New Policy at CVS: a warning from a current tech to pharmacists

[Knipps]

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"Hi I am @@@@ from CVS yada yada yada, is XXXXX there?"

"XXXXX passed away last night."


WOW good job CVS. They didn't put a sample conversation in the training manual to deal with a weeping daughter who wants to know why we are calling asking to fill medicine for her deceased mother.....

fun times.

We got something similar from the cable company about a month after my father passed away... except the guy said he had talked to my father about a week prior. No one was happy with his antics

 

[Old Timer]

But what if there are 8 prescriptions. 😛

You tell them it will take longer than 15 minutes. But remember, it starts after the prescriptions are typed and approved by the insurance.

 

[museabuse]

1) With EVERY script we take from a customer we have to ask them if they want us to transfer scripts in from other pharmacies. We have to explain to them that its easier to for maintenance scripts to be all filled at the same pharmacy. We also have to explain that the pharmacist can better check interactions if they can see all medications together.
.

This new PCI program is all about increase the number of scripts to increase sales and CVS sugar coats it with all the other stuff talking about how CVS cares. Yeah, it is good to help people with compliance but this would never be done if CVS didn't think it would increase sales.

Also I don't understand how CVS offers $25 gift card transfer coupons by the buttload(at least in az) and then has the balls to tell people they should keep all their drugs at one pharmacy. A few months ago CVS offered 4 $25 dollar gift cards for 4 tx rxs. I wonder how many people that program killed or injured because of missed drug interactions. Hey, but it did increase volume a lot in every store. I know people who still tx every refill to a different pharmacies because other pharmicies started excepting CVS coupons.

I also know some pharmacists that started telling people they would just give them a gift card on every refill if they had a coupon because it was more work to tx an rx to another store than it was to ring up a $25 gift card. Think of how much money CVS is losing everytime that person fills there HCTZ and gets a $25 dollar gift card.

If CVS REALLY CARED about having people fill all their rxs at one pharmacy they would never offer the $25 dollar gift card coupons, and they have the person at drop off ask is this $25 dollar gift card really worth the missed drug interactions that might possibly injure or kill you?

Plus everytime CVS or any pharmacy txs an rx it increases the chance of filling it wrong,,, I mean how fast do people talk when they are busy and giving a tx to another pharmacy?

 

[MountainPharmD]

YOU SHOULD STILL BE ABLE TO DO IT IN 15 minutes.

if you get a paid claim. NO script should take more than 15 minutes. It takes our pharmacists about 2 minutes to check a prescription. You can find 2 minutes.

Do you live in an alternate universe? First, I will give you some slack because you are not a Pharmacist and therefore have no clue what you are talking about.

You talk as if the only thing that needs to be done is type the script, throw some pills in a bottle and slap a label on it. Granted, this is all that happens at CVS and Walgreens and is the first of many areas they fail their customers on a daily basis. A good Pharmacist isn't just checking to make sure the picture on the screen matches the pill in the bottle. The fact you say it takes a Pharmacist 2 minutes to check a prescription is probably an over estimate. I would say at Walgreens or CVS the average time a Pharmacist spends on each script is more like 30 seconds. What happens if there is a problem with the prescription such as a dosing irregularity, drug interaction, therapeutic duplication, patient allergy ect.? Oh thats right at Walgreens and CVS they don't worry about that stuff because it would slow them down and they might have to actually practice pharmacy instead of rushing to verify the next 500 prescriptions. As you say I guess the most important thing is everyone gets their script filled in 15 minutes or less.

I say who cares if the prescription is done in 15 minutes or 2 hours. If it is typed wrong, filled wrong or a serious problem such as a drug interaction is missed I doubt the patient will forgive you just becasue you got it to them in 15 minutes.

 

[Old Timer]

Do you live in an alternate universe? First, I will give you some slack because you are not a Pharmacist and therefore have no clue what you are talking about.

You talk as if the only thing that needs to be done is type the script, throw some pills in a bottle and slap a label on it. Granted, this is all that happens at CVS and Walgreens and is the first of many areas they fail their customers on a daily basis. A good Pharmacist isn't just checking to make sure the picture on the screen matches the pill in the bottle. The fact you say it takes a Pharmacist 2 minutes to check a prescription is probably an over estimate. I would say at Walgreens or CVS the average time a Pharmacist spends on each script is more like 30 seconds. What happens if there is a problem with the prescription such as a dosing irregularity, drug interaction, therapeutic duplication, patient allergy ect.? Oh thats right at Walgreens and CVS they don't worry about that stuff because it would slow them down and they might have to actually practice pharmacy instead of rushing to verify the next 500 prescriptions. As you say I guess the most important thing is everyone gets their script filled in 15 minutes or less.

I say who cares if the prescription is done in 15 minutes or 2 hours. If it is typed wrong, filled wrong or a serious problem such as a drug interaction is missed I doubt the patient will forgive you just becasue you got it to them in 15 minutes.

So just how many prescriptions do you check in a day? How long is your shift? How many interactions do you catch? Not your computer system, you. Mr. high and mighty, you have no clue what I do on a daily basis and to imply I don't catch dosing irregularities, drug interactions or other problems because I can get them out (usually) in 15 minutes is insulting to say the least.

 

[MountainPharmD]

So just how many prescriptions do you check in a day? How long is your shift? How many interactions do you catch? Not your computer system, you. Mr. high and mighty, you have no clue what I do on a daily basis and to imply I don't catch dosing irregularities, drug interactions or other problems because I can get them out (usually) in 15 minutes is insulting to say the least.

Insulting, only to the unfortunate patients who don't know better.....

I do forget you work at the one CVS that is completely different than any other CVS anyone else has ever heard about or worked at. Yea right.....

 

[Old Timer]

Insulting, only to the unfortunate patients who don't know better.....

I do forget you work at the one CVS that is completely different than any other CVS anyone else has ever heard about or worked at. Yea right.....

Of course, why answer the question asked of you when you can attack others. How many prescriptions do you check per day? How many interactions do you catch on your own. Listen hot shot, I've probably been doing this since before you were born. I do know what I'm doing. I catch things all the time and I don't just let them pass in order to meet some arbitrary time limit. Not only was it insulting it was wrong.

 

[bananaface]

You tell them it will take longer than 15 minutes. But remember, it starts after the prescriptions are typed and approved by the insurance.

Yeah. It was a rhetorical question.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Of course, why answer the question asked of you when you can attack others. How many prescriptions do you check per day? How many interactions do you catch on your own. Listen hot shot, I've probably been doing this since before you were born. I do know what I'm doing. I catch things all the time and I don't just let them pass in order to meet some arbitrary time limit. Not only was it insulting it was wrong.

First off I did not personally attack you. As always I made some general statements concerning CVS and Walgreens based on my experiences. You have chosen to take what I said and make it personal. That’s your choice so don’t get made at me. Your CVS experience seems to be at odds with everyone else’s.

As far as your question that’s like asking me how many times I breathe in a day. That’s my job it’s what I do everyday.

Unless you are 70 years old you have not been doing this since I was born. If you think CVS gives you the proper amount of staff and resourses to practice good pharmacy than you are in the minority.

 

[Old Timer]

First off I did not personally attack you. As always I made some general statements concerning CVS and Walgreens based on my experiences. You have chosen to take what I said and make it personal. That’s your choice so don’t get made at me. Your CVS experience seems to be at odds with everyone else’s.

You did attack me and every other pharmacist who works for CVS both directly and by implication. You still wont answer my question because you probably check as many as the average CVS pharmacist.

You also fail to note that I also was unhappy with current CVS allotment of tech hours.

You don't have to love CVS, you don't have to work there and you shouldn't criticize the motives of people who you do not know or understand.

 

[aboveliquidice]

15 minutes??? HMMPHHHH - As stated before - Walmart rocks a solid 1 to 2 hour wait - except the moment we open (its 30 to 45 minutes at that time)...

Sure - you have better things to do - but you want that 4 dollar antibiotic - might as well get your grocery shopping done while you wait...


These fancy programs are great - but nothing beats a loss-leader program...

/rant about Wally World

To the posts above - if this program is implemented without an adjustment in workforce (to meet the greater demands) - it will equate to bad things for someone. Certainly most people will get a more refined service, but it will be slower - and a few unlucky souls will have something tragic occur.

~above~

 

[rxlynn]

Also, considering the fact that walmart is doing the $4 generics WITHOUT a 3rd party, I really cant see why they fill so slow...

As another poster pointed out, they are doing tremendously more volume than they did before the $4 generic program started. Many of these customers are new - which automatically means more input time is needed. I imagine that they are handling a high volume of transfers, so that increases time to fill. Also, my friends who work at Wal-mart tell me that their tech/intern budget gets adjusted very frequently based on whether they are meeting script budget. Can anybody confirm this?? At least at CVS we only seem to get the tech budget cut twice a year.

 

[bananaface]

15 minutes??? HMMPHHHH - As stated before - Walmart rocks a solid 1 to 2 hour wait - except the moment we open (its 30 to 45 minutes at that time)...

Sure - you have better things to do - but you want that 4 dollar antibiotic - might as well get your grocery shopping done while you wait...


These fancy programs are great - but nothing beats a loss-leader program...

/rant about Wally World

To the posts above - if this program is implemented without an adjustment in workforce (to meet the greater demands) - it will equate to bad things for someone. Certainly most people will get a more refined service, but it will be slower - and a few unlucky souls will have something tragic occur.

~above~

Here our Wal-Marts are running in the 10-15 minute range. They do massive numbers of prescriptions per pharmacist too. How do they do it? Just never talk to a patient. 👎

 

[Twins fan]

As another poster pointed out, they are doing tremendously more volume than they did before the $4 generic program started. Many of these customers are new - which automatically means more input time is needed. I imagine that they are handling a high volume of transfers, so that increases time to fill. Also, my friends who work at Wal-mart tell me that their tech/intern budget gets adjusted very frequently based on whether they are meeting script budget. Can anybody confirm this?? At least at CVS we only seem to get the tech budget cut twice a year.

I've teched at a Wal-Mart for a year and a half now. I can't confirm or deny how the tech budget is adjusted, but it at least appears to fluctuate quite a bit. I say this because I have been working there part time since I started, and wanted as many hours as I could get last summer. One pay period they wouldn't be able to get enough hours out of me. The next period, it would be touch and go, and techs were often asked if they wanted to go home early (or were gently told to go...pretty lame for the people depending on the pay check!) if things weren't as busy as normal.

Even during school months when I worked one or two nights a week and every other weekend things seem to change a bit from time to time. Some months I would get called a couple times to see if I could come in and help due to how busy the pharmacy was. Other months I would never get any calls, but the next day I went in to work my scheduled shift everyone would talk about how so-and-so called in sick for a couple days and they had been incredibly understaffed. I always found that weird, especially since my pharmacy manager has no problem begging people to come in and help.

Understand that I am making some broad generalizations above, but if someone told me that the amount of tech hours that are budgeted for our pharmacy changed monthly I wouldn't be surprised at all. Again, I am not in the know though.

 

[MountainPharmD]

I've teched at a Wal-Mart for a year and a half now. I can't confirm or deny how the tech budget is adjusted, but it at least appears to fluctuate quite a bit. I say this because I have been working there part time since I started, and wanted as many hours as I could get last summer. One pay period they wouldn't be able to get enough hours out of me. The next period, it would be touch and go, and techs were often asked if they wanted to go home early (or were gently told to go...pretty lame for the people depending on the pay check!) if things weren't as busy as normal.

Even during school months when I worked one or two nights a week and every other weekend things seem to change a bit from time to time. Some months I would get called a couple times to see if I could come in and help due to how busy the pharmacy was. Other months I would never get any calls, but the next day I went in to work my scheduled shift everyone would talk about how so-and-so called in sick for a couple days and they had been incredibly understaffed. I always found that weird, especially since my pharmacy manager has no problem begging people to come in and help.

Understand that I am making some broad generalizations above, but if someone told me that the amount of tech hours that are budgeted for our pharmacy changed monthly I wouldn't be surprised at all. Again, I am not in the know though.

The company I work for does the same thing. I think it stinks for the technicians. We expect them to work thier butts off and as soon as its slow oh we don't need you go home. It makes it impossible to retain quality technicians. They depend on thier pay check as much as I do. Can you imagine if they did this to the pharmacists?

You can only penny pinch so much before you actually do more harm than good. Save a dollar on labor and lose hundreds of dollars on sales because people get pissed off there is no help so they go some where else.

 

[Jeddevil]

Do you like people who pharmacy hop from place to place?

No, I can't stand pharmacy hoppers. That is also why I can't stand CVS, the leader in pharmacy coupons.

Am I the only one to find it ironic that the leaders in giving you money for a transfer, are now trying to convince you that it is best for you to transfer everything there so they can monitor it all? Way to go CVS, you helped create the pharmacy hopper, but now you finally realize what a stupid idea it is for a customer (or guest for all you target guys) to have scripts at ten chains.

First they basically steal customers away by giving them cash for a transfer. Now they want to try to convince the same stupid bastard coupon hopper that his/her healthcare would be much better by transferring everything there for them to monitor. Way to try to correct a problem that your corporation created. I hope you waste your entire days making your new batch of mandated phone calls.

 

[MountainPharmD]

No, I can't stand pharmacy hoppers. That is also why I can't stand CVS, the leader in pharmacy coupons.

Am I the only one to find it ironic that the leaders in giving you money for a transfer, are now trying to convince you that it is best for you to transfer everything there so they can monitor it all? Way to go CVS, you helped create the pharmacy hopper, but now you finally realize what a stupid idea it is for a customer (or guest for all you target guys) to have scripts at ten chains.

First they basically steal customers away by giving them cash for a transfer. Now they want to try to convince the same stupid bastard coupon hopper that his/her healthcare would be much better by transferring everything there for them to monitor. Way to try to correct a problem that your corporation created. I hope you waste your entire days making your new batch of mandated phone calls.

HAHAHHAA!!!!! Good post!!!!👍

CVS exemplifies all that is wrong with pharmacy today. Give Wal-mart the credit for devaluing the profession with $4 generics. CVS get the credit for destroying all the rest.

 

[loo]

Oh no. Walgreens is the leader in destroying the rest. Do you know they have store managers (yes, store managers) call every patient who transfers an rx out of the store? They're supposed to ask why they did and how Walgreens can perform any sort of sexual favor to get them back.

Walgreens wants to save money by having techs and RPh's do more work by inputting and verifying scripts from different stores.

It's like Big Brother out there. Walgreens was the idiot corporation that invented the drive-thru!

It's only a matter of time before CVS and others (if they can afford it) incorporate their technology. Helping the patient, my ***. Only if it benefits their bottom line.

 

[Twins fan]

Oh no. Walgreens is the leader in destroying the rest. Do you know they have store managers (yes, store managers) call every patient who transfers an rx out of the store? They're supposed to ask why they did and how Walgreens can perform any sort of sexual favor to get them back.

Hahaha! Well I'm glad I don't have any prescriptions to transfer from that Walgreens discussed in the "Shame, shame, shame" thread. Wouldn't want that dude (or any dude for that matter) calling me with some sort of 'proposition' to get my business back.

"Yes, Mr. Walgreen's manager, you can get me to transfer my scripts back if we set up a little rendezvous...just you, me, and a free $17.99 blood glucose monitor...."

 

[PharmDstudent]

Hahaha! Well I'm glad I don't have any prescriptions to transfer from that Walgreens discussed in the "Shame, shame, shame" thread. Wouldn't want that dude (or any dude for that matter) calling me with some sort of 'proposition' to get my business back.

"Yes, Mr. Walgreen's manager, you can get me to transfer my scripts back if we set up a little rendezvous...just you, me, and a free $17.99 blood glucose monitor...."

Ask for a free personal massager instead. It cracks me up every time I see them on the diagnostics aisle!!!
http://aarp.walgreens.com/store/pro...mp&navCount=2&skuid=sku3497048&id=prod3498205

 

[MountainPharmD]

Oh no. Walgreens is the leader in destroying the rest. Do you know they have store managers (yes, store managers) call every patient who transfers an rx out of the store? They're supposed to ask why they did and how Walgreens can perform any sort of sexual favor to get them back.

Walgreens wants to save money by having techs and RPh's do more work by inputting and verifying scripts from different stores.

It's like Big Brother out there. Walgreens was the idiot corporation that invented the drive-thru!

It's only a matter of time before CVS and others (if they can afford it) incorporate their technology. Helping the patient, my ***. Only if it benefits their bottom line.

Okay, rarely do I admit I am wrong but you got me on that one!!!!!

If there were a devil of the corporate pharmacy world Walgreens would be it. CVS however is right there with them!!!!!!

 

[Pharmpills]

The fact is a pharmacist can NEVER counsel every single patients with new rx if it is a busy store because with 500 scripts a day thats not possible unless the store have 3-4 pharmacist and retail will not pay so many staff. These stores are coming out with more bs like walgreens has the new $50 transfer gift card, they keep fighting each other for more rx when they can't do a good job at the current amount. I have never seen more greedy companies than walgreens/cvs well not so much cvs since i never worked there.

Im not here to bash but i mean if they can't handle the current overload of scripts why do they continue to push for more. Alot of new rules by retail chains are just to fatten the pocket of the companies which is sad bc if it wasn't for w-mart pushing the $4 generic crap then other companies would not have lowered the price or come up with new things like 90 days supply for $12.99. Secondly walgreens have automated system to call people when they are about to put back the drug so doing that manually is pointless and calling people to ask them if they want auto-refill is stupid unless they have PRN refills for a year bc most refills are 3 or so.

 

[bananaface]

Oh no. Walgreens is the leader in destroying the rest. Do you know they have store managers (yes, store managers) call every patient who transfers an rx out of the store? They're supposed to ask why they did and how Walgreens can perform any sort of sexual favor to get them back..

That arrangement sounds like a systematic violation of privacy statues to me. One thing I disliked about Wags was the store manager always butting into pharmacy business. Some asshat who has no idea what pharmacy is about has no business dictating to pharmacists what prescriptions they will fill and what laws they will break in order to drive corporate profits. My favorite: That narc is too soon? Cash it out and offer to let them pay for it. Oh wait, that came form corporate. 🙄

 

[loo]

That arrangement sounds like a systematic violation of privacy statues to me. One thing I disliked about Wags was the store manager always butting into pharmacy business. Some asshat who has no idea what pharmacy is about has no business dictating to pharmacists what prescriptions they will fill and what laws they will break in order to drive corporate profits. My favorite: That narc is too soon? Cash it out and offer to let them pay for it. Oh wait, that came form corporate. 🙄

Agree with you on all of the above...except the narc thing. They (as in store managers or corporate) didn't dare pull that crap in my store. I hope some patient files a HIPPA complaint against WAGs, though; cause they won't stop this practice until somebody does.

I think the overall goal is to reduce tech hours by forcing store managers and key people to be cross-trained in the pharmacy. This allows front store managers to start meddling with pharmacy scheduling, ordering...you get the idea. Add to that, "dynamic workflow", a process by which techs and pharmacists input and verify rx's from other stores. This is WAG's attempt to increase your workload. It's packaged by corporate as "helping your busier stores out". Like I don't have enough to do in my own busy store.🙄

This is the price you pay for a nice computer system.

 

[Twins fan]

Wow, that's the first I've heard of the so-called "dynamic workflow" idea. Sounds ridiculous!

 

[Wan2BPharmD]

The fact is a pharmacist can NEVER counsel every single patients with new rx if it is a busy store because with 500 scripts a day thats not possible unless the store have 3-4 pharmacist and retail will not pay so many staff.

Just thought I'd throw this in, FYI (not sure if it's clear or not to ppl), but it's not really EVERY new script. They're supposed to be counseled on every new maintenance drug... drugs for diabetes, blood pressure, etc.

Ask for a free personal massager instead. It cracks me up every time I see them on the diagnostics aisle!!!
http://aarp.walgreens.com/store/pro...mp&navCount=2&skuid=sku3497048&id=prod3498205

How about this one: we sell a full back massager (like a really nice one too), but placed in the incontinence aisle....

...


...beats me. lol =P

 

[bananaface]

Agree with you on all of the above...except the narc thing. They (as in store managers or corporate) didn't dare pull that crap in my store. I hope some patient files a HIPPA complaint against WAGs, though; cause they won't stop this practice until somebody does.

I think the overall goal is to reduce tech hours by forcing store managers and key people to be cross-trained in the pharmacy. This allows front store managers to start meddling with pharmacy scheduling, ordering...you get the idea. Add to that, "dynamic workflow", a process by which techs and pharmacists input and verify rx's from other stores. This is WAG's attempt to increase your workload. It's packaged by corporate as "helping your busier stores out". Like I don't have enough to do in my own busy store.🙄

This is the price you pay for a nice computer system.

This was about 6 years ago in reaction to being sued by a cancer patient.

I worked at a chain (Bartells) where all managers were be trained and licensed to cashier when it was busy. They came in only when the pharmacist asked, didn't try to run things, and actually appreciated that there was more to pharmacy than the business side. It was like the Wags setup, only not sucky.

 

[loo]

I worked at a chain (Bartells) where all managers were be trained and licensed to cashier when it was busy.

I personally don't think WAGs should cross-train front store and managers on the computer (which they do) because I think confidential pt. information is seen by way too many people. And this could potentially bite them in the butt later.

As for dynamic workflow...I still don't feel comfortable with verifying scripts when the patient is not mine. Yeah, you are not doing the final-final verification (if there is a serious interaction, the system will catch it at the register---this is only if the cashier/RPh doesn't override it);you have access to their history; you can place a note to stop fill until the RPh (at the other store) reads it; or just not verify it at all. It's like outsourcing...just not to India or Jamaica.

 

[genesis09]

My Wags manager has us put in all non-waiting prescriptions with a due time of an hour after the current time. She would verify all of them until she reached some other store's prescriptions and than stop verifying until we had more scripts.

 

[Hpower12]

oldtimer, I just want to say that perception is reality. I am sure many people like CVS, but from my perspective the majority of pharmacists I know do not like it.

 

[Old Timer]

oldtimer, I just want to say that perception is reality. I am sure many people like CVS, but from my perspective the majority of pharmacists I know do not like it.

Then they don't have to work there. It's been great for me. I have been practicing for almost 26 years, the last seven at CVS. It's a great company to work for, at least in the Philadelphia area. Is everything perfect? Do edicts com down from corporate that make your eyes roll? Of course, nothing is perfect. Bot overall, I have enjoyed my time at CVS

 

[acetyl]

Sounds to me that everyone complaining here doesn't like any of the chains.

All businesses have goods and bads...and retail pharmacy is too dynamic to base the whole chain on your specific store. I've worked at four different Wags in three different states..and they are all somewhat different, based on the management of each particular store.

 

[104921]

"I can tell you for the most part they were extremely well received by the patients..." --Old Timer

It's great that you got an overall good response, but I got mostly confused old people who ended up being offended, and I know I had a good pitch because my PIC told me so. Several people asked me to take them off the list and not call again, and that was just the one time I did it. I think I had 35 people on my list just on the weekend report. More people thought I was badgering them than thought I was being helpful; personally, if I were a customer, I wouldn't want to receive these calls. It is true that it drives up script count, which is good, but it's been stated more tech hours will be needed to handle the volume. My old PIC flat out quit because of this program, and he was usually all about enforcing corporate's ideas. He thought it was an invasion of privacy and a nuisance all around.

 

[VanduchiPharmD]

I hate to burst the "CVS Cares" people, but the only thing CVS Cares about (or any pharmacy for that matter) is MONEY. It has been proven by the first people who start Auto-refill that the higher the auto percentage the higher the revenue. 1% increase in auto refill = an huge amount of money and overall volume. I have tons of patients that come in and pick stuff up just because it is there, not because they need it.

The more people they make feel bad about not taking their med properly the more money they make, plain and simple.

The counseling stuff is nice, but should we really have to force our pharmacists to counsel patients...hate to tell you but it is our job to counsel patients!

 

[Old Timer]

I hate to burst the "CVS Cares" people, but the only thing CVS Cares about (or any pharmacy for that matter) is MONEY. It has been proven by the first people who start Auto-refill that the higher the auto percentage the higher the revenue. 1% increase in auto refill = an huge amount of money and overall volume. I have tons of patients that come in and pick stuff up just because it is there, not because they need it.

The more people they make feel bad about not taking their med properly the more money they make, plain and simple.

The counseling stuff is nice, but should we really have to force our pharmacists to counsel patients...hate to tell you but it is our job to counsel patients!

While I don't deny this is about making money. This has zero to do with Auto-refill. I won't divulge the workings of the program, but this about people who have stopped taking needed maintenance medication. It's identifying these patients and approaching them with a positive message.

 

[StallionRx]

My old PIC flat out quit because of this program, and he was usually all about enforcing corporate's ideas. He thought it was an invasion of privacy and a nuisance all around.

I work for CVS and can tell you I hate this new program. CVS has been great to me and I should probabley be the last person complaining, but Im getting tired of all the acronyms and BS reports. We have:

Triple S
PCR
GSR
PCI
PSR
KPM
GER
PSI
WT/RWP

WTF is all this crap?

...and I know theirs more cus my tech made me a list and we hit at least 10.


I dont want to bother people at home and I think its rude. Our job is already quite stressful and Im getting the feeling that the big dogs at corporate care NOTHING for the morale of their employees as long as their increasing profit. I wouldnt be surprised if CVS sees a mass exodus of pharmacists.

The only good that I think can come from this program for me is giving CVS some record profits which will be reflected in their stock performance. For those of you working for CVS I hope your taking advantage of the ESP program, that thing has made me a few extra grand inside a couple months.

 

[Old Timer]

I work for CVS and can tell you I hate this new program. CVS has been great to me and I should probabley be the last person complaining, but Im getting tired of all the acronyms and BS reports. We have:

Triple S
PCR
GSR
PCI
PSR
KPM
GER
PSI
WT/RWP

WTF is all this crap?

...and I know theirs more cus my tech made me a list and we hit at least 10.


I dont want to bother people at home and I think its rude. Our job is already quite stressful and Im getting the feeling that the big dogs at corporate care NOTHING for the morale of their employees as long as their increasing profit. I wouldnt be surprised if CVS sees a mass exodus of pharmacists.

The only good that I think can come from this program for me is giving CVS some record profits which will be reflected in their stock performance. For those of you working for CVS I hope your taking advantage of the ESP program, that thing has made me a few extra grand inside a couple months.

Wait until the central call center comes into action. I know they should have done that first.... This will reduce incoming calls by 85%....

 

[StallionRx]

Wait until the central call center comes into action. I know they should have done that first.... This will reduce incoming calls by 85%....

Is that for real?

I heard someone mention it the other day and thought they were joking...

 

[MountainPharmD]

Wait until the central call center comes into action. I know they should have done that first.... This will reduce incoming calls by 85%....

Just what everone wants, oh boy!!!!!. Call your local pharmacy and talk to someone in another state or worse another country. Is CVS run by a bunch of pharmacy school flunk outs? I refuse to believe a pharmacist has any say in any major desicion they make.

 

[Old Timer]

Just what everone wants, oh boy!!!!!. Call your local pharmacy and talk to someone in another state or worse another country. Is CVS run by a bunch of pharmacy school flunk outs? I refuse to believe a pharmacist has any say in any major desicion they make.

CVS surveyed prescribers and they don't care what pharmacist they phone it in to. You will have the option of being transfered to the store. It reduces incoming calls by 85% and that stops a great deal of the interruptions. I personally, can't wait and I think they should have done this a long time ago.

Your attitude does not surprise me. If it was proved that CVS could walk on water, MountainPharmD would say see, they can't swim.....

 

[StallionRx]

CVS surveyed prescribers and they don't care what pharmacist they phone it in to. You will have the option of being transfered to the store. It reduces incoming calls by 85% and that stops a great deal of the interruptions. I personally, can't wait and I think they should have done this a long time ago.

Your attitude does not surprise me. If it was proved that CVS could walk on water, MountainPharmD would say see, they can't swim.....

Thats awesome.

As long as those calls arent coming to me and are some how getting taken care of properly Im totally cool with it. This cant happen sooner.

Any idea on when this will be implemented?

 

[MountainPharmD]

CVS surveyed prescribers and they don't care what pharmacist they phone it in to. You will have the option of being transfered to the store. It reduces incoming calls by 85% and that stops a great deal of the interruptions. I personally, can't wait and I think they should have done this a long time ago.

Your attitude does not surprise me. If it was proved that CVS could walk on water, MountainPharmD would say see, they can't swim.....

.....and if someone said the CEO of CVS was God you would be the first to bow down and worship him.

Get a clue. CVS is all that is evil and wrong with retail pharmacy today.....

Oh yeah....be ready for them to cut your tech hours by 20% or more. Hey we reduced you pharmacy calls by 85% you don't need all that tech help......They have to pay the call centers staff somehow......They will do it with the savings generated by cutting your tech hours.....

 

[loo]

Theyhave to pay the call centers staff somehow......They will do it with the savings generated by cutting your tech hours.....

Sorry to burst the bubble, but that's not true. Wags already does this...they just recycle their "third party" folks and add to their responsibilities.

RETAIL pharmacy is all that is wrong with the profession today...had I known that I would be nothing more than an insurance agent/customer complaint agent...you know the rest!

 

[loo]

.....and if someone said the CEO of CVS was God you would be the first to bow down and worship him.

Your attitude does not surprise me. If it was proved that CVS could walk on water, MountainPharmD would say see, they can't swim.....

C'mon guys...let's play nice. Let's not start picking at each other---it 'aint worth it!

 

[meister]

Sorry to burst the bubble, but that's not true. Wags already does this...they just recycle their "third party" folks and add to their responsibilities.

Uh, yes it is true. They're currently on a big push here in SoCal to cut tech hours, we're supposed to go from 180 hours per week to 130 in the next two weeks, think that's possible? And if it were possible they could implement these call centers and lessen the phone calls by 50+% the first thing on the chopping block would be tech hours.

You're dreaming if you don't think that the tech budget is one of the few things that corporate literally disdains.

 

[loo]

Uh, yes it is true. They're currently on a big push here in SoCal to cut tech hours, we're supposed to go from 180 hours per week to 130 in the next two weeks, think that's possible? And if it were possible they could implement these call centers and lessen the phone calls by 50+% the first thing on the chopping block would be tech hours.

You're dreaming if you don't think that the tech budget is one of the few things that corporate literally disdains.

This is a typical cycle of CVS business activity. Economic projections look unfavorable---cut tech hours, introduce stupid programs to get people in the door, etc.

CVS constantly screws with tech hours and asinine programs...until they fail and significant numbers of pharmacists leave for greener pastures. Then they relent and increase tech hours, etc. again because they create staffing issues and generate boatloads of customer complaints. It's not like they don't have the money--they just don't want to spend anymore than they have to.

Not much has changed.

To answer your original question: Yeah, it's possible. I only have 120 tech hours for a 450+ script/day store. That's the WAGS way!

 

[museabuse]

Wait until the central call center comes into action. I know they should have done that first.... This will reduce incoming calls by 85%....

I hope to God that they don't use India for their call center(but they will to save money). They already use India to answer question about benefits. I had a simple question... I called the CVS help desk. " When do the benefits restart, when will I have to start meeting my deductible again if I go to the doctor?"
The person in India had no concept of what I was talking about... she kept repeating do you mean when will you benefits be deducted out of your pay check...

Then I got simpler and spelled it out.... I explained that now when I go to the doctor and get billed most of it is paid for by insurance because I have met my out of pocket expenses... at what date will everything restart and I have to meet my deductible...

This went on for like 15 minutes and I got no where...

I know our health care is hard to understand(especially when you have free health care) which I am guessing is the case in India but you would think these people would be trained to answer a simple question of when do the benefits restart?

I really hope they use India and see the back lash that comes from that...

 

[MountainPharmD]

To answer your original question: Yeah, it's possible. I only have 120 tech hours for a 450+ script/day store. That's the WAGS way!

That is absolutly ridiculous. I always tell my staff, If you think its bad here we could be working for CVS or Walgreens where it is much worse.

 

[Old Timer]

I hope to God that they don't use India for their call center(but they will to save money). They already use India to answer question about benefits. I had a simple question... I called the CVS help desk. " When do the benefits restart, when will I have to start meeting my deductible again if I go to the doctor?"
The person in India had no concept of what I was talking about... she kept repeating do you mean when will you benefits be deducted out of your pay check...

Then I got simpler and spelled it out.... I explained that now when I go to the doctor and get billed most of it is paid for by insurance because I have met my out of pocket expenses... at what date will everything restart and I have to meet my deductible...

This went on for like 15 minutes and I got no where...

I know our health care is hard to understand(especially when you have free health care) which I am guessing is the case in India but you would think these people would be trained to answer a simple question of when do the benefits restart?

I really hope they use India and see the back lash that comes from that...

They would need a license in the USA so I think India is out of the question.

 

[Old Timer]

This is a typical cycle of CVS business activity. Economic projections look unfavorable---cut tech hours, introduce stupid programs to get people in the door, etc.

You have no clue about what you speak. Do you just make up stuff? Their projections are not unfavorable so your premise is wrong and then using a silly thing called logic your conclusion is also wrong.

CVS constantly screws with tech hours and asinine programs...until they fail and significant numbers of pharmacists leave for greener pastures. Then they relent and increase tech hours, etc. again because they create staffing issues and generate boatloads of customer complaints. It's not like they don't have the money--they just don't want to spend anymore than they have to.

Do you have proof of this? You don't because you made it up. Budgeted tech hours NEVER change in the middle of a year. THEY CANT CHANGE THEM IN THE COMPUTER. You have a budgetd number of tech hours and a base amount of scripts and your tech hours go up or down based on your actual number of scripts. Now if your store is constantly over the budgeted hours you might get called on the carpet and get your hours cut, but that's only because you have exceeded them to begin with. Feel free to prove this to me which you can do by showing me your green sheets with changed tech hours.

To answer your original question: Yeah, it's possible. I only have 120 tech hours for a 450+ script/day store. That's the WAGS way!

At 450 per day x 7 days that's over 3000 per week you have around 300 tech hours at CVS......