Kudos to Mr. Evan Vickers! Mr. Vickers is a member of the Utah House of Representatives and a pharmacist. In the February edition of Drug Store News he tells it like it is. PBMs provide almost no value to our economy, no value to health care and almost no value to the consumer. I will quote a few memorable passages "PBMs profit at the expense of consumers. These are for-profit companies that function as intermediaries between health plans,drug companies, retail pharmacies and patients. Their motive is PROFIT, NOT PATIENT CARE. The three largest PBMs, including ESI and Medco, have seen their profits nearly quadruple in the last three years-from $900 MILLION to more than $3.5 BILLION- while most Americans have struggled through a tough recession."
Doesn't this just make you sick to your stomach. If you are involved in health care at the provider level at all, you have to be sick to think of how much money is being wasted on corporate fat cats. McKessions CEOs salary equated to about 25 thousand dollars for each independent pharmacy that does business with them. Isn't that a kick in the pants. As small business people we are constantly being asked to help our local communities and our patients (who are unemployed and broke). We are being asked for more and more dollars from our associations and co-ops to fund activities to fight these abuses. I don't have a problem with this as long as there is accountability and transparency. We need to make sure our leaders are transparent and accountable just like we want the PBMs to be. I will give you 50 bucks to give to a congressman but you had better make sure he votes for our bills. We need to make sure that people whom we give money vote to help independent pharmacy.
On another note, Dr. Dan Hussar, from the Pharmacist Activist, wrote that CVS should have criminal charges filed against them for their activities involving oxycodone in Florida. CVS obtained an injunction to prevent the DEA from shuttering two of their stores in Florida that dispensed many many scripts of oxycodone while two independents were closed. Thanks Dan for exposing what CVS is doing and also Cardinal. Wholesalers are also not exempt from that almighty dollar. Don't get me wrong, if you are breaking the law, you need to go to jail. That means independent, CVS and yes, Cardinal. Maybe it's time the CEO of CVS and Cardinal were dragged out of their penthouses in handcuffs for allowing their locations to break the law over and over again. I know that I would be on the 6 o'clock news being put in the squad car if it was my store. Why not them? Oh, that's right, money...
Hey, you guys heard any more about RxAlly? No, read the first paragraph again and substitute RxAlly for PBM and see if it makes sense.
Lastly, thanks to the brave independents in North Carolina. You guys are our heros!! For those of you who haven't heard, there are four independents in North Carolina who are suing CMS for allowing restricted networks and differential co pays. I wish you the best of luck and we need to support them with our dollars. This is what matters. Get your co-op and association to get behind them and support them. It is about time someone stood up for what is right. Thank you !!!!
Til next time.
Kris
Had to share this today. Busy at work. Phone rings. Kamiyah from XYZ Medicare Part D carrier calls. She tells me that Suzy Jones Omeprazole 40mg is not paid for by their company BUT if I call the Doctor and beg his answering service to get his secretary to get his nurse practitioner's LPN to tell their aide to call in Omeprazole 20mg two daily then their company would pay for it. Had it been Susan or Mary or Brenda or some other good ole southern Alabama name I might have called, BUT Kamiyah NO! Having been brought to a fever pitch I asked Kamiyah if she was a doctor and could she give Suzy the right prescription. She said no so I told her she was calling the wrong place of business. She needed to call Suzy's doctor or even let Suzy call. I further told her that I did not have the time to get Suzy the fluorescent green toilet paper she uses NOR even hand it to her on the potty. GROW UP! and be responsible for your own sorry butt! I would like to see some of my fellow pharmacists who used to stand up to the professors in pharmacy school quit taking this crap from Mcdonald's graduates calling on behalf of Medicare part D compnies. GET A DOGGONE BACKBONE NOW!
ReplyDeleteBackbones are pretty damn scarce in pharmacy or any other medical setting...I hoped that the Vicodin lawsuits on TV with the Acetaminophen liver damage WOULD EVOLVE INTO THE LAWYERS SUING THE INSURANCE COMPANIES FOR THEIR CHEAP SUPPLYING OF HYDOCOCODONE as well as the doctors who write for them. When big blue forces us to sell 100 Lortab 5 for 5.97 and the "addict" wants it filled three times every 30 days (where we would sell 100 for $39.95 without insurance intervention and the "addict would only get it once every 30 days),it does look like the Philadlephia lawyers would realize there are deeper pockets to empty for blame well-placed other than doctors and pharmacists. The one who have trouble seeing this are the Harvard grads who schooled with our leader. Lawyers, grow some hair on your chest and sue the hell out of the insurance carriers and PBM's!!!!
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