A letter to CVS….

Dear CVS Pharmacy (Hwy 34E @ Sullivan Road in Newnan),

I used to be your biggest fan, I love the folks that work there (especially Sheila & Kelly).  But your service at the pharmacy lately has been less than stellar, and bordering on possibly dangerous.

Case #1 – my youngest gets pneumonia, a new antibiotic is called in.  I stop by on the way home from the doctor and drop off the prescription, and I am cheerful told it will be ready in about 15 minutes.   No problem, I need to go get my kids some lunch and grab something at the store.  Two hours later I return – it’s not ready.   I say, “ok, can someone call me when it’s ready?  Response was “of course”.   6 hours later after dinner and before putting Natalee to bed, I go back “it’s still not ready, we’ve been really swamped”.  I say “it’s important, this is a child who has been hospitalized before for pneumonia, I need it filled immediately” (of course it’s after 8pm by this point and none of the other pharmacy’s in town are open).   She says “of course, but you’ll have to come in or circle around.” – then she quickly changes her mind and tells me to come in.  We go, we wait and a blessed 10 minutes later – it’s done.

Case #2 – I go to pick up my oldest daughters medication, which was electronically transmitted by her doctor (ACROSS THE STREET!) to the CVS.  I gave them 5 hours this time, as the appointment was at 8:30am, and we had things to do.  After lunch I go back “it’s not ready, but do you have insurance?”.  My response “yes,  I have insurance, here is my card”.  Tech’s response “Ok, give us another 2 hours and we’ll have it ready, we didn’t have a phone number to call you to ask you”  (mind you, I have a copy of the same prescription that clearly has our name and 2 phone numbers on it!!).    I go back and the cost is astronomical ($200 a month for a monthly prescription).  I have them run it through the insurance again, apologize and ask for advice on any generics available that I could ask our doctor about (my thought process was, he’s the pharmacist with the computer RIGHT THERE to answer me), oh no   – they can’t help me and tell me to contact my doctor again.

Case #3 (today, August 14th) – I have a doctors appointment at 8:30am.  My prescription is sent to my preferred pharmacy (CVS @ Sullivan Road).   At 2pm, my daughters prescription is also sent over.   I stop by at 6pm to pick them up.  I ask them “before you compound my daughters, please let me know the cost”.  The tech says OK, and goes to tell the pharmacist.   She comes and tells me the cost, it’s $92.00.  I refuse that prescription and ask for mine.  After giving them my birth date, my name, spelling my name they tell me they have nothing for me.  I said “wow, OK, I will call.  Thank you”.  I come home and call CVS back.  First phone call I explain the situation, and ask them to check the fax to see if it has come over and been overlooked. She says “of course, that’s always the last place we look” (good to know!).  She puts me on hold.  13 minutes later (timers on cell phones are great), I hear someone pick up the phone, and then hang up.  I call back.  She said “of course Mrs. Vann, your prescription is ready, do you have insurance because it’s ringing up at $92.”  My response “Yes I have insurance, should be noted on our record, it hasn’t changed since my last prescription 4 months ago.  Are you sure that’s my prescription, because I was just there and I was told no one had it, and my daughters prescription is $92?”.  Her response “no, this one clearly says LORI VANN on the front and a date of birth of 12-**-19**”.   I say “Could you please check again, I think you are looking at my daughters prescription”.   5 more minutes of being on hold (gotta love the cell phone timer again!) she comes back “no madam, we don’t have anything for you, that was your daughter Katie’s prescription, we are just super busy and swamped”.  

Wow folks – AMAZING – you were ready to give me my 11 year olds acne meds instead of my anti-anxiety meds?   It’s not acceptable for wait times to be hours on end like they are unless it’s something super complicated or has to be verified by multiple doctors.  I understand being a pharmacist or a tech is a stressful job, with many rules.  But I beg you to PLEASE be more careful.  This isn’t life or death, I’m not going to die without my medication – but if simple things are being screwed up and people are being careless about reading names – are more complicated things getting messed up?

Thanks,

Lori