If you're a pharmacist in Tennessee, please take this workplace and well being survey from TPA.

[BackRowChi]

Calling ALL Pharmacists and Pharmacy Professionals: Participate in TPA's Pharmacy Practice Environment Study - Tennessee Pharmacists Association

January 25, 2020 As your professional membership organization, the Tennessee Pharmacists Association’s mission is to advance, protect, and promote high-quality, pharmacist-provided patient care in Tennessee. In fulfilling this mission, it is important for TPA to accurately understand your...

www.tnpharm.org

This is one tool to expose deteriorating pharmacy workplace conditions. If you do not yourself work in Tennessee, please pass it along to your friends that do.

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

fellow P4 here, 3 weeks + 1.5 days left

why bother? Pharmacy as a profession is facing the point of no return. This is capitalism and every profession will have to be handled by the invisible market forces. Exposing worsening workplace condition, for what? pay raise? forget it! less hours for better workload, do you want to take it? more jobs? more job cutting is around the corner to save costs. Pharmacists are the biggest overhead cost in any retail stores.

 

[BackRowChi]

fellow P4 here, 3 weeks + 1.5 days left

why bother? Pharmacy as a profession is facing the point of no return. This is capitalism and every profession will have to be handled by the invisible market forces. Exposing worsening workplace condition, for what? pay raise? forget it! less hours for better workload, do you want to take it? more jobs? more job cutting is around the corner to save costs. Pharmacists are the biggest overhead cost in any retail stores.

Why bother? Because I don't hate myself. It may be a Sisyphean effort, but I'm not into self loathing.

 

[JustFillIt]

fellow P4 here, 3 weeks + 1.5 days left

why bother? Pharmacy as a profession is facing the point of no return. This is capitalism and every profession will have to be handled by the invisible market forces. Exposing worsening workplace condition, for what? pay raise? forget it! less hours for better workload, do you want to take it? more jobs? more job cutting is around the corner to save costs. Pharmacists are the biggest overhead cost in any retail stores.

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

 

[BackRowChi]

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

Yes, corporate pharmacy and PBMs are very obvious examples of market failures that need regulation. I think progress toward regulating them will be painful and slow, but it needs to happen.

 

[PharmtoCS]

Also a market failure is the the government handing out $200k+ in student loans to anyone with a pulse. The student loan money windfall props up the pharmacy education industry allowing tens of thousands of subpar students to graduate from pharmacy schools and flood the market, leading to worse work conditions and patient safety.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

As McDonalds workers advocated for higher hourly wage, the company started experimenting fully-automated drive thru branches, which use robotics to flip burgers. Guess what, workers stopped protesting.

Pharmacists can advocate for better working conditions and whatever they want, but as reimbursement goes lower and lower, CVS & Walgreens management will face ever-increasing pressure by shareholders to squeeze out the last bit of profit from their employees. If employees push back too much, guess what, soon the management may start to think about using algorithms and automation to replace all the pharmacists altogether. When that happens, what will they advocate for? better working condition or their very own jobs lol?

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

CVS & Walgreens are corporations, not welfare. The company is owned by shareholders, not some nonprofit organization. Shareholders give no ****s about public health concern or whatever patient safety crap. They invested their money in the company solely to make more money. Pharmacists' clinical obligation or whatever responsibilities never was and never will be their concern. Why would they care about what pharmacists feel? Pharmacists unhappy? get another batch then~ In today's market, they will always find unemployed new grads willing to take whatever job they can find to pay back their student loans. Pharmacists have NO bargain chip in this fruitless advocacy, so why bother?

 

[JustFillIt]

CVS & Walgreens are corporations, not welfare. The company is owned by shareholders, not some nonprofit organization. Shareholders give no ****s about public health concern or whatever patient safety crap. They invested their money in the company solely to make more money. Pharmacists' clinical obligation or whatever responsibilities never was and never will be their concern. Why would they care about what pharmacists feel? Pharmacists unhappy? get another batch then~ In today's market, they will always find unemployed new grads willing to take whatever job they can find to pay back their student loans. Pharmacists have NO bargain chip in this fruitless advocacy, so why bother?

This is why I said it needs to be regulated via legislation under the concept that it becomes a public health concern.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

This is why I said it needs to be regulated via legislation under the concept that it becomes a public health concern.

Then many pharmacists won't have a job! No taxpayer wants to fund a socialist program that only bleeds money.

 

[JustFillIt]

Then many pharmacists won't have a job! No taxpayer wants to fund a socialist program that only bleeds money.

I never said to socialize anything. No taxpayer money is needed at all.

The law should be, if you want to do business in retail pharmacy, you need to employ x amount of technician and pharmacist hours per x amount of scripts. That’s all...

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Pharmacists can advocate for better working conditions and whatever they want, but as reimbursement goes lower and lower, CVS & Walgreens management will face ever-increasing pressure by shareholders to squeeze out the last bit of profit from their employees. If employees push back too much, guess what, soon the management may start to think about using algorithms and automation to replace all the pharmacists altogether. When that happens, what will they advocate for? better working condition or their very own jobs lol?

Corporations already have teams of people in their "innovations" or "test and learn" departments actively experimenting with ideas to cut costs which means automating certain jobs/functions. Pharmacists obviously have a huge target on their backs because they are massively overpaid but jobs will be cut no matter if employees push back or not -- it is simply a matter of scalability that prevents a lot of these ideas from being deployed. Trust me, when companies come up with some cost cutting strategy that is scalable it will be implemented immediately.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

I never said to socialize anything. No taxpayer money is needed at all.

The law should be, if you want to do business in retail pharmacy, you need to employ x amount of technician and pharmacist hours per x amount of scripts. That’s all...

Won't happen at all! If a law is ever enacted to ensure patient safety, that will probably require no human involvement at all. Algorithms if sufficiently tested will NEVER make mistakes, ever.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

Corporations already have teams of people in their "innovations" or "test and learn" departments actively experimenting with ideas to cut costs which means automating certain jobs/functions. Pharmacists obviously have a huge target on their backs because they are massively overpaid but jobs will be cut no matter if employees push back or not -- it is simply a matter of scalability that prevents a lot of these ideas from being deployed. Trust me, when companies come up with some cost cutting strategy that is scalable it will be implemented immediately.

That's why walgreens & cvs stocks are going nowhere. Tech companies are taking over everything. Just wait a few more years, and we may see pharmacies in the cloud.

 

[JustFillIt]

Ok well looks like you have accepted defeat.. algorithms and technology can never replace the service that I provide - just sayin..

Edit: well maybe someday A.I. could... I am a science fiction fan so I know the power of A.I... I mean - I’m not the only one who saw the bounty hunter robot on The Mandalorian right? But I still think we are a long ways away from that...

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

Ok well looks like you have accepted defeat.. algorithms and technology can never replace the service that I provide - just sayin..

Edit: well maybe someday A.I. could... I am a science fiction fan so I know the power of A.I... I mean - I’m not the only one who saw the bounty hunter robot on The Mandalorian right? But I still think we are a long ways away from that...

will be starting cs masters in august~
well, if you can't beat them, join them. On stock market, stop loss limit is set up for a reason............

 

[Sine Cura]

A "rational" AI would Skynet the world, not optimize pharmacy operations

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

Interesting how theyre steering this problem away to some random unclear path. All we have to do is shut down PBMs and regulate reimbursements. These surveys are pointless in a sense that it does not address the real problem.

 

[BackRowChi]

Interesting how theyre steering this problem away to some random unclear path. All we have to do is shut down PBMs and regulate reimbursements. These surveys are pointless in a sense that it does not address the real problem.

I think these surveys help to get people looking for the real problem.

Case in point: How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk

PBMs weren't the focus of that article, nor should they have been. But I don't think it's a big leap to blame PBMs for siphoning profits away from pharmacies that could have used that money to better staff their pharmacies.

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

A "rational" AI would Skynet the world, not optimize pharmacy operations

AI would be used to cut labor cost, especially clearly defined decision tree type of jobs like pharmacists do. A pharmacy in cloud run by AI could get rid of most pharmacists. that's around 40 billion dollars saved nationally in payouts every year. mind you, CVS only had 38 billion profit in 2018.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I think these surveys help to get people looking for the real problem.

Case in point: How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk

PBMs weren't the focus of that article, nor should they have been. But I don't think it's a big leap to blame PBMs for siphoning profits away from pharmacies that could have used that money to better staff their pharmacies.

We already know what the problem is. It is the PBMs. PBMs cut reimbursements and keep money for themselves. Pharmacies across the board dont get paid. Where do you think theyll make up for the difference? Man power. Thats why theyre cutting hours. DIR fees and claw backs are a b!tch. All run by PBMs.

 

[mentos]

I think all we are asking, in retail pharmacy, is an environment where we can actually perform our jobs as professionals that have real and important clinical responsibilities, and obligations, to our patients.

Places like Walgreens has fostered an environment where counciling patients on new medications is impossible (without disrupting work flow). This is unacceptable, and poses a public health concern. Blaming it on the pharmacist is an easy way out for the corporation, and a lottery for the public. This needs to be fixed - period. I give no ****s about capitalism and the forces behind it. In a store of 300 Rx per day, we need rph overlap without exception. The free market/capitalism is great and all, but sometimes it does not work perfectly. This needs regulation.

If they did that then there would be no profit. Either pharmacists would have to take a 66% paycut (we know that won't happen) or the store would close. Pharmacists are overhead, they do not have any chargeable hours. No business that pays two full time employee six figures + benefits everyday is sustainable.

 

[JustFillIt]

[/QUOTE]

If they did that then there would be no profit. Either pharmacists would have to take a 66% paycut (we know that won't happen) or the store would close.

Yea I have thought about that.. this shows how PBMs have destroyed pharmacy. We used to share the profit fairly.

PBMs actually depend on us to sell scripts to make profit for them. We have a lot more power than we think.

 

[owlegrad]

No business that pays two full time employee six figures + benefits everyday is sustainable.

Interesting. So you think there are no businesses that pay two full time employee six figures + benefits everyday?

 

[JustFillIt]

Interesting. So you think there are no businesses that pay two full time employee six figures + benefits everyday?

Yea, I would have to agree that the only thing that is holding this back is greed on many levels.

Public health/safety should never be compromised due to greed.

Why would we implement a rule on truck drivers to say that you can only log x amount of hours before stopping to sleep? This protects the health and safety of the public. In the case of pharmacy, greed has touched our profession in a way that is threatening the safety of the public and it needs to be addressed.

Regulation on PBMs reimbursements, along with a reasonable restriction on the amount of hours per script in a community pharmacy will fix this.

 

[mentos]

Interesting. So you think there are no businesses that pay two full time employee six figures + benefits everyday?

Not for overhead. Engineers charge billable hours - every hour that they work on a project gets charged to the client. Usually the client gets charged $100-120 and the engineer makes around a third of that - the company keeps the rest. If your timecard has any nonchargable hours at all, then you better be worried about your job.

For a health care related example, your doctor charges insurance for every patient he sees.

Pharmacists work 100% nonchargable hours. The beancounters view them the same as the techs except they get paid 5-6x more.