If I Had a Dollar

How many times I have I stood on my soapbox and blasted those who don't update their web content in a timely manner? Too many to count. And now here I am, one of them. Maybe I should have called this the Semi-monthly Grind.

Anyhow, I've been stewing over a post about things I've learned over the years in advertising. Hear me out, though. It's not what you think. I hope it's more interesting than that.

The first, of course, is about pharmacy. I write a lot about pharmacy management software. Not being a pharmacist myself, that means I have to do a lot of research. Have I ever learned a lot in the past few years. Now I know what a PBM is and now that my family's prescriptions are at the mercy of one, I have felt the pain firsthand. But that pain is nothing compared to the pain that many pharmacists are feeling behind the counter.

You might think your pharmacist is busy doing important medication related stuff all day. But he or she is not. There's hardly any time.

They are coping with the aftermath of Medicare Part D ... explaining the doughnut hole and the jillions of different plan co-pays, and all that jazz that really has nothing to do with prescriptions per se. They are getting yelled at by customers because of the cost of their medications and copays when they have absolutely nothing to do with that. They are on the phone with third payer and PBM help desks trying to understand absurd formulary requirements and idiotic error codes that tell them what they are required to do even when they know it makes no sense. Especially frustrating when you consider that your pharmacist knows way more than the person on the other end of the line who has absolutely zero clinical training.

Pharmacists are dealing with the people who call in prescriptions from doctor offices (here's a hint: your doctor is not the one calling them in and the person who is probably calling them in seems to think that task makes them some sort of pharmacy expert). And electronic prescriptions, which have cleared up the handwriting issue on prescriptions, are still error prone when the person filling out the prescription lets go of the cursor in the wrong window whether for patient, medication or dosage. An error that a pharmacist will probably help clear up.

And not to mention the strains of the environment. In some pharmacies there is no time for bathroom breaks or lunch. The days are long sometimes 10 or 12 hours at a time. The phone is ringing. The drive through is dinging. Customers are talking on their phones and ignoring the person at the register whether it's a pharmacist or tech. I could go on and on because we haven't covered independent pharmacy versus chain giant or prescription drug addicts who shop doctors and pharmacies.

But I'll stop here. Just do me a favor. The next time you go to the pharmacy, look at those people on the other side of the counter and remember that 80 percent of the stuff they are doing, they really shouldn't have to do. They do it because they are health care professionals and it's the right thing to do.

I have learned a few other thing but I'll save those for later.