What do you think of wal mart pharmacy?/restructuring

[sozetone]

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Guys and Gals,

I'm a WM manager for about 2 years now. I have seen some nasty changes happening during this restructuring period. If you work for them you probably know what i mean. Have the cuts affected you badly? is your morale low? i'm feeling pretty bad about it and just wanna get out. what are your thoughts/feelings?

 

[PA_dud3]

What happened? I have heard stuff was happening at WM but I honestly don't know specifics. Are you just losing tech hours? I was offered a position as a tech at a WM shortly after I accepted my position at CVS.

Hope everything works out for you!

 

[Sine Cura]

Some changes such as "project H2O" a few years ago I've never actually word about because California pharmacists are non-exempt. Even if base hours were cut for RPH in this area most pharmacists that want 40 hours are getting 40 hours due to people always being on PTO / pumping out babies.

I also have not heard of any layoffs of Walmart pharmacists due to "restructuring" in any of the adjacent markets or layoffs of techs. And I don't think the mass market realignment directly affected pharmacists on the bench as RPH jobs are not eliminated just from rearranging markets.

However from time to time there have discussions about support hours declining due to operations supposedly being more efficient (transition to paperless perpetual inventory, RR adoption, digital engagement etc). When I started at WM 3 years ago the first pharmacy I was at was only selling 1650 avg a week late in the FY. 2 years later the same pharmacy was selling 2000 avg a week late in the FY year but the S3G hours were about the same in FY2018 as in FY2016 (220-240). So even though I have yet to oversee a pharmacy with a YoY decline in sales I have noticed WM being more stingy with support hours.

 

[King2440]

Some changes such as "project H2O" a few years ago I've never actually word about because California pharmacists are non-exempt. Even if base hours were cut for RPH in this area most pharmacists that want 40 hours are getting 40 hours due to people always being on PTO / pumping out babies.

I also have not heard of any layoffs of Walmart pharmacists due to "restructuring" in any of the adjacent markets or layoffs of techs. And I don't think the mass market realignment directly affected pharmacists on the bench as RPH jobs are not eliminated just from rearranging markets.

However from time to time there have discussions about support hours declining due to operations supposedly being more efficient (transition to paperless perpetual inventory, RR adoption, digital engagement etc). When I started at WM 3 years ago the first pharmacy I was at was only selling 1650 avg a week late in the FY. 2 years later the same pharmacy was selling 2000 avg a week late in the FY year but the S3G hours were about the same in FY2018 as in FY2016 (220-240). So even though I have yet to oversee a pharmacy with a YoY decline in sales I have noticed WM being more stingy with support hours.

You must be an outlier or your DM is digging his/her own grave. I’m at 2200 a week sold and at 200 S3G hours and 240 support. Enjoy it while it last because it’s coming!

And how the heck did you get away with so many hours at just 1650?

With that said though, it’s not bad. Just have to work smart and efficiently and it’s very very doable.

 

[Sine Cura]

So other WM elsewhere in the U.S. are experiencing significant support hour cuts? There was a 10-940-201 change that didn't seem to change anything for me

 

[deleted885753]

WM will turn into CVS/ Wag.. Give it 3 years at max.

 

[mentos]

WM will turn into CVS/ Wag.. Give it 3 years at max.

Do you mean they will sell their pharmacies like Target did?

 

[deleted885753]

Do you mean they will sell their pharmacies like Target did?

No, I meant working at WM won't be any different from the names I mentioned (expecting more with less etc.).

 

[mentos]

No, I meant working at WM won't be any different from the names I mentioned (expecting more with less etc.).

Ah okay. At least there's no drive-thru.

 

[deleted885753]

WM have their other nonsense to deal with such as verify acute or chronic opoid meds and resolve the red flags on > 7 days rxs. Mandatory narcan counseling on certain rxs. And now there is a thing called adherence report where they measure diabetic and ACE/ ARB adherence of your population (goal is > 80%). Moreover, there is something called digital engagement which measures your text enrollment and auto-refills through walmart app and mobile express. And all this while having wellness day every month! And I haven't even mentioned the regular stuff like input accuracy or rerouting.

In short, they have lot of crap that is only unique to them. I haven't explained what all these terminologies mean since it would be too much to type but just ask if you wanna know more.

 

[sozetone]

You must be an outlier or your DM is digging his/her own grave. I’m at 2200 a week sold and at 200 S3G hours and 240 support. Enjoy it while it last because it’s coming!

And how the heck did you get away with so many hours at just 1650?

With that said though, it’s not bad. Just have to work smart and efficiently and it’s very very doable.

Absolutley! your HWMD is toast! i'm doing 1700-->2100 weekly with 205 S3g hours,( for techs) and two staff spots one 80 hour and one at 45 (just got cut a second time!) my manager spot is still 80 but im getting soooo tired.... anyone else exhausted? all my DM does is hire new grads at 10-15 less an hour....and we are all scared for our jobs....period. this stinks!

 

[sozetone]

So other WM elsewhere in the U.S. are experiencing significant support hour cuts? There was a 10-940-201 change that didn't seem to change anything for me

It affected the fact that we can now no longer use a primary job coded cashier from in the store in the pharmacy when we are short or need backup! they can no longer work in pharmacy unless their job code PRIMARY is 10-940-201

 

[sozetone]

WM will turn into CVS/ Wag.. Give it 3 years at max.

I think He is right. I am a manager at a higher volume super center but we just cannot keep up. SALES are down nationwide, script volume lower, we are losing contracts due to adherence rates etc... on and on. And yes, they are slashing help to the bone in EVERY department, including pharmacy. My staffs were cut, my techs were cut, i lost my quest diagnostic screeners for wellness day, we didnt even have a PCSM until last month.(the other one left sept 2017). Strange...we are dying

 

[trailerpark]

I've been with Walmart for years float/staff/mgr and I'm beyond fed up with all the nonsense. Newest random thing I heard about is apparently a bunch of pharmacists and a DM all got fired because no one was doing opioid stewardship and secret shoppers said no one at stores in that district even knew about it. Also pharmacists got fired for putting "max x amount of tabs" to comply with their new opioid rules without contacting the Dr. No one cared in that district lol.

Now we're getting emails about no filling of opioid, benzo and muscle relaxer without mucho documentation of tapering down. DM's from other markets finally stopped calling to pretend to be a customer looking for narcan. AND I HATE THESE STUPID WALMART WELLNESS BS I MEAN "EXPERIENCE" DAYS. It's like every other month now. I could also care less about flu shot and IMZ goals. My techs can't input because Walmart hires the worst of the worst as far as techs. We never get people with experience because they would rather give an "opportunity" to one of the many unemployable except by Walmart associates who just need to be able to pass a drug test to get a job. O wait Walmart got rid of the passing a drug test for employment years ago because they couldn't hire anyone...

Walmart in general is like this weird cult like environment. I started caring a lot less lately the last couple of months and so far it has made me happier and next year my loans will be gone and then I'll feel even better.

 

[VA77]

Well, I guess we know what many of you will be doing during that 30 minute lunch.....working off the clock.

 

[Sine Cura]

You must be an outlier or your DM is digging his/her own grave. I’m at 2200 a week sold and at 200 S3G hours and 240 support. Enjoy it while it last because it’s coming!

And how the heck did you get away with so many hours at just 1650?

With that said though, it’s not bad. Just have to work smart and efficiently and it’s very very doable.

That was 2015. Even then when I went to pharmacy manager academy some old timers were complaining about support hours cuts while I thought it was easy street.

Right now I am comparing pickup to support hours in WP and in Jan 2019 I am seeing 1 tech hour for every 8.6 sold Rx... that is close to 2000/240 = 8.3333 (the last WM I was at). Now if you guys are at 1 tech hour for 11-12 sold Rx that is not realistic because of all the things expected these days AND because it is so hard to get rid of dead weight techs (HR issues being my #1 problem aside from working at bottom 5th percentile stores). If we are going to have to do more work we need good techs so we need to get rid of the **** techs faster.

Opioid stewardship is serious business for WM as they are tracking whether you are documenting everything you need to document. That is quite interesting they went to the point of termination since it seems like WM HR seems very skittish about firing people even for the most cut and dry cases of wrongdoing.. and I would know as I guarantee I have been closer to being fired than anyone else who still actually works for WM

 

[Ace41690]

That was 2015. Even then when I went to pharmacy manager academy some old timers were complaining about support hours cuts while I thought it was easy street.

Right now I am comparing pickup to support hours in WP and in Jan 2019 I am seeing 1 tech hour for every 8.6 sold Rx... that is close to 2000/240 = 8.3333 (the last WM I was at). Now if you guys are at 1 tech hour for 11-12 sold Rx that is not realistic because of all the things expected these days AND because it is so hard to get rid of dead weight techs (HR issues being my #1 problem aside from working at bottom 5th percentile stores). If we are going to have to do more work we need good techs so we need to get rid of the **** techs faster.

Opioid stewardship is serious business for WM as they are tracking whether you are documenting everything you need to document. That is quite interesting they went to the point of termination since it seems like WM HR seems very skittish about firing people even for the most cut and dry cases of wrongdoing.. and I would know as I guarantee I have been closer to being fired than anyone else who still actually works for WM

I can't believe WM gives so many tech/rph hours. I just did this calculation of yours and based on last week we got 1 tech hour per 11.95 rx sold at WAG. Sounds like they still have a lot of room to cut budget at WM

 

[rxdawg21]

I can't believe WM gives so many tech/rph hours. I just did this calculation of yours and based on last week we got 1 tech hour per 11.95 rx sold at WAG. Sounds like they still have a lot of room to cut budget at WM

You don’t understand the differences in workflow and limitations at Walmart. I have been a pharmacist at both, Walgreens is a much more efficient system.

 

[sozetone]

Walmart is NOT selling their pharmacies.. Have no idea where you guys are even getting such ridiculous ideas from.

Target sold because they had very little foot traffic to begin with. And they never invested a penny into updating their system (last time I heard they were still using MS Dos where you have to manually find the rx since they didn't save the image in their system). WM has been literally investing millions of dollars in new programs and upgrading their system. Low reimbursement affects every company be it CVS or Wag not just WM.

And now Amazon being their main competitor, WM will rely on H & W more than ever to generate extra profit because that's one of the key services they have which amazon doesn't.

They will sell the records, but i could agree they would never want CVS name in their stores. Reality is Health and wellness are money losers. I would know, i watch the P&L of my store and stats all over America in different districts when im bored. Truth is? H&W is losing money over-all and only will get worse. flat fact, go look at the metrics man...

 

[sozetone]

You don’t understand the differences in workflow and limitations at Walmart. I have been a pharmacist at both, Walgreens is a much more efficient system.

100 percent right man! WM has the most labor intensive system ive ever seen! Connexus is a beast. Takes way too much to churn out say ... 250 scripts. I used to do that back home in florida with 1 tech.

 

[deleted885753]

They will sell the records, but i could agree they would never want CVS name in their stores. Reality is Health and wellness are money losers. I would know, i watch the P&L of my store and stats all over America in different districts when im bored. Truth is? H&W is losing money over-all and only will get worse. flat fact, go look at the metrics man...

None of this true. Beginning to suspect you are either living under the rock or blatantly trolling.

Either way, I am out..

 

[sozetone]

None of this true. Beginning to suspect you are either living under the rock or blatantly trolling.

Either way, I am out..[/QUOT

Do you work for WM pharmacy? have you looked at the P and L lately? your only making money because of wage cuts! don't trust me? ask any pharmacy manager or DM.... 100% true. Why would i lie? Now look market by market at adherence and script count and sales. Tell me what you see? DECLINE.... im not a troll , im an angry manager telling the truth.

 

[Prepharm1214]

I have trouble viewing WM complaints as being legitimate or not. Their pharmacists are use to way more help than CVS/WAGs and there will always be growing pains when your help is cut to levels you're not use to initially. I get that your system isnt as efficient but I still imagine it's better than your chain peers.

 

[Sine Cura]

WM is years behind CVS in terms of efficiency and RxConnect is (was?) terrible and now WM has a lot more red tape now and similar levels of micromanaging metrics compared to what I did at CVS in the past.

I do not necessarily mind but if WM wants us to do all this crap they need to get rid of bad RPH and techs much faster than we are currently allowed to now. I literally had five lines of evidence I could use to fire this one horrible tech, including basic compliance and gross misconduct issues, but HR wouldn't let me act on it because apparently this tech was a special snowflake

 

[rxdawg21]

I was the manager of the second busiest store in the district. Our netprofit was around 1 million per year, doing 3k plus RX per week (according to the PandL sheet). This was back in 2014-2015. We were about 20 hours under on RPH help and I was grossly underpaid compared to my 2 staff pharmacists. The perils of being a newish grad at the time desperate to leave Wags.

Wal-mart adding the bagging step without giving staffing hours was an awful choice. That right there is 40-50 hours of extra work per week (at my store) with 0 extra help for.

 

[SoylentGreen]

Guys and Gals,

I'm a WM manager for about 2 years now. I have seen some nasty changes happening during this restructuring period. If you work for them you probably know what i mean. Have the cuts affected you badly? is your morale low? i'm feeling pretty bad about it and just wanna get out. what are your thoughts/feelings?

Yes, the last year and a half or so have sucked, but did you see the email last week from management which said we would be getting more hours? I don't have any details I would (will) stick it out unless some unicorn job comes along because it probably won't be any better anywhere else. If this were 2015 I wouldn't put up with this but I have talked to some new grads and, unfortunately, it appears that job hopping options aren't what they used to be. I also know several Walmart rph who went to CVS and they all said it was worse over there, and most of them ended up coming back.

As for H&W being sold off, I don't see that happening and the behavior of management, rolling out all these new programs, is not how companies that are planning to fold behave. I don't know the numbers for H&W as a whole but the stores where I've seen the P&L have mostly been profitable.

 

[OXYFORALL]

They will sell the records, but i could agree they would never want CVS name in their stores. Reality is Health and wellness are money losers. I would know, i watch the P&L of my store and stats all over America in different districts when im bored. Truth is? H&W is losing money over-all and only will get worse. flat fact, go look at the metrics man...

If you think walmart is showing you the real figures you're nuts. My local independent is low volume and still makes money. I can see the actual cost of the drugs and the reimbursement. Check out the breakdown on cvs or walgreens quarterly reports and look at the profit numbers.

 

[Deja]

WM have their other nonsense to deal with such as verify acute or chronic opoid meds and resolve the red flags on > 7 days rxs. Mandatory narcan counseling on certain rxs. And now there is a thing called adherence report where they measure diabetic and ACE/ ARB adherence of your population (goal is > 80%). Moreover, there is something called digital engagement which measures your text enrollment and auto-refills through walmart app and mobile express. And all this while having wellness day every month! And I haven't even mentioned the regular stuff like input accuracy or rerouting.

In short, they have lot of crap that is only unique to them. I haven't explained what all these terminologies mean since it would be too much to type but just ask if you wanna know more.

I don't work for WM and I know majority of what you have just said except for input rerouting…. what you just described isn't unique to WM lol maybe you guys aren't used to it because WM pharmacists never had to worry about these things before

 

[deleted885753]

I don't work for WM and I know majority of what you have just said except for input rerouting…. what you just described isn't unique to WM lol maybe you guys aren't used to it because WM pharmacists never had to worry about these things before

I don’t think other chains require verification on acute vs chronic pain on > 7 day supply or doses exceeding 50 Milli morphine equipment. Let me explain: let’s say you get ultram 50 mg 1 tid # 30 (new rx and pt doesn’t take opioid every month). So the day supply is 10 days and CDC research shows any > 7 day supply of opioid for acute pain has shown to increase the risk of addiction. So when you get these rxs during verification, you have to speak to either the provider or the patient and verify if it’s for acute or chronic pain and if it’s for acute you have to let patient know if they are okay with loosing the remainder after 7 days or else they can get their rx filled else where.

If the rx is for doses exceeding 50 MME (Percocet 10/325 1 q4h) for chronic pain, then you are required to counsel pt on getting narcan and document everything. If you don’t document this properly, then DM can write you up for it. Now imagine calling on EVERY new opioid rx exceeding 7 day supply! It’s a ton of work and quite frankly pain in the ass that people who don’t have to deal with this can’t imagine.

 

[Prosperity8]

I don’t think other chains require verification on acute vs chronic pain on > 7 day supply or doses exceeding 50 Milli morphine equipment. Let me explain: let’s say you get ultram 50 mg 1 tid # 30 (new rx and pt doesn’t take opioid every month). So the day supply is 10 days and CDC research shows any > 7 day supply of opioid for acute pain has shown to increase the risk of addiction. So when you get these rxs during verification, you have to speak to either the provider or the patient and verify if it’s for acute or chronic pain and if it’s for acute you have to let patient know if they are okay with loosing the remainder after 7 days or else they can get their rx filled else where.

If the rx is for doses exceeding 50 MME (Percocet 10/325 1 q4h) for chronic pain, then you are required to counsel pt on getting narcan and document everything. If you don’t document this properly, then DM can write you up for it. Now imagine calling on EVERY new opioid rx exceeding 7 day supply! It’s a ton of work and quite frankly pain in the ass that people who don’t have to deal with this can’t imagine.

Lol, we have to do all of these at WAGs if you work in Florida. In addition, for Oxycodone, Dilaudid and Methadone we have to go through a checklist of verifications. We do these things with 2 lane drive thru and 350+ rx/day and pharmacist have to help the register. From speaking to my pharmacist friends at Walmart, you have it the easiest in retail. You have no idea what it's like to work at WAGs or the other 3 letter company.

 

[deleted885753]

Lol, we have to do all of these at WAGs if you work in Florida. In addition, for Oxycodone, Dilaudid and Methadone we have to go through a checklist of verifications. We do these things with 2 lane drive thru and 350+ rx/day and pharmacist have to help the register. From speaking to my pharmacist friends at Walmart, you have it the easiest in retail. You have no idea what it's like to work at WAGs or the other 3 letter company.

Walmart is the easiest place to work in retail up until now but it’s changing. That’s the reason I said give it 2-3 years and it will change into Wag/ CVS in my previous post.

I do remember reading about that in Florida but WM has implemented that at the national level. Also iirc at Walgreens you guys have remote verification in Florida where basement rph would verify many of your scripts. Also Wag has implemented power in certain stores that filter out majority of phone calls. Also busy stores would get robot. WM doesn’t have any of this.

 

[deleted885753]

Those days are long gone when all you had to do as a rph is to verify. At current set up, you have to fill, or type or bag or answer lot of phone calls to get things done and get out on time. I can’t speak for the entire company but in my region, you aren’t gonna survive with just verifying the scripts and doing pharmacist exclusive tasks

 

[Sine Cura]

SPU is a decent indicator of whether your market is an anomaly or not. Usually high SPU + good order performance means overstaffed or easy store. High SPU + bad order performance can mean the RPH don't give a ****/suck (if there are ****ty techs then the RPH suck since they need to be more actively involved to get rid of techs faster)

 

[Momus]

Absolutley! your HWMD is toast! i'm doing 1700-->2100 weekly with 205 S3g hours,( for techs) and two staff spots one 80 hour and one at 45 (just got cut a second time!) my manager spot is still 80 but im getting soooo tired.... anyone else exhausted? all my DM does is hire new grads at 10-15 less an hour....and we are all scared for our jobs....period. this stinks!

Tech hours are adequate. About 1hr tech every 10 scripts

Rph hours, they only give you 80h + 45h every 2 weeks ? That's rough.

 

[pharm B]

This thread is depressing. How many of us are actively figuring out next step careers?

 

[Ace41690]

Walmart is the easiest place to work in retail up until now but it’s changing. That’s the reason I said give it 2-3 years and it will change into Wag/ CVS in my previous post.

I do remember reading about that in Florida but WM has implemented that at the national level. Also iirc at Walgreens you guys have remote verification in Florida where basement rph would verify many of your scripts. Also Wag has implemented power in certain stores that filter out majority of phone calls. Also busy stores would get robot. WM doesn’t have any of this.

Power no longer exists. Yes there is still centralized support but the volume you must have to GET support keeps increasing and the vast majority of stores no longer receive F4/verification support or phone support. Furthermore even if you are lucky enough to have centralization, all problem scripts are sent back the the store and all problem phone calls are routed to the store (PCC at BEST handles 70% of calls, and only the easy ones) All pharmacist related calls, questions, etc are routed to the store, fyi, so it takes exactly zero call burden away from the pharmacist. CPO really isnt good enough (anymore) to make up for having no staff. The robot is great but since mfg change every 3 days you get at best 70% of the cells in that robot actually working (because either nobody cares or has time enough to care for the yuyama).

And if you're trying to tell me that the "efficiencies of IC+" justify 40% less budget... all I can say is LOL.

In summary I am still jealous of your bloated budgets at WM

 

[deleted885753]

Power no longer exists. Yes there is still centralized support but the volume you must have to GET support keeps increasing and the vast majority of stores no longer receive F4/verification support or phone support. Furthermore even if you are lucky enough to have centralization, all problem scripts are sent back the the store and all problem phone calls are routed to the store (PCC at BEST handles 70% of calls, and only the easy ones) All pharmacist related calls, questions, etc are routed to the store, fyi, so it takes exactly zero call burden away from the pharmacist. CPO really isnt good enough (anymore) to make up for having no staff. The robot is great but since mfg change every 3 days you get at best 70% of the cells in that robot actually working (because either nobody cares or has time enough to care for the yuyama).

And if you're trying to tell me that the "efficiencies of IC+" justify 40% less budget... all I can say is LOL.

In summary I am still jealous of your bloated budgets at WM

If someone handles 70% of my phone calls, I will be the happiest guy since that is the biggest distraction I face. 3 lines constant ringing non-stop. Doesn’t matter you can handle my simple calls all day long. Even if the Granny is looking for her refill, you still have to answer the phone. Even if the mom is looking to see her child’s rx was called in, you still have to answer the phone. Even if any scumbag is looking to see you got oxy 30 in stock, you still have to get the phone to tell them to —— off. And you can verify my simple script such as amox 500 bid or amlidipine 1 QD all day as well.

People are always gonna bitch about things they don’t have while not appreciating all the good things I suppose..

 

[Prosperity8]

If someone handles 70% of my phone calls, I will be the happiest guy since that is the biggest distraction I face. 3 lines constant ringing non-stop. Doesn’t matter you can handle my simple calls all day long. Even if the Granny is looking for her refill, you still have to answer the phone. Even if the mom is looking to see her child’s rx was called in, you still have to answer the phone. Even if any scumbag is looking to see you got oxy 30 in stock, you still have to get the phone to tell them to —— off. And you can verify my simple script such as amox 500 bid or amlidipine 1 QD all day as well.

People are always gonna bitch about things they don’t have while not appreciating all the good things I suppose..

Count your blessings you are at Walmart. I have friends who left WAGs and other retail for Walmart and they all told me it is a walk in the park. Some of the stores even have cashiers at Walmart, which is just a fantasy at other places. Guess who's the cashier at WAGs? We have no more central verification. You the pharmacist must do everything. If your store is under 400rx/day, you get minimal to zero phone support. BTW, I work 12 hours shift with no lunch break either while running around helping drive thru and counter.

 

[Sine Cura]

LOL if people are using 90-day equivalent sold to exaggerate rx:tech hours

Also LOL at WM vs Wags as CVS is generally worse

That said I remember when CVS RPH were bitching about verifying on-hold Rx because bad floaters would leave work behind for the staff RPH. There are some days where I verify 240+ inputs in 8 hrs at a mid-volume store selling 1600/wk (probably max data entry I verified at CVS in one day was 330 over 10 hrs with the last 3 hrs being dead but that was a 2600-2700 a week store) not counting all the garbage OTC scripts I cancel

 

[Victor85]

Ah okay. At least there's no drive-thru.

Oh it’s coming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Victor85]

Lol, we have to do all of these at WAGs if you work in Florida. In addition, for Oxycodone, Dilaudid and Methadone we have to go through a checklist of verifications. We do these things with 2 lane drive thru and 350+ rx/day and pharmacist have to help the register. From speaking to my pharmacist friends at Walmart, you have it the easiest in retail. You have no idea what it's like to work at WAGs or the other 3 letter company.

Don’t forget MTM, flu shot goals, list of calls, and waiters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pharm B]

At our local WM, it seems like patients queue up for all kinds of "required" counseling that isn't actually required by state laws. Continuing therapy, manufacturer change, etc. It's been leading to hour wait times for shots as the counseling queue is numerous patients deep.

I just chuckle and keep squeaking along.

 

[Sine Cura]

As to drive-thrus, some Walmarts do have them, both Supercenter and Neighborhood Market

 

[SoylentGreen]

SPU is a decent indicator of whether your market is an anomaly or not. Usually high SPU + good order performance means overstaffed or easy store. High SPU + bad order performance can mean the RPH don't give a ****/suck (if there are ****ty techs then the RPH suck since they need to be more actively involved to get rid of techs faster)

What's SPU?

 

[sozetone]

When I go to cvs to pick up my grandmas rxs they have book log where they make you initials which apparently means you were counseled. When I went to Kroger, I was counseled by the technician! When I went to Kaiser I wasn’t offered any counseling on new rxs and the tech just put that in the bag.

At WM I know at least two rphs who were terminated by management for not counseling on new rxs within last two months in nearby district. It’s amazing how pharmacists at all other places get away with this but all rules and regulations apply to WM only!

Wal mart forces us to counsel on ANY new RX, even if they have been on it for 20 years. They can decline, but rarely do. The tech is instructed to say " step over here for my pharmacist!" then i stop what i am doing to bag some ladys lisinopril and she has no idea why. The truth? they want you to sell flu shots and other services....its the last chance before they are gone.

 

[sozetone]

If you think walmart is showing you the real figures you're nuts. My local independent is low volume and still makes money. I can see the actual cost of the drugs and the reimbursement. Check out the breakdown on cvs or walgreens quarterly reports and look at the profit numbers.

I know what you mean, they make a decent profit yes, but not enough to compete in the new marketplace. E-commerce. They are scared. I really don't think they are super rich due to health and wellness division. just getting by. The over all GROWTH is an issue...ya know? script volume. And remember , I made a profit this year, sure, but why? WAGES! i was cut like 25-35% on wages, so was the store. ... i do know how to read a P and L.

 

[Ace41690]

If someone handles 70% of my phone calls, I will be the happiest guy since that is the biggest distraction I face. 3 lines constant ringing non-stop. Doesn’t matter you can handle my simple calls all day long. Even if the Granny is looking for her refill, you still have to answer the phone. Even if the mom is looking to see her child’s rx was called in, you still have to answer the phone. Even if any scumbag is looking to see you got oxy 30 in stock, you still have to get the phone to tell them to —— off. And you can verify my simple script such as amox 500 bid or amlidipine 1 QD all day as well.

People are always gonna bitch about things they don’t have while not appreciating all the good things I suppose..

70% of your calls *if* you are at a store of sufficient volume that qualifies for all day support. These stores are such a high volume that the 30% of calls that get through mean your phone is still ringing off the hook. Many stores just dont answer the phone at all. It's really sad actually. Btw the scumbag asking for oxy inventory wouldnt be handled by the call center, that would go straight to you.

I'm not trying to bitch. Im just saying that while wag centralization is great in some ways its not the pharmacy panacea. I would much rather have more warm bodies in the store.

 

[Sine Cura]

Newest random thing I heard about is apparently a bunch of pharmacists and a DM all got fired because no one was doing opioid stewardship and secret shoppers said no one at stores in that district even knew about it. Also pharmacists got fired for putting "max x amount of tabs" to comply with their new opioid rules without contacting the Dr. No one cared in that district lol.

I talked to some DMs and they confirmed terminations are happening (the whole "practicing medicine without a license" thing by adding TDD without documentation of authorization).

The safest approach now is deny all opioid Rx that exceed WM limitations. E-scripts are more annoying so you have to stay on top of your work to make sure the prescriber understands all their scripts need to be sent to anywhere but Walmart. Just don't be rude or antagonistic about it and they can't do anything to you

 

[Wickett]

I know what you mean, they make a decent profit yes, but not enough to compete in the new marketplace. E-commerce. They are scared. I really don't think they are super rich due to health and wellness division. just getting by. The over all GROWTH is an issue...ya know? script volume. And remember , I made a profit this year, sure, but why? WAGES! i was cut like 25-35% on wages, so was the store. ... i do know how to read a P and L.

I can't speak for Wal mart, but as a manager at a grocery without crazy volume (about 1k a week), we have a healthy P&L averaging about 30k a month. If anything, my store manager tells me all the time we are what keeps the store afloat. Mind you, DIR fees keep climbing and are a big concern, but I'm nowhere close to not being profitable.

 

[sozetone]

I can't speak for Wal mart, but as a manager at a grocery without crazy volume (about 1k a week), we have a healthy P&L averaging about 30k a month. If anything, my store manager tells me all the time we are what keeps the store afloat. Mind you, DIR fees keep climbing and are a big concern, but I'm nowhere close to not being profitable.

Im second in my district on profit month after month......they are just following suit like CVS, WG....etc.