Pats. w/retrocranial inversion; AKA why can't I buy gleevec in hicktown?

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

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A patient was discharged from a large cancer institution in MA and decided to not have the meds filled there so that any issues that may arise could have been alleviated on site.

Patient decided to come back to his/her middle of nowhere hicktown of a pharmacy to fill a script for gleevec (newly approved cancer medication that our pharmacy can't order) and rapamune which resulted in a p/a rejection.

Patient repeats "eeen my cunntree, yif i hav mohnee, I can get meddykayshun" (eastern European accent) 100 times and the mob, forming behind the patient, waiting to drop of scripts starts to smirk at patient not knowing the purpose of the medications patient was looking for.

How do you deal with patients like this, even the pharmacist said the experience left him speechless for the first time and he just let me deal with it.

 

[cycloketocaine]

A patient was discharged from a large cancer institution in MA and decided to not have the meds filled there so that any issues that may arise could have been alleviated on site.

Patient decided to come back to his/her middle of nowhere hicktown of a pharmacy to fill a script for gleevec (newly approved cancer medication that our pharmacy can't order) and rapamune which resulted in a p/a rejection.

Patient repeats "eeen my cunntree, yif i hav mohnee, I can get meddykayshun" (eastern European accent) 100 times and the mob, forming behind the patient, waiting to drop of scripts starts to smirk at patient not knowing the purpose of the medications patient was looking for.

How do you deal with patients like this, even the pharmacist said the experience left him speechless for the first time and he just let me deal with it.

Gleevec has been on the market for at least 6 years, why can't you order it?

 

[Ackj]

Patient repeats "eeen my cunntree, yif i hav mohnee, I can get meddykayshun" (eastern European accent) 100 times

That's fine in this country too. He is not obligated to wait for the p/a from his insurance. He can pay cash.

 

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

That's fine in this country too. He is not obligated to wait for the p/a from his insurance. He can pay cash.

I tried to tell patient that and the fact that I need to order rapamune...patient continued parroting rhetoric. I told the patient the price of the medication and parroting stopped.

 

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

Gleevec has been on the market for at least 6 years, why can't you order it?

My pharmacy is not able to order it, according to my managing pharmacist.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

My pharmacy is not able to order it, according to my managing pharmacist.

I call BS. Can think of no reason they can't order it other than they don't want to pay the cost. And it isn't a newly approved med.

 

[browneyes021]

My pharmacy is not able to order it, according to my managing pharmacist.

What reason would prevent them from ordering a medication that all phatmacies across the US can get? Even if you order and the patient doesn't want it when it comes in, you can always return it

 

[BidingMyTime]

My pharmacy is not able to order it, according to my managing pharmacist.

Well, then you can't blame the patient for being mad, if you aren't ordering it, just because your pharmacist doesn't want to order it. Pharmacy I work at carries Gleevac and we have had no supply issues with it.

 

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

Well, then you can't blame the patient for being mad, if you aren't ordering it, just because your pharmacist doesn't want to order it. Pharmacy I work at carries Gleevac and we have had no supply issues with it.

We order through Cardinal and we weren't able to order it.

 

[Sparda29]

We order through Cardinal and we weren't able to order it.

Check to see if Kinray has it. When it comes to these kind of medications, we generally have the patient pay upfront before we send the order out to the distributor.

 

[cycloketocaine]

Yeah, I'm not understanding the point of this post. Your patient wanted their medication for a malignancy, nor norco or oxycodone. How dare they want you to order that for them or even take steps to help it get approved. 😕

 

[rph3664]

Gleevec was approved in 2001. It was a cover story in Time magazine, a controversial decision in part because a lot of people wondered what the big deal is about a disease that most people have never heard of, and affects just a few thousand people in the U.S. every year. It would be a big deal if YOU had a disease whose only hope for a cure or even long-term remission was a bone marrow transplant, and now a drug comes along that you can take daily at home and has a relatively minimal side effect profile.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,999954,00.html

No, a pharmacy is not going to have it, or Rapamune, unless they already have someone on it, and from my experience, even if we did, we wouldn't count or label the medication unless the patient was standing right there. We'd had patients who died or had their meds changed, and were stuck with something we couldn't send back.

Which reminds me, I left my old grocery store job 10 years ago, and saw today in the newspaper that one of my favorite customers died yesterday at the age of 92. We were always happy to see him, because he was a nice person. 😍 He was survived by his wife, and a severely disabled child to whom they had devoted their lives to care for him, and I was surprised to see that he was still with us.

 

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

Yeah, I'm not understanding the point of this post. Your patient wanted their medication for a malignancy, nor norco or oxycodone. How dare they want you to order that for them or even take steps to help it get approved. 😕

The patient has been to our pharmacy before without issues, I was just saying that it was foolish for the patient to leave the big cancer institution without getting the meds there.

That's all, the pharmacist recommended getting in touch with the doctor for 1 of the 2 prescribed meds but the other required a prior auth...we tried our best but according to the PIC, we can't get gleevec.

Your comments are misguided at me; I think you were aiming for the PIC 👍

 

[cycloketocaine]

The patient has been to our pharmacy before without issues, I was just saying that it was foolish for the patient to leave the big cancer institution without getting the meds there.

That's all, the pharmacist recommended getting in touch with the doctor for 1 of the 2 prescribed meds but the other required a prior auth...we tried our best but according to the PIC, we can't get gleevec.

Your comments are misguided at me; I think you were aiming for the PIC 👍

My issue was with your mocking of the patient. Your original post had very negative undertones aimed at your patient, thats all. If that was a misinterpretation, my bad.

 

[SpaceHamsterBoo]

My issue was with your mocking of the patient. Your original post had very negative undertones aimed at your patient, thats all. If that was a misinterpretation, my bad.

I only said that too describe how the patient was not able to understand what I was trying to get across and I felt terrible about it because the other patients in line were snickering and laughing. If only they knew what the medications were for 🙁

 

[npage148]

I'm blaming your pharmacy for the problem. You refuse to order a medicine(not buying the cant excuse) or help with the PA for rapamune. Then you mock a patient who will probably die quiet soon for having an accent or not understanding the issue

I would have taken my RXs to my hometown pharmacy as well esp for two drugs as common as gleevac and rapamune.

 

[Its Z]

Not ordering it because too expensive???

 

[spacecowgirl]

OP - you're a jerk. Own it.