NYT:At Walgreens, Complaints of Medication Errors Go Missing

[WVUPharm2007]

At Walgreens, Complaints of Medication Errors Go Missing (Published 2020)

Consultants working on a report for the drugstore chain were told not to mention some concerns raised by employees. Safety issues have also been flagged at CVS.

www.google.com

Same author as the CVS reporting. Walgreens now in the barrel.

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[mentos]

Maybe they will write an article about Walmart too.

 

[ancienbon]

Thank you

 

[BackRowChi]

FRONT PAGE, HOMIES

 

[WVUPharm2007]

That's two front page articles about how dangerous retail pharmacy is to consumers.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

That's two front page articles about how dangerous retail pharmacy is to consumers.

Correction: “chain” retail pharmacy.

 

[jecpharm89]

That's two front page articles about how dangerous retail pharmacy is to consumers.

About time

 

[pharmacy_sucks]

Good news for sure! More mainstream exposure, more public outcry, sooner AI will replace human pharmacists & techs, who do more harm than good, and more I will be in demand looool.

 

[mentos]

Do people still read the paper? I feel like a TV news report would be more effective.

 

[PharmDWithaPorscheGT3RS]

NYT, BBC, or whatever top newspaper can report on these dangerous errors in chain pharmacies but nothing will happen anyways. Congress won't do crap about it. This is not new...

 

[projektreverb]

NYT, BBC, or whatever top newspaper can report on these dangerous errors in chain pharmacies but nothing will happen anyways. Congress won't do crap about it. This is not new...

More info on how to acquire GT3 RS please

 

[VA77]

I bet the exec named in the article never thought she would make the front page of NYT!

 

[BackRowChi]

I bet the exec named in the article never thought she would make the front page of NYT!

She used to be a PIC. Far removed from that world now...

 

[hye345]

Do people still read the paper? I feel like a TV news report would be more effective.

Well, if you think about it, most people who (regularly) take meds are of the older generation, who are more likely to still read the newspaper.

 

[Chrish]

Maybe they will write an article about Walmart too.

Tbh Walmart is not at this level. As much as we talk crap about them, they provide adequate help to get things done.

 

[deleted898085]

Tbh Walmart is not at this level. As much as we talk crap about them, they provide adequate help to get things done.

Walmart, Costco, Kroger have other business. So they're better than CVS, Walgreens. I wonder if CVS, Walgreens become Pillpack soon.

 

[BMBiology]

Walgreens executive in article:

 

[JustFillIt]

NYT, BBC, or whatever top newspaper can report on these dangerous errors in chain pharmacies but nothing will happen anyways. Congress won't do crap about it. This is not new...

This is not true at all... They can regulate the industry. The regulation should be x amount of pharmacist and tech hours per number of prescriptions.

This number should be decided on by a panel of representatives such as “experts in the field” ie: pharmacists..

 

[confettiflyer]

Surprise, a bunch of yes-men neglected to present negative data to their corporate upper lower bend over regional subregional managers

Surprise surprise


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[JustFillIt]

Walgreens executive in article:

View attachment 296359

She should be disgusted with herself for what she has allowed to happen to her profession.

 

[deleted898085]

She should be disgusted with herself for what she has allowed to happen to her profession.

But if they don't do this, they can't compete with Pillpack, mail order...

 

[VA77]

I have a feeling there will be a "reassignment" position for her very soon.

 

[JustFillIt]

I have a feeling there will be a "reassignment" position for her very soon.

I would love to see her made the PIC of a dumpster fire busy pharmacy and see if she can hang.

In fact, I hope your reading this.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

Tbh Walmart is not at this level. As much as we talk crap about them, they provide adequate help to get things done.

Not from what i heard. Haha. One dude i know wants to leave bc theyre cutting hours.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

She should be disgusted with herself for what she has allowed to happen to her profession.

She got paid. She dont care.

 

[PharFromNormal]

This is not true at all... They can regulate the industry. The regulation should be x amount of pharmacist and tech hours per number of prescriptions.

This number should be decided on by a panel of representatives such as “experts in the field” ie: pharmacists..

I wonder what independent owners would want this number to be. Might crush them if the need to choose between not filling more prescriptions because they can’t afford another pharmacist or getting another pharmacist and not getting enough scripts to cover the additional cost. Imagine being only one script over the limit? Just enough to be too much but not enough to cover the cost.

 

[BMBiology]

I would love to see her made the PIC of a dumpster fire busy pharmacy and see if she can hang.

Looks like we might get to hear her speak after all:

 

[deleted898085]

Looks like we might get to hear her speak after all:

Love to hear.
Hope they can't buy him

 

[ancienbon]

Love to hear.
Hope they can't buy him

Great . I like senator Blumenthal!

 

[Chrish]

From what I have seen, Wag people aren’t too terribly unhappy with their job. Yes they give you bare bone hours, but they aren’t as aggressive with their metrics as cvs. They don’t track you making compliance calls for example.

They would my pick as next preferred employer after walmart based on what I have seen. No one is as bad as cvs.

 

[Chrish]

Not from what i heard. Haha. One dude i know wants to leave bc theyre cutting hours.

I can see that being an issue at struggling store. If it’s a well run store where most people know what they are doing, then it’s easy.

I am lucky enough to be working at one of those stores and we clear queue almost every day before leaving.

 

[VA77]

So do your DMs require daily reports for immunizations, MTMs, compliance calls, fills, solds, verifies, etc. I would think that they can get automatic reports on this so just trying to figure out why they need a daily email. I have guesses but dont want to do a self fullfilling prophecy.

 

[steveysmith54]

Again, where is alpha, cpha, deans of schools?

 

[deleted898085]

From what I have seen, Wag people aren’t too terribly unhappy with their job. Yes they give you bare bone hours, but they aren’t as aggressive with their metrics as cvs. They don’t track you making compliance calls for example.

They would my pick as next preferred employer after walmart based on what I have seen. No one is as bad as cvs.

I agree. I worked at Walgreens as an intern and had 3 APPE rotations with CVS. I prefer Walgreens. Rarely had to pick up the phones. They have ppl to type and review remotely.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I wonder what independent owners would want this number to be. Might crush them if the need to choose between not filling more prescriptions because they can’t afford another pharmacist or getting another pharmacist and not getting enough scripts to cover the additional cost. Imagine being only one script over the limit? Just enough to be too much but not enough to cover the cost.

You realize indies make more profit per script than chain right?

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

Again, where is alpha, cpha, deans of schools?

Deans of schools are oblivious to the situation. They dont even know what DIR fees are. They cant figure out why this saturation happened and how to fix it. How do i know this? Bc i just spoke to one.

 

[JustFillIt]

From what I have seen, Wag people aren’t too terribly unhappy with their job. Yes they give you bare bone hours, but they aren’t as aggressive with their metrics as cvs. They don’t track you making compliance calls for example.

They would my pick as next preferred employer after walmart based on what I have seen. No one is as bad as cvs.

I worked there for 3 weeks... during this time there was a daily list of people to call over a bunch of things.

I told them I was not interested in being part of what they where doing.. then in the exit interview I gave them very low marks across the board.

There were no hurt feelings for the people I directly worked with. In fact I still keep in touch with the store manager in a personal level often. But the pharmacy model there was horrid.

 

[BMBiology]

Deans of schools are oblivious to the situation. They dont even know what DIR fees are. They cant figure out why this saturation happened and how to fix it. How do i know this? Bc i just spoke to one.

Retails give money to pharmacy schools. They even sponsor trips for deans.

 

[mentos]

You realize indies make more profit per script than chain right?

I did not know this. Why do so many independents close then?

 

[PharFromNormal]

You realize indies make more profit per script than chain right?

Not every indy is more profitable than every chain. Chains can run some stores at losses if they want. Can an indy?

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I did not know this. Why do so many independents close then?

Mainly because of dir fees and clawbacks.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

Not every indy is more profitable than every chain. Chains can run some stores at losses if they want. Can an indy?

What you said is a contradiction. If theyre running at a loss then how is that making a profit?

if you just opened an indie and fill 10 scripts a day then no, youre not gonna have much profit but i said more profit per script. Meaning, if cvs and indie fill for the same script, indie will make more money off of that than cvs. Think about it. Its fairly a simple concept. When we make money, we dont have to worry about corporate greed. We just gotta pay the rent, employees and overhead costs. You may ask, how about cheaper drug prices? There are plenty of vendors that are selling generic drugs dirt cheap. Cvs dont have the options of exploring that either.

But with all the unethical practice of PBMs, we are having to pay for dir fees.

if you run an indie and fill about 1000 per week, trust me, without all these unethical clawback bs, youre gonna be set for life.

As i have posted before, there are now dozens of law suits on state and federal level against PBMs. Hoping that by this time next year, things have changed.

 

[jecpharm89]

From what I have seen, Wag people aren’t too terribly unhappy with their job. Yes they give you bare bone hours, but they aren’t as aggressive with their metrics as cvs. They don’t track you making compliance calls for example.

They would my pick as next preferred employer after walmart based on what I have seen. No one is as bad as cvs.

Cvs is definitely worse (worse computer system, more audits and busy work) but Walgreens has no pharmacists in charge really. As an RXM I was asked by my store manager to not really call the healthcare supervisor when I had a concern as he is just “too busy,” but he was the only rph in charge and for over 4 districts. When I staffed my RXM wasn’t giving shots correctly and was sending patients to the ER, was not reporting the errors and I was asked by my store manager to basically not tell anyone since that was just really bad for business. Um how about patient care? I reported everything to LP but nothing really came of it. Should’ve reported to the board. I really enjoyed the first couple years at Walgreens and didn’t feel too pressured by them but after this happened I really couldn’t continue working for them.

 

[footfairy]

Yes they give you bare bone hours, but they aren’t as aggressive with their metrics as cvs. They don’t track you making compliance calls for example.

This year the 5 overall metrics for the store and pharmacy managers are front end sales, pharmacy sales, budget adoption, RX verified by promised time, and Percentage of Days Covered (RX compliance).

So 3 of the 5 metrics for the store manager are Pharmacy related. It's like having a dumber DM in your store at all times worrying about hitting metrics.

On top of this, the PDC metric getting broken down to:
1. How successful our compliance calls are (not just that you attempt every call daily for 3 days each, but how many patients actually pick up)
2. Metrics on the Save a Trip Refills program. The current thing is threatening stores who have patients who unenroll from this janky program that will short fill 9 medications to sync them up with the 1 new flonase nasal spray they were prescribed.
3. NPS score, which isn't actually a graded metric anymore but I've gotten whined at//coached about mine last DM vidiy because I actually was above goal on all the other stuff.

So essentially 1 of our top 3 metrics gets split into a bunch of minimetrics that all involve making phone calls and begging for surveys and program enrollments. I can't imagine it's THAT much worse at CVS.

 

[deleted898085]

I'm so sorry for this profession. I still see that this is not the worst yet. CVS and Walgreens are still trying to cut costs and close more stores. They can't compete with online stores.
I'm not sure if we should blame them.

People still sign up for school. Obviously most of them are not smart and don't know what else they can do for their life. I'm not sorry for them. They deserve to work minimum wage job in the future if they don't have any luck.

I'm against Bernie's student loan forgiveness. American colleges have to be cheap or free first.

 

[JustFillIt]

Cvs is definitely worse (worse computer system, more audits and busy work) but Walgreens has no pharmacists in charge really. As an RXM I was asked by my store manager to not really call the healthcare supervisor when I had a concern as he is just “too busy,” but he was the only rph in charge and for over 4 districts. When I staffed my RXM wasn’t giving shots correctly and was sending patients to the ER, was not reporting the errors and I was asked by my store manager to basically not tell anyone since that was just really bad for business. Um how about patient care? I reported everything to LP but nothing really came of it. Should’ve reported to the board. I really enjoyed the first couple years at Walgreens and didn’t feel too pressured by them but after this happened I really couldn’t continue working for them.

Pure curiosity here.. how was your rxm not giving shots correctly and why was he sending them to the ER?

 

[sfachine]

Walgreens executive in article:

View attachment 296359

Pure curiosity here.. how was your rxm not giving shots correctly and why was he sending them to the ER?

Yeah.That sounds preposterous.

 

[VictorOfHungerGames]

I'm so sorry for this profession. I still see that this is not the worst yet. CVS and Walgreens are still trying to cut costs and close more stores. They can't compete with online stores.
I'm not sure if we should blame them.

People still sign up for school. Obviously most of them are not smart and don't know what else they can do for their life. I'm not sorry for them. They deserve to work minimum wage job in the future if they don't have any luck.

I'm against Bernie's student loan forgiveness. American colleges have to be cheap or free first.

It is not the online stores. It is the low reimbursements and dir fees of pbms. Online pharmacies are not the problem. Amazon does not have the grasp of pharmacy as it does in other retail. Mail order, although messed up and stupid, does not affect enough to a point where it forces cvs and wags to close down and walmart to cut 40% of its pharmacists. It is the PBMs. Look into it. Seriously.

 

[jecpharm89]

Yeah.That sounds preposterous.

The shingrix came out and this rph was giving the shots too low, too high and even admitted to me they may have given a couple subQ. then later patients told me about the same issue with a prevnar and later on told me about the previous year’s flu season where they went to the Er for not being able to move their arm and that they told the Rxm about it. I checked for the stars events and they weren’t in the system.

 

[mentos]

The shingrix came out and this rph was giving the shots too low, too high and even admitted to me they may have given a couple subQ. then later patients told me about the same issue with a prevnar and later on told me about the previous year’s flu season where they went to the Er for not being able to move their arm and that they told the Rxm about it. I checked for the stars events and they weren’t in the system.

I'm surprised the patients didn't contact the local news.