Vertical Phone Reach Rate

[NateRobinson]

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I'd like to think of myself as a CVS expert who knows mostly everything about the company and how metrics work.

I cannot for the life of me STILL figure out how vertical reach rate works. For PCQ calls, prescriber follow up, and the dreaded Action Note Follow Through. Some people say you have to be on the phone for at least 10 seconds (meaning the timer has to start) to get "credit", some people say 1 second, some say it just has to ring.

What is the real answer? And how does it even work? How can a phone system know if you called a certain number and spoke to them? It's just really confusing. The entire cadence of the situation. It begs so many questions. Does it look to see if the phone call was made in the last hour, the last day, the last few hours?

I tried looking online for the vertical phone business website but couldn't find any info. So please, fellow CVS Pharmacists or even Walgreens Pharmacists if you guys have to do the same thing at your job, lay some info on me! It would be greatly greatly appreciated!!!

 

[VeeSee]

Listen man, just go in and do your shift and go home.

That's the secret answer you are looking for.

Just get the right medicine with the right strength/dose to the right patient with the right directions. Don't even worry about right doctor. And if there is a major interaction or any other major DUR issue, then either tell the patient or contact the MD based on your professional judgement.

 

[ineeddrug]

At staff meeting, my DM once said that system knows if we called the same telephone number in the system or not.
I don't know how long it should last to get credit. But to get credit, we need to either call pt, family or leave vm.
To do any of these option (talked to someone or leave msg ) it takes me 15-20 secs at least, and I see reach rate goes up always.

 

[Old Timer]

Listen man, just go in and do your shift and go home.

That's the secret answer you are looking for.

Just get the right medicine with the right strength/dose to the right patient with the right directions. Don't even worry about right doctor. And if there is a major interaction or any other major DUR issue, then either tell the patient or contact the MD based on your professional judgement.

Stay pre-pharmacy. You are better off. You have zero understanding of the real world.

 

[Sine Cura]

My boss claimed any action notes count only if the action note was done within the two hours after the phone number was called and the call actually connected. The rule of thumb everyone used was at least 30 seconds elapsed on the timer. Option 1 counts only for written rx.

 

[gwarm01]

Some people say you have to be on the phone for at least 10 seconds (meaning the timer has to start) to get "credit", some people say 1 second, some say it just has to ring.

This makes me sick. Did you go to school to be treated like a lab rat in some sort of shock collar experiment or to be a pharmacist? The way CVS treats its pharmacists is just fundamentally disrespectful.

 

[wagrxm2000]

One of these days cvs will realize metrics don't help at all and join the Walgreens way.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Listen man, just go in and do your shift and go home.

That's the secret answer you are looking for.

Just get the right medicine with the right strength/dose to the right patient with the right directions. Don't even worry about right doctor. And if there is a major interaction or any other major DUR issue, then either tell the patient or contact the MD based on your professional judgement.

This is the best answer I have seen in a long time. Finally!

 

[PharFromNormal]

Listen man, just go in and do your shift and go home.

That's the secret answer you are looking for.

Just get the right medicine with the right strength/dose to the right patient with the right directions. Don't even worry about right doctor. And if there is a major interaction or any other major DUR issue, then either tell the patient or contact the MD based on your professional judgement.

Make sure to get the right doc or else you have so much extra work when trying to get the refill request.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Actually yeah, make sure you get the right doctor.

But when shi* gets crazy, I don't look at that. It's funny, a pharmacist when teaching me when I was an intern, he said sometimes he just skips that entire part completely when things are crazy. I always kept that in the back of my mind, haha. Put the right doctor.

As for the OP, seriously man, stop it. Just stop it.

 

[ldiot]

My current understanding is that any option on the left will give you credit and any option on the right is no credit. The exception being "spoke to patient in person" and "chose not to call" in which the call is just not counted into the metric at all. Current consensus seems to be that you must hit 30 seconds on the timer and the call must be made within 2 hours before or 2 hours after the opportunity. I followed this formula and got my personal action note follow through into the 70s. I thought it would be 100 so I'm not sure where the problem is. I did wait for the timer to hit 30 seconds on voicemails and choose "spoke to patient in person" for people with no voicemail to eliminate the call from both the numerator and denominator of the metric.

I'm pretty sure PCQ calls are totally different. With PCQ the only thing that matters is reach rate, fill rate, and pick up rate for the people that agree to have their script filled. So if you call someone and they agree to have something filled, you still need them to pick up the script for credit. But for PCQ I don't think the phone calls are actually looked at, just the reach rate and fill rate displayed on the que and then the actual pick up rate of these scripts. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know anything about Dr. calls other than it's a pain in the butt when half the scripts have the wrong Dr. or right doctor and wrong location.

 

[zelman]

My current understanding is that any option on the left will give you credit and any option on the right is no credit. The exception being "spoke to patient in person" and "chose not to call" in which the call is just not counted into the metric at all. Current consensus seems to be that you must hit 30 seconds on the timer and the call must be made within 2 hours before or 2 hours after the opportunity. I followed this formula and got my personal action note follow through into the 70s. I thought it would be 100 so I'm not sure where the problem is. I did wait for the timer to hit 30 seconds on voicemails and choose "spoke to patient in person" for people with no voicemail to eliminate the call from both the numerator and denominator of the metric.

I'm pretty sure PCQ calls are totally different. With PCQ the only thing that matters is reach rate, fill rate, and pick up rate for the people that agree to have their script filled. So if you call someone and they agree to have something filled, you still need them to pick up the script for credit. But for PCQ I don't think the phone calls are actually looked at, just the reach rate and fill rate displayed on the que and then the actual pick up rate of these scripts. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know anything about Dr. calls other than it's a pain in the butt when half the scripts have the wrong Dr. or right doctor and wrong location.

This is the problem with CVS's metrics. People are told "you need to do xyz" so they do but the metric doesn't hit 100%. So we question what is actually being measured, and nobody knows.

 

[PharFromNormal]

This is the problem with CVS's metrics. People are told "you need to do xyz" so they do but the metric doesn't hit 100%. So we question what is actually being measured, and nobody knows.

My bet is the bean counters that created the metric really just want you to make the calls and weren't the ones that said "you need to torture your uncle, feed his dog with right treat, then order a half cheese pizza from Raymond at the pizzeria down on Pike St. Make sure you order half cheese or else you won't get the points."

Telling someone what to do in order to exactly drive a metric only gets people to exactly drive a metric. There's likely a disconnect between the corporate folks that just want to use this as a tool and the supervisors/managers/techs that want to use this instead of actually making a call. If they say 8 seconds, you'll only stay connected for 8 seconds. That's likely not what they want.

 

[VeeSee]

Stay pre-pharmacy. You are better off. You have zero understanding of the real world.

LOL because I don't care about idiotic metrics like"vertical phone reach "?

OP is a known CVS nut job, hence my response to his thread.

But is that what you CVS pharmacists do? Brag about your "vertical phone reach rate" metric scores?

That reminds me, I should update my status to pharmacist now.

 

[VeeSee]

Actually yeah, make sure you get the right doctor.

But when shi* gets crazy, I don't look at that. It's funny, a pharmacist when teaching me when I was an intern, he said sometimes he just skips that entire part completely when things are crazy. I always kept that in the back of my mind, haha. Put the right doctor.

As for the OP, seriously man, stop it. Just stop it.

Right doctor might be too much for Mr. Nate Robinson CVS pharmacist lol

 

[ChalupaBatman86]

Here is one weird trick corproate doesnt want you to know. You need to press up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-A-B-B-A then hold select and start before you make the call. You will get instant credit for the call and unlimited values in action points.

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[Ackj]

Here is one weird trick corproate doesnt want you to know.

RX Sups HATE him! Scientists have discovered a revolutionary way to boost metrics.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

Chalupa is right...seriously, there is no trick to this.

You call when there is a prompt to. The best way to drive action note follow thru is to call or text.

If you are not making it, look at ANFT employee results.

If a Rph has low ANFT, make sure they are doing prescriber follow up calls and calling customers when prompted after.

If it is a technician usually at drop off, make sure they are calling customers instead of putting scripts on hold or putting in discount cards.

If it is a technician at production, make sure they are doing out of stock process into QI correctly.

Seriously.... Not hard. I don't know why stores are struggling with this. They are asking for 50%... Not 100.

 

[tlh908]

I am enjoying this thread. I'm so glad I'm gone from that place. For more money at that. And our owner is getting free massages for the pharmacy staff because he appreciates us. There are better ways to run a business.

 

[Old Timer]

LOL because I don't care about idiotic metrics like"vertical phone reach "?

OP is a known CVS nut job, hence my response to his thread.

But is that what you CVS pharmacists do? Brag about your "vertical phone reach rate" metric scores?

That reminds me, I should update my status to pharmacist now.

No you are clearly misguided. You lack a fundamental understanding about the way the world works. So let me explain it to you simply and plainly. The employer pays you money to do a job (six figures per year for a pharmacist). Then they tell you exactly what they want you to do for those six figures. This does not matter what you think. If you don't want to do it, quit or work somewhere else. They want you to make doctor calls. So you make the doctor calls. There is not doctor call that is done in less than a minute in this day and age of automated phone trees. After you listen to the greeting and by the time you press 4 for rxs, referrals and MD messages and then 1 for rxs you have used more than enough time to have the phone system register it as a reached call.

You may not like world the way it is. You can open your own place and be your own boss. Sans that, you will do what your employer tells you. That's the way it was when I graduated in 1982 and that's the way it is now and that's the way it will be when you graduate.

Now if you are smart enough to get into pharmacy school and smart enough to get out of pharmacy school with a degree, you should be smart enough to figure out how to conquer the metrics they want. It's really much easier then organic chemistry or clinical pharmacology or P&T. SO if you can't, your just plain lazy or just plain stupid.

 

[Old Timer]

I cannot for the life of me STILL figure out how vertical reach rate works. For PCQ calls, prescriber follow up, and the dreaded Action Note Follow Through. Some people say you have to be on the phone for at least 10 seconds (meaning the timer has to start) to get "credit", some people say 1 second, some say it just has to ring.

Your phone system is VOIP. So, the system knows you dialed the number. After you dial, you get several responses, no answer, busy and answer. If you get an an answer it could be a person and a machine or a recording from the phone company. The computer knows based on the tone what happens. It knows if the phone was answered or not. If you make the calls, you will get credit for them. Don't worry about reach rate as much as calling at the right time to get the patient.

 

[Old Timer]

I am enjoying this thread. I'm so glad I'm gone from that place. For more money at that. And our owner is getting free massages for the pharmacy staff because he appreciates us. There are better ways to run a business.

More power to him and to you. I wish you all the success in the world.

 

[maria1oh]

I don't mind calling doctors but it seems like more and more doctors are not accepting calls from pharmacy for refill requests.
I know of a cvs that got a $250 fine from the state board for filling a control substance under the wrong doctor. There are numerous insurance and rxconnect rejections due to prescriber and I know some techs/rph who will just change the prescriber to get it to go through.

 

[BMBiology]

No you are clearly misguided. You lack a fundamental understanding about the way the world works. So let me explain it to you simply and plainly. The employer pays you money to do a job (six figures per year for a pharmacist). Then they tell you exactly what they want you to do for those six figures. This does not matter what you think. If you don't want to do it, quit or work somewhere else. They want you to make doctor calls. So you make the doctor calls. There is not doctor call that is done in less than a minute in this day and age of automated phone trees. After you listen to the greeting and by the time you press 4 for rxs, referrals and MD messages and then 1 for rxs you have used more than enough time to have the phone system register it as a reached call.

You may not like world the way it is. You can open your own place and be your own boss. Sans that, you will do what your employer tells you. That's the way it was when I graduated in 1982 and that's the way it is now and that's the way it will be when you graduate.

Now if you are smart enough to get into pharmacy school and smart enough to get out of pharmacy school with a degree, you should be smart enough to figure out how to conquer the metrics they want. It's really much easier then organic chemistry or clinical pharmacology or P&T. SO if you can't, your just plain lazy or just plain stupid.

How about your professional and legal duty to the patient?

CVS can tell you to do XYZ but when there is a mistake and some patient get hurt, do you think the Board of Pharmacy is going hold Mr. Merlo responsible? It is your butt that is on the line, not his.

I bet if CVS has a restroom cleanliness metric, you would grab a mop....wouldn't you?



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[Sine Cura]

Patient safety can be compromised by pharmacist preoccupation with metrics (either being "stressed out" by the "pressure" of meeting metrics or focusing on gaming the system to the detriment of the core function of a dispensing pharmacist) but believe it or not, other companies have metrics too. Remember above all else that the principal obstacle to patient safety at CVS is the disproportionate lack of tech and RPH hours compared to the workload demanded of you and your staff. I'm glad I came to my ****ing senses and quit because verifying 500+ a day by yourself day after day is a recipe for disaster.

 

[ldiot]

So back to the point, anyone know if you actually have to be on the phone for 30 seconds?
Also, how are Dr. calls measured? Are they a part of ANFT? If so how is it measured/factored in? Or is it a separate metric?

 

[Old Timer]

How about your professional and legal duty to the patient?

CVS can tell you to do XYZ but when there is a mistake and some patient get hurt, do you think the Board of Pharmacy is going hold Mr. Merlo responsible? It is your butt that is on the line, not his.

I bet if CVS has a restroom cleanliness metric, you would grab a mop....wouldn't you?



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If you feel you can't do it, you quit. Do you refuse to do things your employer tells you to do?

 

[wagrxm2000]

Too many people think they are above their job duties.

 

[SmallCapPharma]

I was told the phone must stop ringing (either by someone picking up, or by going to voicemail) then it's 15 seconds after that and you get credit. I have no clue if this is true though.

Anyone know if it's earlier than 9am and you get the option #8 for "after hours" does your score get negatively impacted? Calling people at 8am when clearing the QT is just too early.


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[ldiot]

I was told the phone must stop ringing (either by someone picking up, or by going to voicemail) then it's 15 seconds after that and you get credit. I have no clue if this is true though.

Anyone know if it's earlier than 9am and you get the option #8 for "after hours" does your score get negatively impacted? Calling people at 8am when clearing the QT is just too early.


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I would guess it just doesn't count... probably removes the call from both the numerator and denominator of the metric. That being said I've never even seen this option, is it new? lol

 

[NateRobinson]

Why is everyone bashing CVS because of these metrics? I DONT GET IT.

CVS is simply asking us to let patients know if there is a problem with their prescription. Meaning if it is out of stock, if its not covered by insurance, etc. With most scripts these days being electronic, the patient goes from the doctors office to the pharmacy pickup window. Let's say you go to your doctor, and he prescribes Nasonex. You leave the office, you go to the pharmacy, wait 5 minutes on line at pickup, and the tech tells you that the prescription is out of stock and will be in tomorrow. What is your first reaction? Outrage? Anger? Your first statement will be "Well why didn't anyone call me to tell me that? Why did I just waste a trip?"

THAT'S what CVS is tracking with these action note follow through calls. They want us to make sure that we call patients in these situations so that patients don't get angry and leave with a bad experience. It's that simple. I don't UNDERSTAND why everyone goes bat**** insane and calls CVS evil for doing this. It's really mind boggling.

Believe it or not, if CVS didn't track these calls, you would have lazy pieces of **** technicians and some pharmacists who just simply wouldn't call patients to tell them when their drug is out of stock or requires a prior authorization. I've seen it happen. It's human nature. Some people are just lazy.

 

[ldiot]

Why is everyone bashing CVS because of these metrics? I DONT GET IT.

CVS is simply asking us to let patients know if there is a problem with their prescription. Meaning if it is out of stock, if its not covered by insurance, etc. With most scripts these days being electronic, the patient goes from the doctors office to the pharmacy pickup window. Let's say you go to your doctor, and he prescribes Nasonex. You leave the office, you go to the pharmacy, wait 5 minutes on line at pickup, and the tech tells you that the prescription is out of stock and will be in tomorrow. What is your first reaction? Outrage? Anger? Your first statement will be "Well why didn't anyone call me to tell me that? Why did I just waste a trip?"

THAT'S what CVS is tracking with these action note follow through calls. They want us to make sure that we call patients in these situations so that patients don't get angry and leave with a bad experience. It's that simple. I don't UNDERSTAND why everyone goes bat**** insane and calls CVS evil for doing this. It's really mind boggling.

Believe it or not, if CVS didn't track these calls, you would have lazy pieces of **** technicians and some pharmacists who just simply wouldn't call patients to tell them when their drug is out of stock or requires a prior authorization. I've seen it happen. It's human nature. Some people are just lazy.

I personally don't think metrics are a problem, but rather the lack of staff to achieve them. People find that they are unable to meet every metric due to limited staff, so they naturally complain about the metric rather than the lack of staff. Nobody wants to sit around making PCQ calls and prescriber calls when you are behind on filling and there is a line at the register and drive-thru.

When I think about all of the things I dislike about retail, most of the things on this list are things outside of the control of CVS. Rude/ignorant customers, annoying insurance rejections/prior auths, hassles in reaching/communicating with prescribers. Not much CVS can do ab0ut these things aside from offering more resources (staff).

 

[zelman]

Why is everyone bashing CVS because of these metrics? I DONT GET IT.

CVS is simply asking us to let patients know if there is a problem with their prescription. Meaning if it is out of stock, if its not covered by insurance, etc. With most scripts these days being electronic, the patient goes from the doctors office to the pharmacy pickup window. Let's say you go to your doctor, and he prescribes Nasonex. You leave the office, you go to the pharmacy, wait 5 minutes on line at pickup, and the tech tells you that the prescription is out of stock and will be in tomorrow. What is your first reaction? Outrage? Anger? Your first statement will be "Well why didn't anyone call me to tell me that? Why did I just waste a trip?"

THAT'S what CVS is tracking with these action note follow through calls. They want us to make sure that we call patients in these situations so that patients don't get angry and leave with a bad experience. It's that simple. I don't UNDERSTAND why everyone goes bat**** insane and calls CVS evil for doing this. It's really mind boggling.

Believe it or not, if CVS didn't track these calls, you would have lazy pieces of **** technicians and some pharmacists who just simply wouldn't call patients to tell them when their drug is out of stock or requires a prior authorization. I've seen it happen. It's human nature. Some people are just lazy.

I'm not anti-metrics. I'm anti-mystery. If you want me to call everyone whose medication is out of stock, that's fine. I'll do it. Just don't tell me I did it 87.2% of the time when I did it 100% of the time and start suggesting that it may be because I used the secondary phone number, or called before I put in my credentials, or after I put in my credentials, or didn't let it ring for long enough, or finished the call too quickly or Mercury was in retrograde, or whatever.

Also, don't punish me for the fact that nobody wants CVS to have their phone number at all because an army of evil robots will call them 56 times for every prescription they fill and 94 times for every prescription they don't fill.

 

[Old Timer]

I'm not anti-metrics. I'm anti-mystery. If you want me to call everyone whose medication is out of stock, that's fine. I'll do it. Just don't tell me I did it 87.2% of the time when I did it 100% of the time and start suggesting that it may be because I used the secondary phone number, or called before I put in my credentials, or after I put in my credentials, or didn't let it ring for long enough, or finished the call too quickly or Mercury was in retrograde, or whatever.

Since you are not the only one in the pharmacy, it doesn't just measure you. I have had to put the lumber to techs who say they called, but in reality they don't. If you make the calls you will make the numbers. I don't waste my time with the other nonsense. The system recognizes if you call any of the numbers on file. As far as Mercury being in retrograde, I have no data on this.

Also, don't punish me for the fact that nobody wants CVS to have their phone number at all because an army of evil robots will call them 56 times for every prescription they fill and 94 times for every prescription they don't fill.

Now here you have a point. They act like a Jewish grandmother some is good more is better. They over do it a scootch....

 

[zelman]

Since you are not the only one in the pharmacy, it doesn't just measure you. I have had to put the lumber to techs who say they called, but in reality they don't. If you make the calls you will make the numbers. I don't waste my time with the other nonsense. The system recognizes if you call any of the numbers on file. As far as Mercury being in retrograde, I have no data on this.

Here is a concrete example of the shroud of mystery on another metric:

There is a metric that allegedly measures the percentage of prescriptions enrolled in readyfill. We were informed that it was calculated as:

(Number enrolled)/(Number enrolled+Number Not Asked)*100%

This means that prescriptions where readyfill was declined should not count against your score. Then I floated to a store where I saw that techs were declining readyfill on C2's (this was before prescriptions without refills blocked the entry). I asked why and they told me that everything that wasn't enrolled got declined to improve this score. They were tenacious about it. They enrolled or declined everything.

Later, my supervisor was whining about our lower than target score on this metric and alleging that we could simply decline some readyfills and everything would be fixed. I asked him why that other store didn't have a 100% if that was true (they had good scores, but far from perfect). He alleged that IF TOO MANY READYFILLS WERE DECLINED IN A ROW THE COMPUTER WOULD ASSUME SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND SOMEHOW ADJUST THE SCORE! That was about the craziest thing I had ever heard. I called the Helpdesk to try and get an answer that wasn't nonsense and was informed that information about metrics could ONLY be provided to supervisors. It was then that I knew the system was not measuring what we were told it was measuring.

This phone metric may be perfectly reflective of reaching patients, or not. There is no way of knowing if it deviates or how.

 

[Old Timer]

Here is a concrete example of the shroud of mystery on another metric:

There is a metric that allegedly measures the percentage of prescriptions enrolled in readyfill. We were informed that it was calculated as:

(Number enrolled)/(Number enrolled+Number Not Asked)*100%

This means that prescriptions where readyfill was declined should not count against your score. Then I floated to a store where I saw that techs were declining readyfill on C2's (this was before prescriptions without refills blocked the entry). I asked why and they told me that everything that wasn't enrolled got declined to improve this score. They were tenacious about it. They enrolled or declined everything.

Later, my supervisor was whining about our lower than target score on this metric and alleging that we could simply decline some readyfills and everything would be fixed. I asked him why that other store didn't have a 100% if that was true (they had good scores, but far from perfect). He alleged that IF TOO MANY READYFILLS WERE DECLINED IN A ROW THE COMPUTER WOULD ASSUME SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND SOMEHOW ADJUST THE SCORE! That was about the craziest thing I had ever heard. I called the Helpdesk to try and get an answer that wasn't nonsense and was informed that information about metrics could ONLY be provided to supervisors. It was then that I knew the system was not measuring what we were told it was measuring.

This phone metric may be perfectly reflective of reaching patients, or not. There is no way of knowing if it deviates or how.

This is all bull. Again, work the system and forget the manipulations. It counts the % of eligible rxs that are enrolled. controlled rugs are not eligible, they don't count, No refills on the original, they don't count, days supply under 20, they don't count. That's why when you look to enroll rxs it tells you which are eligible...... It tells you in the tool kit how it is measured.

 

[zelman]

This is all bull. Again, work the system and forget the manipulations. It counts the % of eligible rxs that are enrolled. controlled rugs are not eligible, they don't count, No refills on the original, they don't count, days supply under 20, they don't count. That's why when you look to enroll rxs it tells you which are eligible...... It tells you in the tool kit how it is measured.

The situation is bull. The story is 100% fact.

 

[gwarm01]

Jesus. I feel sorry for my retail brothers. I really do.

 

[Old Timer]

The situation is bull. The story is 100% fact.

As you tell it. I have the highest readyfill number in my district. It's a reflection of my clientele. They want it, or they think they do. In other neighborhoods, not so much. I also stress it's importance when I do first fill counseling.

 

[NateRobinson]

OldTimer, while we're on this topic, how do they measure Prescriber calls?

I make the calls, and then either hit will call back, generate a new script, or deny it. I do this for EVERY SCRIPT in the QV request calls line, before they turn orange. I don't delete any requests.

I'm still at 35%. Why is this?

I agree with zelman about this mystery thing. It's one thing if they actually gave you credit for doing the right thing. I do the right thing, but for whatever reason, can never get above a 75 on wecare.

Also guys, get this. If you put a script on hold that was electronic, that script had a wait time. Say it had a wait time of 6:32 pm. If you fill the script later, when the patient calls and says he wants it, and it's now 8 pm..... and he says I'll pick it up in an hour, so you put 9pm as the wait time. You verify it on time, but YOU WONT GET CREDIT. It will be as if you didn't verify it on time. Why? Because the original time on the prescription was 6:32 pm.

Stuff like this just kills me about CVS. And I love the company. I don't know why they make certain **** so hard.

 

[BMBiology]

^^ this guy is always trying to game the system. You are stuck being the RX manager. You don't know how to play the game. That is why you are behind and some other RX manager will move up, not you.

Love the company? Give me a break. Just wait a couple of years then you will realize you had wasted your youth on this company.


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[wagrxm2000]

I'm so glad I don't have all these metrics to worry about and can actually enjoy my job.

 

[VeeSee]

I'm so glad I don't have all these metrics to worry about and can actually enjoy my job.

I don't see what is so enjoyable? I think at most I'll probably really help out 2 or 3 people a day. You are still just pumping out across scripts to beat the wait time or promised time.

 

[wagrxm2000]

I don't see what is so enjoyable? I think at most I'll probably really help out 2 or 3 people a day. You are still just pumping out across scripts to beat the wait time or promised time.

Sorry you don't do your job well enough to enjoy it. I spent 10 or so minutes the other day helping an elderly lady with her glucose meter. Since I'm rarely behind it didn't affect me.

Its things like that which make my job enjoyable.

 

[BMBiology]

My prediction for Nate: in a year or two this fool is going to realize he is not moving up the ladder. This "emerging leader" doesn't have the political skill. He is just a working horse so he is stuck being a store RX manager. Metrics is your life. That is when he will become bitter, just like rxnupe...remember her?


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[Old Timer]

OldTimer, while we're on this topic, how do they measure Prescriber calls?

I make the calls, and then either hit will call back, generate a new script, or deny it. I do this for EVERY SCRIPT in the QV request calls line, before they turn orange. I don't delete any requests.

I'm still at 35%. Why is this?

It's measured by making the calls and closing them out before they turn red. It's the one metric that has really issues with measurability (if that's a word). So for example, today we made all the calls due today before 12 noon and then some time after lunch some come back red with time of 10AM this morning. It's really freaky. The only think I know for sure is that deleting an RX from the Q hurts your numbers.

I agree with zelman about this mystery thing. It's one thing if they actually gave you credit for doing the right thing. I do the right thing, but for whatever reason, can never get above a 75 on wecare.

First of all 75 is fine for We-Care. They want you over 7o. Next, I agree they use way too complicated formulas to figure this stuff out. Toooo many MBA's who wouldn't know what spatula was if you shoved u their ass.....

Also guys, get this. If you put a script on hold that was electronic, that script had a wait time. Say it had a wait time of 6:32 pm. If you fill the script later, when the patient calls and says he wants it, and it's now 8 pm..... and he says I'll pick it up in an hour, so you put 9pm as the wait time. You verify it on time, but YOU WONT GET CREDIT. It will be as if you didn't verify it on time. Why? Because the original time on the prescription was 6:32 pm.

That is not true. It's the time assigned when it's processed. If that is the case anything put on hold and filled days later would count against you.

Stuff like this just kills me about CVS. And I love the company. I don't know why they make certain **** so hard.

Don't love the company. They won't love you back. Tom Ryan retired and it aint the same any more. Just do your job to the best of your abilities. Collect your fat pay check and enjoy yourself. In a corporate world the best thing to do is fly down the middle. Find the minimum score they want and figure how to get a few points higher so your safe and your protect your job. Too low, your on a watch list, too high and you have nowhere to go but down.

 

[Sine Cura]

Addressing a previous post on action note options, choosing "after hours" means that the action note call is rescheduled for a later time, like 845 AM the next day if the pharmacy opens at 800 AM.

For prescriber calls, I never ever ever ever ever ever actively managed the prescriber call queue or made my techs manage it. That's not something I chose to waste time on. Ready when promised is 30/30. Prescriber calling is 10/10. I never let prescriber calls back me up at the expense of ready when promised. I just did what I could with calls as they came in QV and still managed to get above 50% if I was able to really stay on top of things. Maybe if you just do calls as they populate QV you get credit. If you work "ahead" you might not get credit.

As for ready when promised, the calculation is probably based on original promised time.

Stores with 100 WeCare only get up to 92-93% ready when promised. (I've seen the numbers myself.) Some of these 100 stores probably never have anything in red. Why can't these stores get 100% on ready when promised?

For rebills, sometimes you have to change the promised time if it is already in the past. From the CVS point of view, technically in this situation it's not actually "ready when promised" because the patient has to wait for the rebill to be processed, like with an e-script for an antibiotic suspension for a new pt where you didn't call the parent for insurance information. However if you managed to get this information before the 30 minutes is up, you would get credit for the Rx.

For RX on hold, many times you have to change the promised time because it's already in the past. Again technically not ready when promised especially if a patient thought they could get their prescription but it's too soon to fill because they forgot they got a 90 day supply of the same thing, same dose last month.

To preempt anyone claiming I don't know what I am talking about, I used inductive reasoning and insight from my RX sup to better understand WeCARE. My store used to sit in single digits but I managed to bring it up to the 90s (up to 94) before I quit.

 

[Old Timer]

Addressing a previous post on action note options, choosing "after hours" means that the action note call is rescheduled for a later time, like 845 AM the next day if the pharmacy opens at 800 AM.

For prescriber calls, I never ever ever ever ever ever actively managed the prescriber call queue or made my techs manage it. That's not something I chose to waste time on. Ready when promised is 30/30. Prescriber calling is 10/10. I never let prescriber calls back me up at the expense of ready when promised. I just did what I could with calls as they came in QV and still managed to get above 50% if I was able to really stay on top of things. Maybe if you just do calls as they populate QV you get credit. If you work "ahead" you might not get credit.

I actively manage the doctor calls because I want to get the medications my patients need. Also I want to fill as many rxs as possible as that is the biggest driver of my bonus. I went to school to give people medication.

As for ready when promised, the calculation is probably based on original promised time.

Stores with 100 WeCare only get up to 92-93% ready when promised. (I've seen the numbers myself.) Some of these 100 stores probably never have anything in red. Why can't these stores get 100% on ready when promised?

For rebills, sometimes you have to change the promised time if it is already in the past. From the CVS point of view, technically in this situation it's not actually "ready when promised" because the patient has to wait for the rebill to be processed, like with an e-script for an antibiotic suspension for a new pt where you didn't call the parent for insurance information. However if you managed to get this information before the 30 minutes is up, you would get credit for the Rx.

For RX on hold, many times you have to change the promised time because it's already in the past. Again technically not ready when promised especially if a patient thought they could get their prescription but it's too soon to fill because they forgot they got a 90 day supply of the same thing, same dose last month.

To preempt anyone claiming I don't know what I am talking about, I used inductive reasoning and insight from my RX sup to better understand WeCARE. My store used to sit in single digits but I managed to bring it up to the 90s (up to 94) before I quit.

You don't have to use inductive reasoning. You have to know how CVS programmers work (stupidly). They have two fields and you don't get to see one of them. Also, waiters and acutes don't turn red even if they are passed the promised time. You don't need 100% to get all the points. Re-bills don't count. If it was verified on time the first time, you are good to go. They tell you that up front up front. On hold's don't count the original promised time. My we are is 88 YTD only because my system went down for 6 hours in the middle of the day a few weeks ago and we got a 76 that week. Otherwise, we have been hitting 90 for the last few weeks. I don't obsess, I just make the calls they want and try to avoid red rxs where I can.

 

[VeeSee]

No you are clearly misguided. You lack a fundamental understanding about the way the world works. So let me explain it to you simply and plainly. The employer pays you money to do a job (six figures per year for a pharmacist). Then they tell you exactly what they want you to do for those six figures. This does not matter what you think. If you don't want to do it, quit or work somewhere else. They want you to make doctor calls. So you make the doctor calls. There is not doctor call that is done in less than a minute in this day and age of automated phone trees. After you listen to the greeting and by the time you press 4 for rxs, referrals and MD messages and then 1 for rxs you have used more than enough time to have the phone system register it as a reached call.

You may not like world the way it is. You can open your own place and be your own boss. Sans that, you will do what your employer tells you. That's the way it was when I graduated in 1982 and that's the way it is now and that's the way it will be when you graduate.

Now if you are smart enough to get into pharmacy school and smart enough to get out of pharmacy school with a degree, you should be smart enough to figure out how to conquer the metrics they want. It's really much easier then organic chemistry or clinical pharmacology or P&T. SO if you can't, your just plain lazy or just plain stupid.

Old man you missed my point. Of course prescriber calls are important. But do these people give you enough help or time to do them all? Timing these calls is ridiculous. It's insulting.

If they don't give you enough staff or time then the DM, supervisor, Larry Merlo, Stefano Pessina or whoever gave you these tasks to complete in an unreasonable amount of time without enough staff can personally come in and do them.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Old man you missed my point. Of course prescriber calls are important. But do these people give you enough help or time to do them all? Timing these calls is ridiculous. It's insulting.

If they don't give you enough staff or time then the DM, supervisor, Larry Merlo, Stefano Pessina or whoever gave you these tasks to complete in an unreasonable amount of time without enough staff can personally come in and do them.

Which is why Walgreens is so much better.