CVS tips

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museabuse said:
it's not in our control. We have someOne who gets tons of rxs and their UPS insurance allows them brand for 2.50. The family gets 10 rxs per family member. We order brand just for them and all of their meds have generic. What is the incentive for them if it's not cheaper. I know we would make goal if not for this family, should I tell them to go to other pharmacy because my management doesn't like my generic substitution rates? Plus she always uses target coupons for gift cards. She called corporate and we have to take them even though she probably gets over 2000 dollars in gift cards a year.
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One family will not destroy your GSR.

museabuse said:
If oldtimer doesn't think it's a shifty metric, to base your bonus on then cvs must have implanted a microchip in his brain.
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No, it's an important indicator of profitability.The more generics you use the more money you make. It's a very small part of your bonus. It's 25% of your execution which is only a component of your bonus. Nobody is loosing their bonus over this. I may agree that the GSR numbers are unrealistic, but not important or shifty. No they are important. By the way, I had way more pressure to dispense generics at independents than I ever had at CVS.

museabuse said:
Oh and I think pci calls are good for maintainance meds and readyfill is good for maitainance meds but it IS ridiculous that we are calling on Flonase, xyzal, and albuterol inhalors(16 days after they got it).
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I agree that there are some PRN meds that should not be on the call list. I just use that call to see how they are doing with their allergies/asthma. Make sure they are on controller meds if they are on asthma. I don't push the refills. Remember they measure how many people you reach, not how many rxs you fill. Also, Albuterol inhalers should never ever ever go out with days supply of less than 25. If you don't know why, please review the NHLBI guidelines for the treatment of asthma in regards to rescue inhalers.
 
Oldtimer said:
. I may agree that the GSR numbers are unrealistic,


I agree that there are some PRN meds that should not be on the call list. I just use that call to see how they are doing with their allergies/asthma. rs.
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wow your not as brainwashed as I thought you were 🙂. Gsr is a good metric for profitability, I agree and talk people to generic all the time, I think most stores might hit their goal if you don't include synthroid in the calculations. The brand is relatively cheap and alot of pts on it are scared to change and a lot of drs are scared too. There is one dr with a stamp for synthroid that say "daw 1 if you dispense generic you WILL be reported to board".
 
museabuse said:
wow your not as brainwashed as I thought you were 🙂. Gsr is a good metric for profitability, I agree and talk people to generic all the time, I think most stores might hit their goal if you don't include synthroid in the calculations. The brand is relatively cheap and alot of pts on it are scared to change and a lot of drs are scared too. There is one dr with a stamp for synthroid that say "daw 1 if you dispense generic you WILL be reported to board".
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The brand is no longer cheap. I have no trouble with Synthroid. What I have trouble with is Medicare Part D patients with extra help where the spread between brand and generics is only $2.30. There is too big an incentive to take the name brand as these patients are exempt from the doughnut hole...
 
Old Timer, you say it doesn't matter if they refill, as long as you talk to them for 30 seconds. However, the knew Key Performance Measurements (KPM) now print to show how successful you were at helping them refill "past due scripts." Many of these are those rescue inhalers, NSAIDs and nasal sprays.

I still agree with you on everything else though.
 
OUTexan said:
Old Timer, you say it doesn't matter if they refill, as long as you talk to them for 30 seconds. However, the knew Key Performance Measurements (KPM) now print to show how successful you were at helping them refill "past due scripts." Many of these are those rescue inhalers, NSAIDs and nasal sprays.

I still agree with you on everything else though.
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The KPM's are just a guide to see how you are doing. I am not going to do anything against my professional judgment. I don't know how they decide what drugs get included. Some of it stumps me.... My job is to communicate with the patient and then make a determination based on our conversation. If I don't fill enough, well that's just tough....
 
Old Timer said:
The KPM's are just a guide to see how you are doing. I am not going to do anything against my professional judgment. I don't know how they decide what drugs get included. Some of it stumps me.... My job is to communicate with the patient and then make a determination based on our conversation. If I don't fill enough, well that's just tough....
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👍
 
Sparda29 said:
I just don't like the idea of the phone calls associated with Readyfill. None of the patients ever know what is being said on the phone call. And of course, the automated system leave's OUR store's # as the callback number, so then they call us, and we have no idea why they were called, or they just show up at the store.

Instead, CVS should have like a live call center somewhere.
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This is one of my main complaints about it - it used to be that it was pretty easy to figure out why a customer had been called, because we were the ones doing the calling. Now you have to hunt around and figure out, was it a PCI call, was it an automated call because of Readyfill, or did we actually call the patient ourselves for something important. Very frustrating.

I also read somewhere last week they are testing a call center in RI.
 
Old Timer said:
First of all, I get a lunch break every day..... The same as when I was at an independent....
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Really?? I assume this means you are at a 24 hour store that has pharmacist overlap every day, which means that you are doing 500-600+ a day? Because I've been with CVS for over 8 years, and I've never seen a situation where the pharmacist got a lunch break every day unless they worked in the above situation. And, even the busiest store in our district has had pharmacist overlap hours cut.
 
rxlynn said:
Really?? I assume this means you are at a 24 hour store that has pharmacist overlap every day, which means that you are doing 500-600+ a day? Because I've been with CVS for over 8 years, and I've never seen a situation where the pharmacist got a lunch break every day unless they worked in the above situation. And, even the busiest store in our district has had pharmacist overlap hours cut.
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Again, he workes in an alteranate universe. CVS on mars or something like that. Everything he says completly condradicts what every CVS pharmacist has ever said about the working conditions and the company.
 
MountainPharmD said:
Again, he workes in an alteranate universe. CVS on mars or something like that. Everything he says completly condradicts what every CVS pharmacist has ever said about the working conditions and the company.
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I have to agree here...when i use to work for the great evil, i never ever got to eat lunch. They cut Rph hours, we filled about 3000 weekley; and our supervisor would come in and see that we were busy and running around and we never got the hint of more help! WTFFFF???That is why I left and opened shop...cause the conditions suck and is not worth it. I dont know what CVS oldtimer works at but its not the Norm!
 
rxlynn said:
This is one of my main complaints about it - it used to be that it was pretty easy to figure out why a customer had been called, because we were the ones doing the calling. Now you have to hunt around and figure out, was it a PCI call, was it an automated call because of Readyfill, or did we actually call the patient ourselves for something important. Very frustrating.

I also read somewhere last week they are testing a call center in RI.
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God I hope they go to a call center! That would really really really be good for me! 🙂
 
Sparda29 said:
You can shut down the pharmacy and go for lunch? Or are you just in the corner of the pharmacy eating your food. The latter isn't a lunch break.
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I agree. A lunch break is actually getting to leave the pharmacy for 30 uninterrupted minutes. Not sitting in the corner shoving food in your mouth as fast as you can so you can get back to work.

I worked for Kroger in Colorado. The pharmacists we were part of a union. We got a 1-hour lunch break everyday (combined 30 minute unpaid lunch and two 15 minute paid breaks). We also got time and a half for overtime. Myself, 2 staff pharmacists and 7 technicians for half the volume Doctor M was doing.
 
MountainPharmD said:
I agree. A lunch break is actually getting to leave the pharmacy for 30 uninterrupted minutes. Not sitting in the corner shoving food in your mouth as fast as you can so you can get back to work.

I worked for Kroger in Colorado. The pharmacists we were part of a union. We got a 1-hour lunch break everyday (combined 30 minute unpaid lunch and two 15 minute paid breaks). We also got time and a half for overtime. Myself, 2 staff pharmacists and 7 technicians for half the volume Doctor M was doing.
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Yep, my supervising pharmacist didn't like me taking lunch breaks at all. At first he was like, nope you can't leave but you can have the food delivered here. I had to help train the other tech who worked with me so I could take my breaks.
 
Sparda29 said:
Yep, my supervising pharmacist didn't like me taking lunch breaks at all. At first he was like, nope you can't leave but you can have the food delivered here. I had to help train the other tech who worked with me so I could take my breaks.
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Why doesn't someone go to the State Department of Labor and file a wage and hour complaint? If you are routinely denied lunches and breaks CVS can be fined big time and forced to pay you back wages. Since I know all of you who work for CVS on earth (this excludes you Old Timer) do not get lunches and breaks, file a complaint!
 
Back to back 14 hour shifts w/ no lunch breaks. Fun fun. At least I'm still young. W/E

Anyways, back to topic. My current store really needs some help. Triple S scores for July was 66% ( Previous score was ~80ish). Our main issue is inventory. A lot of products are OOS. Drama between PIC and front store manager, including PIC being late a lot, caused the PIC to be fired on the spot. At least from what I heard.

Just started working in this store for ~3 weeks, including just started working as A pharmacist. Funny thing is, our new PIC is not here for another couple weeks.

So far, working on keeping things in stock, asking pts about readyfill ( a lot don't know what it is...however, a large population are the eldery, and seem to want to stick with calling in refills...trying to inform them about this program), increasing generic fill rates.. etc etc.
 
ForcedEntry said:
Cycle counts are your friend
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This is sage advice. Start with cycle counting everything you have been out of for the last two months. You can run a report on the inventory menu. X-11 or X-12 or on the main menu. The start a project where your techs will cycle count everything in the store. Assign each tech a section and have them work on it whenever they have spare time.
 
So I'm just curious...are pharmacist (health professionals, many of which have doctorate degrees) still "underneath" the store managers (with their B.S. from Uncle Joe's School of Business) in some places?

I remember vividly my days at Kroger and the pharmacists having to take orders from store managers. One of the many, many, MANY reasons I refuse to work at a retail chain ever...e v e r....
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
So I'm just curious...are pharmacist (health professionals, many of which have doctorate degrees) still "underneath" the store managers (with their B.S. from Uncle Joe's School of Business) in some places?

I remember vividly my days at Kroger and the pharmacists having to take orders from store managers. One of the many, many, MANY reasons I refuse to work at a retail chain ever...e v e r....
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At CVS, store managers are PIC's are equal. You have overlapping areas of authority. You have to work together. But when push comes to shove I recall the words my partner spoke when some a-hole front store person gave him a hard time:

Go up front & stack some toilet paper, we're saving lives back here....
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Doesn't help that we have tech vs. store manager drama. Le sigh.

At least our score jumped from 66 to 97%.

And I finally learn to love the importance of cycle counts. How about dealing with Cardinal orders (outside vendor orders)? Wasn't informed of this, but I'm assuming if it is not a warehouse order (medication not "purple"), it is fine to order through outside vendors?
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Just the PIC? Weak.
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Not really. Any other staff pharmacist is acting as the PIC when the PIC is not there. It has never been an issue for me. What power do I need to wield over a front store manager. You are part of a team. Your job is to work together....
 
stevephhs016 said:
Doesn't help that we have tech vs. store manager drama. Le sigh.

At least our score jumped from 66 to 97%.

And I finally learn to love the importance of cycle counts. How about dealing with Cardinal orders (outside vendor orders)? Wasn't informed of this, but I'm assuming if it is not a warehouse order (medication not "purple"), it is fine to order through outside vendors?
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This is correct.
 
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