Had a chat with CVS DM...

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Doctor M

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Ok, so today I had a patient call me and request that i dispense the same manufacturer of lisinopril that CVS had dispensed to her...I asked what manufacturer it was and she had no idea...shes elderly and she couldnt describe the pill as she cant see very well...She was a walk in a few days ago and asked me to transfer her lisnopril from the CVS up the street (the one I quit from)...I did as she asked...Today I called CVS to get the manufacturer and to my surprise the District manager got on the phone after he heard the tech say my name...He went on to ask me how business was and i said it was going well...Well, then the guy goes on to say how it was really bad how I departed the company and it wasnt the smartest move...He then asks what i wanted and i said i just needed to know the manufacturer of the pts lisinopril...He then went on to say how good of service that CVS has and why doesnt the patient call to ask...I told him she asked me to call and he said well, we have many manufacturers of lisinopril so the patient will need to call...Ohhh, ok, thats fine I said....and I hung up...

Needless to say, that CVS and I share information all the time...when its about the patient and business is put aside...For christ sake, its lisnopril, a $4 dollar drug...you douche bag...Anyway, leaving that company was the best thing I ever did...
 
how do we unite every independents in the us and turn it into the largest retail chain?
 
Its Z said:
how do we unite every independents in the us and turn it into the largest retail chain?
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Wouldn't that turn it into a corporation? Next thing you know there will be cuts in staffing.
 
mmmm no. its to create a bigger buying and bargaining power. how do u cut staffing of indys????? thats a stupid comment.
 
Its Z said:
mmmm no. its to create a bigger buying and bargaining power. how do u cut staffing of indys????? thats a stupid comment.
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We have more tech help than u can imagine...We pay them well and they are fed everyday...we are a small family...staffing will never be cut unless we lost all business...
 
Its Z said:
how do we unite every independents in the us and turn it into the largest retail chain?
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I would love to see this happen. I keep thinking that independents might make a real comeback if corporate chains keep doing some of the things they are doing. I wish I had the answers on how to pull it all together though.
 
pharaday said:
I would love to see this happen. I keep thinking that independents might make a real comeback if corporate chains keep doing some of the things they are doing. I wish I had the answers on how to pull it all together though.
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If I had the seed money, I'd open up my own pharmacy...I know the niche I'd carve out, too. There is a certain type of pharmacy that would CLEAN UP in a semi-rural area North of where I live now. I just don't have any scratch. It sucks having tons of good ideas and no capitol.
 
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Its Z said:
how do we unite every independents in the us and turn it into the largest retail chain?
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This will never work. One any two stores get to close to each other, they become competitors. I almost died trying to get this off the ground in the 90's. I even set up a deal with HBS where we could have a common database for drug interaction checking. Nobody would go for it. Why should I pay the same amt as Sam, he does twice as much volume, he should pat more.
 
eh... don't be dissin' her nuclear pharmacy is the ****. i'd be doing that right now if i could find a job in it. it's much better than retail. same pay, less stress, weekends off, holidays off, no insurance to deal with, no angry customers, no phone ringing off the hook, no traffic on the road when you go to work at 2 am (who needs sleep anyway?), i could go all day 🙂
 
johnconner said:
I really wish this would happen, but I don't see it happening because the majority of customers don't see or feel how badly we are understaffed. They don't care.
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Completely agree. I think independents would have to really offer something special in order to draw people away from the chains in large numbers. I think it can be done, but it would require some real business skills and strategic planning. Oh, and lots of money. It certainly is risky.
 
That DM is definitely a dick. Having bosses like that is what is wrong with retail. And corporate greed. If I had the money I'd open my own pharmacy. If I'm still alive when they legalize medical marijuana in my state, I'll definitely open one up then. I would have a pharmacy/weed dispensary. I'd have TVs in my waiting area with ESPN on all the time. And a soda fountain. My pharmacy would be the pimp ****. And I would openly carry my Glock to guard my weed and CIIs.
 
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GamecockPharmD said:
That DM is definitely a dick. Having bosses like that is what is wrong with retail. And corporate greed. If I had the money I'd open my own pharmacy. If I'm still alive when they legalize medical marijuana in my state, I'll definitely open one up then. I would have a pharmacy/weed dispensary. I'd have TVs in my waiting area with ESPN on all the time. And a soda fountain. My pharmacy would be the pimp ****. And I would openly carry my Glock to guard my weed and CIIs.
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with a weed dispensary, you'd do well to carry large quantities of chips and cheesy poofs too. maybe pizza by the slice... :laugh:
 
The point in uniting indy's isn't to drive away competition between them. Whoever said competition was bad in business anyways?

You've got to look at their purchasing power, and how to stay afloat facing the leverage a mega chain has.

Essentially, the trick is to form a pseudo GPO. And that's pretty much what UPPI does for indy nuclear pharmacies. (And yes Mikey...I did say pharmacy. Ignorance is bliss, I know). But the point is, it allows them to present a united business front to compete with Cardinal, GE, Triads out there. It would be awful hard for them to survive otherwise without that collective purchasing power and competitive pricing.

Make no mistake though, there's still competition amongst eachother. They still call the shots and are their own business...but the indy landscape sure is a lot stronger with their buying power grouped under one umbrella.
 
There are local chains of independents. Mississippi Discount Drugs comes to mind. I don't know if a national one would work, but I think regional/state chains of independents would work well.
 
Its Z said:
mmmm no. its to create a bigger buying and bargaining power. how do u cut staffing of indys????? thats a stupid comment.
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I thought that's why a lot of the independents joined into a cooperative to increase their buying power?
 
GamecockPharmD said:
That DM is definitely a dick. Having bosses like that is what is wrong with retail. And corporate greed. If I had the money I'd open my own pharmacy. If I'm still alive when they legalize medical marijuana in my state, I'll definitely open one up then. I would have a pharmacy/weed dispensary. I'd have TVs in my waiting area with ESPN on all the time. And a soda fountain. My pharmacy would be the pimp ****. And I would openly carry my Glock to guard my weed and CIIs.
Click to expand...

I will take your pharmacy/weed dispensary, with TVs in the waiting area with ESPN, a soda fountain and raise you:

Flat screens with a PS3/Xbox 360 to keep the sick kids occupied, while they wait. Run Madden tournaments after the pharmacy closes and win the money back that I paid to the techs for working.

Also, hookah bar next door. (Health risks are unknown right now.)

I'm actually gonna go to my friend's hookah bar and do some research on the effects. Take baseline blood pressure, pulse, and a lung spirometry test before the hookah session and after the hookah session.

Use the data, and track the results of the customers.
 
Sparda29 said:
I will take your pharmacy/weed dispensary, with TVs in the waiting area with ESPN, a soda fountain and raise you:

Flat screens with a PS3/Xbox 360 to keep the sick kids occupied, while they wait. Run Madden tournaments after the pharmacy closes and win the money back that I paid to the techs for working.

Also, hookah bar next door. (Health risks are unknown right now.)

I'm actually gonna go to my friend's hookah bar and do some research on the effects. Take baseline blood pressure, pulse, and a lung spirometry test before the hookah session and after the hookah session.

Use the data, and track the results of the customers.
Click to expand...

Take a drink, folks.

I've seen some Touro kids running around at Montefiore. Nice white coats.
 
Praziquantel86 said:
Take a drink, folks.

I've seen some Touro kids running around at Montefiore. Nice white coats.
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We're still playing the hookah bar reference = take a drink game, huh? I was hoping on getting Montefiore for my site but apparently everyone wants to go there so it's hard to get. I better get that site for my Internal Med or Infectious Disease rotation or I'm gonna raise some hell. If I ever get Richmond Medical Center in Staten Island, I'm gonna go insane since it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from Long Island. The Belt Parkway is messed up all the time except for like 3AM. Unless they have cheapo apartments in Staten Island that I can rent for a month or two.
 
Sparda29 said:
We're still playing the hookah bar reference = take a drink game, huh? I was hoping on getting Montefiore for my site but apparently everyone wants to go there so it's hard to get. I better get that site for my Internal Med or Infectious Disease rotation or I'm gonna raise some hell. If I ever get Richmond Medical Center in Staten Island, I'm gonna go insane since it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from Long Island. The Belt Parkway is messed up all the time except for like 3AM. Unless they have cheapo apartments in Staten Island that I can rent for a month or two.
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Depends on what time your rotation starts. If you have to be there at 5:30 or 6 AM, then traffic isn't going to be an issue. Coming back is another story. Takes me about 25 minutes to get in in the morning with no traffic and 1.5 - 2 hours to get back.

General rule: internal med rounds at ~9, ID rounds in the afternoon, surgeons are < 7:30 AM. Figure on getting there at least an hour before that time.
 
These are the travel times for Montefiore from Long Island right? The problem it seems to be right now is, the faculty members who work there want us there during the hours that they are there (not necessarily the preceptor).

Dr. V, the clinical pharmacist/ID specialist I believe is the faculty member for us at Montefiore. Insanely smart guy, hands down favorite professor of the year. Except he always grills people when it comes to Cardio and Infectious Disease topics. I know he's gonna be asking a crap load of questions when I present on Telavancin in Skin/Skin Structure infections this Friday.
 
There are networks of independents. For instance, for high cost meds that are ordered and need to be sent back, other independents may need that med and make it easier than being in a position to eat the cost.

And I agree that the DM was inappropriate since the call was with regards to patient care, not business aspects.

And lastly, what on earth was that link spiriva posted? Was it to a pharm rep convention? 😀
 
Sparda29 said:
These are the travel times for Montefiore from Long Island right? The problem it seems to be right now is, the faculty members who work there want us there during the hours that they are there (not necessarily the preceptor).

Dr. V, the clinical pharmacist/ID specialist I believe is the faculty member for us at Montefiore. Insanely smart guy, hands down favorite professor of the year. Except he always grills people when it comes to Cardio and Infectious Disease topics. I know he's gonna be asking a crap load of questions when I present on Telavancin in Skin/Skin Structure infections this Friday.
Click to expand...

Yeah, exit 43 to Monte. I'm not sure what you mean by the hours - do they want more or less out of you? Either way, you have to deal with it. Depending on the rotation, you can put in four hour days (done that) or 15+ hour days (doing that). Just the way it is.

Televancin's interesting. It has a lot of potential, but I don't think its being studied for the right things.
 
Praziquantel86 said:
Yeah, exit 43 to Monte. I'm not sure what you mean by the hours - do they want more or less out of you? Either way, you have to deal with it. Depending on the rotation, you can put in four hour days (done that) or 15+ hour days (doing that). Just the way it is.

Televancin's interesting. It has a lot of potential, but I don't think its being studied for the right things.
Click to expand...

They want me there 8AM-4PM which drops me right into ****ing rush hour. I'd prefer something like 6AM-2PM or 11AM-7PM. Or hell, even a night shift. The problem with 8AM-4PM and 9AM-5PM shifts is that the majority of people who work, are 9AM-5PM, so you gotta deal with all that traffic, which is getting to be a little bit of a headache with my manual transmission car.

Wait, nice white coats? There should only be P3s there right now and we got some crappy really short white coats from the school. The P2s and the P1s got the balling white coats, I had to go and custom order my own.
 
Doctor M does your pharmacy have an internet site? I'm just curious to check it out. I'm looking into opening up my own pharmacy when I graduate 😉
 
GamecockPharmD said:
eh... don't be dissin' her nuclear pharmacy is the ****. i'd be doing that right now if i could find a job in it. it's much better than retail. same pay, less stress, weekends off, holidays off, no insurance to deal with, no angry customers, no phone ringing off the hook, no traffic on the road when you go to work at 2 am (who needs sleep anyway?), i could go all day 🙂
Click to expand...

same pay? interesting. and what would that be?
 
GamecockPharmD said:
That DM is definitely a dick. Having bosses like that is what is wrong with retail. And corporate greed. If I had the money I'd open my own pharmacy. If I'm still alive when they legalize medical marijuana in my state, I'll definitely open one up then. I would have a pharmacy/weed dispensary. I'd have TVs in my waiting area with ESPN on all the time. And a soda fountain. My pharmacy would be the pimp ****. And I would openly carry my Glock to guard my weed and CIIs.
Click to expand...

Hell yea!! I will come and work for you....😎
 
Tell CVS DM, you are doing almost 500 rx/day in less than 2 years (about ~$11+M/year business in RX) and ask him how's that a bad move?
 
Momus said:
Tell CVS DM, you are doing almost 500 rx/day in less than 2 years (about ~$11+M/year business in RX) and ask him how's that a bad move?
Click to expand...

correction, we are doing 800-850 weekly. 500 daily would be insane.
 
pharaday said:
Completely agree. I think independents would have to really offer something special in order to draw people away from the chains in large numbers. I think it can be done, but it would require some real business skills and strategic planning. Oh, and lots of money. It certainly is risky.
Click to expand...

I think we will make a comeback and I have the solution.......STARBUCKS! Every independent would benefit from a STARBUCKS in the lobby.

I'm so glad I work for an Independent. The thought of working for a big box store makes me vomit in my mouth.

As a former Bartender for 6 years prior to and throughout my undergrad, I would like to take this time to unveil my new concept for Independent Pharmacies:

MUGS AND DRUGS!!!!!!

That's right right folks, the first ever Bar/Pharmacy.

ENJOY OUR DAILY SPECIALS!!!!!!

Methadone Martini Mondays
Two for one Perc-tastic Tuesdays
Beer and Benzo Wednesday
Thiazolidinedione Thursdays
Furosemide Fridays (Free beer until the first person pees)

*All specialty cocktails served in souvenir mortar and pestle mug

For those Pharmacies in the Red Light District we offer a special upgrade to....

MUGS, DRUGS, and JUGS!!!!!!!!

Up grade today and receive discounts on EMP shaped stripper poles.

Call for Franchising Requests: 1-877-797-DRUG

**********Free T-shirt for those who recognize the cleverness of my phone number**********
 
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Sparda29 said:
Hmmm....nope. I'll go with a company that doesn't support Zionism.

*Awaits impending political war breaking out on pharmacy forums* :whistle:
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Sparda: You just really like to drum up controversy, don't you? Remember, Pharmacy is a very small world, despite what you might think 😉

Besides, I wouldn't care what the company stands for if it is going to revenue. It's just business.
 
kvl1027 said:
Sparda: You just really like to drum up controversy, don't you? Remember, Pharmacy is a very small world, despite what you might think 😉

Besides, I wouldn't care what the company stands for if it is going to revenue. It's just business.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how he can talk in real life with his tongue implanted so far in his cheek.
 
kvl1027 said:
Sparda: You just really like to drum up controversy, don't you? Remember, Pharmacy is a very small world, despite what you might think 😉

Besides, I wouldn't care what the company stands for if it is going to revenue. It's just business.
Click to expand...

Definitely enjoy the posts though.
 
kvl1027 said:
Sparda: You just really like to drum up controversy, don't you? Remember, Pharmacy is a very small world, despite what you might think 😉

Besides, I wouldn't care what the company stands for if it is going to revenue. It's just business.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've found that it's a pretty small world. For example, one of the pharmacists that I'm working with right now at my rotation site went to pharmacy school with my ex-girlfriend's brother. 😱 There was a strong possibility of my ex-girlfriend's sister becoming one of my professors since she was planning on applying and she knew a bunch of professors at Touro from their time at LIU.

Back to the political thing. If I have my own chain pharmacy and I'm providing financial support to "terrorist" organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, I'm pretty sure that when the Feds come knocking, I'm not gonna be able to say "It's just business."
 
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