Complaint Review: Walgreens

As much as I strongly dislike Walgreens, there is some truth on here. Yes they screw up a lot, but patients also take no responsability for their healthcare. When a healthcare provider (CPhT, RPh) make the effort to ensure you safety, often patients get pissed because they have to wait while their physcian is called, or something else.....so in a way, people just need to relax!

My suspicion is that the 'medication' for which you sought to fill a prescription involved 'scheduled drugs' such as pain killers, tranquilizers, etc. The pharmacist is under NO obligation to correct YOUR prescription, and having a wrong DEA number is a red flag that says you may be trying (whether true or not) to falsify a prescription.

If the drug was indeed a narcotic, or valium class type medication, you need to get the prescription corrected.

If you went to the Post Office and tried to mail a letter, using a stamp from some other country, it is not the post office's job to find the correct stamp, they are just supposed to handle mail that has correct postage.

What was the drug?

You would not BELIEVE all the excuses that drug seekers make up to get drugs from practitioners (that's what I do) such as "my dog ate it" "It fell in the sink" "...fell in the ocean" "fell in the toilet..." and the amazing thing is that the ONLY drugs that fall or get lost are NARCOTICS and Benzodiazapines, NEVER blood pressure or diabetes medications.... AMAZING!

Bob

Hey guys, I work as a technician in Pinellas County Florida. I've been with Walgreens for two years now, most of which I have worked in the pharmacy. I will break down the process in both positive and negative situations and how they are to be resolved. If they are NOT resolved in this manner, I request that you call 1-800-walgreens and report any and ALL people that are employed to be dealt with according to their work.


Walgreens, like any other American corporation, is worried about money first, and patients second. Get used to it. Welcome to the US of A.

Now for the breakdown of our process for clarification of the original poster of this claim.

Positive scenario:
MD writes and signs a valid/legal script with all pertinent info (phone number, DEA number, etc) clearly written or legible enough for someone like me who is used to reading bad hand writing to read, in black indelible ink OR a pre-printed script/pad.

You bring this to me, a technician, we get some info from you to find you in our system. We locate your profile, and ask you when you'd like it. You tell us when, we put it in for that time or sooner (depending upon how busy or slow the day is). We then type that prescription to the specifications of the doctors after scanning a digital copy of the script (to keep on file no longer than 6 months). We then send this to a registered pharmacist (RPh) who then verifies ALL info on the script is correct, even the original date of writing. Once they approve it, the printer prints out a label, with a unique identifier for the drug (known as an NDC). We find the medication, scan the bar code for NDC verification, and HAND COUNT all medications (even if our automated machine fills it first). Once filled we label it appropriately and give it to the pharmacist to be re-verified. If they approve, it gets put in the system as filled correctly and is ready to be sold.


That is a POSITIVE or "correct" outcome from dropping off a script to Walgreens.

Here is your negative scenario, in your case...a script needing verification.
9 times out of 10 we do not know READILY by looking at a script if everything we need is on it, so often times we ask when you'd like to pick it up, and we discover something after the fact. In your case, I assume the doctor's identity (i.e. illegible signature or DEA number) needed to be verified. If the RX was dropped off after 2 pm, the likelihood of this being resolved day-of is near zero percent. Doctor's and their nurses are VERY difficult people to get a hold of, even for us, and 9 times out of 10, we never hear back from them sooner than 48 hours. In your case, they needed to find you in the system as well. Has he ever been registered? If so, was it in another county or state? Did you mention this, if applicable? If not, they will NOT find you, and will likely need to make a new profile. If this occurs, we also need to talk to the doctor if the script was for a controlled substance (Like percocet or vicodin). In your case, I will bet it was for a controlled substance. In which case, you can get angry all you want, but if we release a controlled substance before MD verification, we can be sued by YOU, the Doctor, The state govt. AND lose OUR dea license, and be shut down. We're talking potential millions of an 11.99$ script. Not worth it, trust me. You will NEVER be hung up on, and I personally think you are lying. We do NOT hang up on people EVER, EVER, EVER. Ever. I hope I am clear. Anywho, so let's say the MD doesn't get back to us, well there is nothing we can do for you....LEGALLY. If we do, we are negligent and practicing bad medicine.

You can get pissed off all you like, and blame Walgreens, OR you can tell your Doctor to use his 16 year education/internship and learn to write like an adult, rather than a child.

Quite frankly, your case sounds like a half-lie, half-misunderstanding wherein the technicians did not fulfill their duties only after the doctor did not fulfill theirs.

We fill proper RX's.
We do NOT fill improper RX's.
We do NOT hang up on patients
We WILL serve you to the best of our ability UNTIL you get rude/obnoxious/annoying/ or unreasonable.

You must listen to those who fill your prescriptions, because what we tell you determines whether or not you get your medication.

ANd the things we write on your RX are as follows
"Date of Birth" "Operating telephone number" "Driver's License number (for controls)" and possible "HOLD" or "DO NOT FILL UNTIL" if you decide you dont want the RX filled yet.


NOTHING else would be written AND that cannot stop your script from being filled elsewhere ASSUMING the doctor writes everything appropriately and within the legal definitions of a valid prescription. Which yours did NOT do.

"Why could 2 separate employees take more than 2 hours to find someone in their computer?"

It didn't take them "2 hours" to find your husband on the computer. It took them 2 hours to investigate the issues regarding the DEA number and validity of the prescriptions you dropped off. After all, they cannot LEGALLY fill a prescription without this validation.

"Why did they refuse to fill legitimate prescriptions?"

Because without a correct DEA number they are NOT "legitimate prescriptions." Also, with any doubt at all whatsoever regarding the validity of the prescriptions, the pharmacist has the right to refuseto fill them.

End of story.