Pharmacist will be able to order and administer Covid-19 test.

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HandsomeVampire

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"the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health issued new guidance under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act authorizing licensed pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 tests that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized. "

What do you guys think?

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I'm gonna get corona now.
 
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Well, as far as health care "professionals" we're very expendable and easily replaced- the perfect choice for exposure to a virulent and potentially deadly disease. Why place other professionals at risk? If one goes down, there will be 100 hungry new grads in line to take their place as cannon fodder. I hope no one in pharmacy is actually "proud" to be given this responsibility.... Look for CVS to implement COVID-19 testing metrics shortly. And forget about that pesky PPE....
 
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I'd love jamming sticks up people's noses. And then twisting and digging around
 
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Yeah, there is that. Always a silver lining if you look hard enough....
 
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Does this make y’all think pharmacists would be considered as providers and able to bill for their services?. Heck no.
 
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Literally no one volunteered for the drive-thru testing that Walmart has yet to roll out

I wouldn't count on the chain-affiliated ones to be organized and efficient
 
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LOL. Just another mindless ancillary service we do for free between guiding people to the toilet paper and calling insurance companies. We're highly overpaid and have lots of free time you know? Larry Merlo says so, and he is the modern "face" of pharmacy....
 
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Granted, the face is starting to look a bit like the ass...
 
Literally no one volunteered for the drive-thru testing that Walmart has yet to roll out

I wouldn't count on the chain-affiliated ones to be organized and efficient
I did.
 
Well, as far as health care "professionals" we're very expendable and easily replaced- the perfect choice for exposure to a virulent and potentially deadly disease. Why place other professionals at risk? If one goes down, there will be 100 hungry new grads in line to take their place as cannon fodder. I hope no one in pharmacy is actually "proud" to be given this responsibility.... Look for CVS to implement COVID-19 testing metrics shortly. And forget about that pesky PPE....

You are being dramatic.. I can understand why they are doing this. We aren’t testing as many people as we should because testing done at hospital isn’t enough. If pharmacy participates, they would be reaching far more number of people.

I am not for or against it. I just understand the rationale. But people will complain regardless as they did when they started pharmacist administered immunizations.
 
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Ideally as serological testing for antibodies becomes available that would be a priority of state govts and the Trump administration to roll out at a greater scale (but not before the financial markets crash and burn again). Negative RT-PCR for active infection doesn't tell you if you had prior exposure or have not yet been exposed. Walmart and CVS are behind the trends.
 
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Well, as far as health care "professionals" we're very expendable and easily replaced- the perfect choice for exposure to a virulent and potentially deadly disease. Why place other professionals at risk? If one goes down, there will be 100 hungry new grads in line to take their place as cannon fodder. I hope no one in pharmacy is actually "proud" to be given this responsibility.... Look for CVS to implement COVID-19 testing metrics shortly. And forget about that pesky PPE....
Reminds me of the opening scene of the movie Enemy At The Gates where the Russians were drafting essentially teenagers/college students with no military training/experience and sending them en masse to the front lines in cargo trains to defend Stalingrad.

Undersupplied and underequipped yet ordered to suicide charge the German front lines which were fortified with machine guns, tanks etc. because they were definitely not outmanned. If anything that was the Russian's strength: one man goes down? There will be 10 more to take his place. All for the sake of the "Motherland." Oh, and if you retreated, there are barrier troops (on your own side) to shoot you for deserting.

I'll let y'all draw the parallels to pharmacy and the infinite supply of new grads...
 
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Reminds me of the opening scene of the movie Enemy At The Gates where the Russians were drafting essentially teenagers/college students with no military training/experience and sending them en masse to the front lines in cargo trains to defend Stalingrad.

Undersupplied and underequipped yet ordered to suicide charge the German front lines which were fortified with machine guns, tanks etc. because they were definitely not outmanned. If anything that was the Russian's strength: one man goes down? There will be 10 more to take his place. All for the sake of the "Motherland." Oh, and if you retreated, there are barrier troops (on your own side) to shoot you for deserting.

I'll let y'all draw the parallels to pharmacy and the infinite supply of new grads...

Just think of all the money that will be rolling in... not to mention the low sensitivity of current tests so there will probably be multiple re-tests.
 
Reminds me of the opening scene of the movie Enemy At The Gates where the Russians were drafting essentially teenagers/college students with no military training/experience and sending them en masse to the front lines in cargo trains to defend Stalingrad.

Undersupplied and underequipped yet ordered to suicide charge the German front lines which were fortified with machine guns, tanks etc. because they were definitely not outmanned. If anything that was the Russian's strength: one man goes down? There will be 10 more to take his place. All for the sake of the "Motherland." Oh, and if you retreated, there are barrier troops (on your own side) to shoot you for deserting.

I'll let y'all draw the parallels to pharmacy and the infinite supply of new grads...

2 men had to share a rifle. Soon we might get to the point where 2 workers will have to share a mask.

Here you go.

 
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Oh look at that! Suddenly pharmacists are "providers" of healthcare -- gee whiz! Will pharmacists get to bill an ICD10 for administering this service? or still have modest tails tucked firmly between their legs?
 
Oh look at that! Suddenly pharmacists are "providers" of healthcare -- gee whiz! Will pharmacists get to bill an ICD10 for administering this service? or still have modest tails tucked firmly between their legs?
The problem with this bill is that there is no way to operationalize "pharmacists being able to order COVID tests and labs." Do you see any of the chains creating forms or protocols for pharmacists to follow to order labs or even refer to a doctor? I think not.

This is like giving someone a valid driver's license and telling them that "you can drive now," except the problem is you don't have a car.
 
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PGY-4 w/ board certified cornavirus pharmacotherapeutic specialist qualifications required to administer per APHA.
 
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2 men had to share a rifle. Soon we might get to the point where 2 workers will have to share a mask.

Here you go.


Just replace Khrushchev with a DM, the officers/generals with PICs, "The Boss" with Larry Merlo, Stalingrad with CVS corporate and the Germans with COVID and this pretty much summarizes it all.

 
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The problem with this bill is that there is no way to operationalize "pharmacists being able to order COVID tests and labs." Do you see any of the chains creating forms or protocols for pharmacists to follow to order labs or even refer to a doctor? I think not.

This is like giving someone a valid driver's license and telling them that "you can drive now," except the problem is you don't have a car.

Sure, because they got it done with flu shots and all other immunizations. If theres a way to generate significant enough revenue from this process you'll see how quickly chains bend over backwards to make this happen - forms, training, SOP's, massaging the Boards of Pharmacies (where chains already have significant presence/representation) etc

Betting pharmacist insurance renewal will get pricier too
 
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Just replace Khrushchev with a DM, the officers/generals with PICs, "The Boss" with Larry Merlo, Stalingrad with CVS corporate and the Germans with COVID and this pretty much summarizes it all.



When the one with the mask is killed, the one following will put the mask on and...immunize!
 
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When the one with the mask is killed, the one following will put the mask on and...immunize!
PIC#1 : I carried out my orders. I sent in all of my boys. But COVID engulfed us [and took most of my staff out of commission]. It can spread through aerosol, human contact, and live on surfaces. And we, what did I have [since you didn't give me masks, barriers or hazard pay/time off]?

DM: You [pharmacists] have the sacred duty to make money for the company [at all costs]!
I have to report to The Boss that we didn't make our metrics. Perhaps you'd prefer to avoid the red tape and resign now [to let a desperate new grad who WILL work harder to meet the metrics take your place]?

*hands gun to PIC #1*
*PIC #1 kills himself*
*DM calls staff meeting with the rest of the PICs*

DM: My name is Nikita Khrushchev. I'm the new DM and am taking charge of things here. This company is not Walgreens, it is not Walmart, it is not Kroger. This company is CVS. CVS. It bears the name of the company that more than 50% of pharmacists work for. It is not just a company but a symbol for all things pharmacy. If COVID takes out our company, the entire country will collapse.

Now, I want our boys to raise up their heads. I want them to act like they have BALLS! I WANT THEM TO STOP ****TING THEIR PANTS [and complaining about PPE, lack of hazard pay/PTO, that they're not considered healthcare workers]. That's your job. As PICs, I'm counting on you [to get your floaters and staff in rank and order]. You, what's your suggestion?

PIC#2: Fire all the other PICs who didn't make their metrics. And their full time staff pharmacists too.

PIC#3: Make some examples of them. Blacklist the PICs and their families and make them ineligible for hire or rehire.

*DM is about to get fed up*

PIC#4: Give them hope!

*DM walks over*

PIC#4: Here our pharmacists' only choice is between our bullets and COVID's. But there's another way. The way of courage. The way of the love of the Motherland. We must give incentives. We must publish some PR articles again. We must tell magnificent stories of pharmacist heroes working in the front lines. Stories that exalt bravery and sacrifice. We must give them hope and the belief in a victory.

Yes, we must give our pharmacists $150 bonuses.
 
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Unfortunately , if you want a job ...you are going to have to take any vaccine that comes out and if you are outpatient ...administer those covid tests. Just like you are now giving vaccines and they got rid of anyone who didn’t want to do it. If this doesn’t light a fire under retail RX A$$e$ to unionize , then I don’t know what will...
 
Of course my fellow pharmacists beg and beg for provider status but don't want to order or administer COVID 19 tests. At some point you guys are going to have to look into the mirror and ask how serious you are about it. Obviously not very much.
 
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Who actually wants provider status? No retail pharmacist
 
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Of course my fellow pharmacists beg and beg for provider status but don't want to order or administer COVID 19 tests. At some point you guys are going to have to look into the mirror and ask how serious you are about it. Obviously not very much.

Yeah these are same people who bitch about not getting enough respect from general public.

But when there is a chance to prove yourself useful, “But that’s not my job!”
 
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Of course my fellow pharmacists beg and beg for provider status but don't want to order or administer COVID 19 tests. At some point you guys are going to have to look into the mirror and ask how serious you are about it. Obviously not very much.

It‘a almost like different pharmacists have different priorities. Unthinkable!
 
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It‘a almost like different pharmacists have different priorities. Unthinkable!

That's a really strange comment. Again, this just goes back to how this profession isn't being taken seriously by the public. We ask and ask and ask for provider status and when the opportunity approaches our counter we turn the other way. Par for the course!
 
PS I can’t think of a single pharmacist who wants provider status..

We don’t get training for diagnosis.
 
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That's a really strange comment. Again, this just goes back to how this profession isn't being taken seriously by the public. We ask and ask and ask for provider status and when the opportunity approaches our counter we turn the other way. Par for the course!

My comment is really strange? Lol I am not the one making sweeping generalizations about a group that includes literally hundreds of thousands of people. Is your claim that literally hundreds of thousands of pharmacists have asked and asked and asked for provider status but are now bulking at what that entails?

It seems more likely to me that some pharmacists want provider status (very likely a minority to begin with) and many are indifferent or even actively do not want it. The people who do not want to do COVID testing are very likely the same people who don’t care about provider status. There is a tenuous connection at best between wanting provider status and wanting to be a front line COVID tester anyway - plenty of providers are not on the front lines of COVID to begin with. To connect wanting provider status with wanting to be on the front lines of COVID is disingenuous and saying that if you want one you have to want the other is fallacious.

That was a lot more than I wanted to say about that but hopefully I cleared up any confusion my earlier comment caused.
 
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This is only temporary provider status. During emergency. BS!

See below....

Pharmacy Groups Ask Congress to Establish Pharmacists as Emergency Medicare Part B Providers
ASHP, along with other pharmacy organizations, sent a letter to Congress last week requesting a bill be drafted to reimburse pharmacists for specific services provided to Medicare Part B patients for the duration of the public health emergency. This would allow for the temporary provision of pharmacist services for Medicare beneficiaries, limited to testing for COVID-19 and influenza, to reduce the current strain on our healthcare system.


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Just read elsewhere it is projected that a pharmacist at a drive through "should" be able to do 3000 COVID19 tests per day. Can you see the bigwigs at CVS and Walgreens licking their chops at that? Bring on the metrics! Really glad I left retail....
 
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Just read elsewhere it is projected that a pharmacist at a drive through "should" be able to do 3000 COVID19 tests per day. Can you see the bigwigs at CVS and Walgreens licking their chops at that? Bring on the metrics! Really glad I left retail....
If the store was open for 12 hrs then that'd be 250 an hour... or one car driving through every 15 seconds or so. That's way faster than my local Mickey D's can flip burgers...
 
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They have high expectations- we're "professionals", after all. Yeah someone else mentioned that those numbers must have been based on packing 15 people into a car or something. But that's still the kind of idiocy I'd expect from Walgreens or CVS. Aim high, after all. If the horse actually gets to EAT the carrot, that's no fun at all.....
 
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Nofrommedawg.gif
 
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There are metrics for # of mail outs and curbside pick up at Walmart (tHiS iS mAnDaToRy ProGrAm GaIz) so why wouldn't they impose productivity metrics for this?

LMAO the 'profession' becomes more of a joke
 
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There are metrics for # of mail outs and curbside pick up at Walmart (tHiS iS mAnDaToRy ProGrAm GaIz) so why wouldn't they impose productivity metrics for this?

LMAO the 'profession' becomes more of a joke
Remember that in the first Hunger Games, each tribute was given a training score by the Gamemakers so that the crowds in the Capitol could get an idea of who has the best chance of survival and therefore bet on/sponsor.

In the same way the pharmacist's worth could be boiled down to metrics as being the most objective form of standardizing performance so that employers will know who is actually 'good' or not.

Metrics knows no loyalties nor is it affected by human biases so it is the closest thing to assessing merit. How do you assess that pharmacist who was hired because they "knew someone" or "went to the same school as the hiring manager?" How do you assess productivity amongst guys and girls? The 4.0 GPA new grad vs. 2.0 degree mill grad? The 22 year old pharmacist vs. the 60 year old pharmacist? Metrics, metrics, metrics.
 
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Right. Just pointing out though I have never seen productivity metrics used in any accountability process except to target specific people for termination, constructive or otherwise. More for gross violations. Thus smart old pharmacists just avoid making those gross violations while the young'uns chase their tails for metrics even though 90% get the same "solid performer" or "meets expectations" rating regardless of actual ability or "productivity"
 
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So word on the street is Walmart will be requiring one pharmacist per store to help with Covid testing.. Anyone has heard of this?
 
So word on the street is Walmart will be requiring one pharmacist per store to help with Covid testing.. Anyone has heard of this?

Home office is asking for at least one pharmacist volunteer, preferably more, from every store to be trained to do testing. I’m not sure what will happen to stores where no one working is able to pass the qualifying questions.
 
Home office is asking for at least one pharmacist volunteer, preferably more, from every store to be trained to do testing.

But is this just volunteer work or mandatory if you meet the criteria?
 
But is this just volunteer work or mandatory if you meet the criteria?

I haven’t heard that it is mandatory yet. I just keep hearing it referred to as “volunteering.”
 
Hmm... Another outsourced service to pharmacy that Nursing does not want to do.:smack:
 
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CVS has this in certain stores (my store included) and the patients are expected to swab themselves. After they're done they put the specimen in a drop box by at drive thru.

People can literally make an appointment 5 min before the appointment time and each appointment can be within 10 mins of each other. So far it hasn't caught on so we do between 5-9 testing a day. If you're lucky the person is smart enough to follow instruction, if you're not... Well, you'll have someone who literally dump the fluid on themselves and throw a fit when you tell them they need to make another appointment. Oh, and you'll have the idiots who can't read the HUGE sign that says, "COVID TESTING IN DRIVE THRU ONLY" and come into the store saying they're here to get tested.

Also, the burden is mostly on the techs who works drive thru. After all the patients are registers and ready to go, it's mostly the tech teaching them how to/watching them administer the test.
 
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