm told I still have freedom to move around hours to serve the needs of the business, in reality, I have no hours to move around.

Bring up script counts, flu shots... and discuss that with MySchedule hours. I negotiated with my sup and I was able to at least "flex" based on my needs.

The general rule is, if you want to use "extra" hours, your MCE has to justify it.

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

Corporate bonus is based mostly on EBIT targets for business unit which can be improved by cutting hours or increasing sales or a combination of both

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

CVS does in fact cut tech hours whenever they want. In my district, we were instructed earlier this year not to use our tech hours that was printed on the green sheets. Instead our Rx supervisor would email us the hours that we could use on a monthly basis which was based on the script count for the previous month. They would give us "options" for example we could use 160 hours weekly for the 4 weeks in the month or if we felt we would be busier the first two weeks of the month then we could do 170, 170, 150, 150 hours weekly which would still average out to 160 hours. However since MySchedule came out they have pretty much left us alone as long as we are at 81% optimization.

That is your supervisor. Not CVS.

Your supervisor is micromanaging that probably because the district as a whole was way over hours.... (once again, not a cut... you guys are paying back the hours that you used).

Keep in mind, this does not mean that your hours are being cut. He Is just "micro-managing it" based on script count. If you were given 1000 tech hours for a budget of 10k scripts, but you fill only 100 scripts, of course he would reduce your hours to 10 tech hours.