Nothing ever goes without a hitch for Mrs. Hillbilly Mom. The most routine or mundane task turns into a molehill-mountain. Requires planning rivaling that of launching the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This is precisely why I don't get 90-day prescriptions for my meds, nor have them delivered by mail. Well. THAT, and the fact that robbers would most likely steal them out of EmBee before I could get to them, or the mailman might just set them on top of Mailbox Row like he/she did The Pony's shoes.
Anyhoo... it's time once again to refill my prescriptions, which have no refills left. I went online to book an appointment with my doctor nurse practitioner, and saw that the first available appointment is for AUGUST 30! That's not soon enough. I had a week left on my prescriptions. Actually, that's on the pill for my missing thyroid. The blood pressure meds have about two weeks left. I don't know how they manage to get them so irregular.
Anyhoo... on Friday morning, I called in my prescription refills. I figured the pharmacy would call for them, and then tell me the NP said I need an appointment. At which time I would call his office, and they'd find an appointment to work me in. When I did my refills on the pharmacy's automated number, the recording said that my prescriptions had no refills, and to allow an extra business day for them to contact the doctor. That's standard. I was expecting it.
What I was NOT expecting was an email from the hospital/clinic system telling me that my refills had been approved, and to contact my pharmacy. This email came at 5:10 on Friday evening. Good to know. The pharmacy would have nothing keeping them from filling my prescriptions. They are open on Saturdays from 9:00 to 1:00. I know Saturday is not a business day, technically, but since my refills had been approved on Friday evening about an hour before the pharmacy closed, I thought they might be ready on Saturday. Not that I had any intention of going to town before 1:00. So I didn't attempt to get the meds. Although I noticed that I did NOT get a text saying they were ready.
On Monday morning at 10:30, I still had not received a text that my prescriptions were ready. I called the pharmacy. Since it had been an extra business day, assuming that nobody works at filling prescriptions on a Saturday...
"This is Mrs. HM calling to see if three prescriptions are ready."
"What is your birthdate?"
[As if I would tell YOU GUYS that!]
"It looks like we are working on three prescriptions."
"Oh. Okay. Because I got an email from my doctor's office on Friday evening saying they had been approved."
Silence. Then, "Thank you for calling."
Huh. That made me suspicious. I have called before and been told they were working on it, and upon further interrogation they revealed that they had NOT heard back from the doctor, and did I want them to try again? Um YEAH! So now it's 1:25 p.m. on Monday, and I still have not gotten a text about my meds being ready.
I guess I will just go by when I'm in town. They better not say they are WORKING ON THEM. I am just perturbed enough to sit at their drive-thru window blocking all other customers until those meds are handed out the window to me. I'll update below to tell you what happens. I still have a few of those thyroid pills left. Good thing I'm not like Farmer H, taking the last one and then calling in the refill!
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WooHoo! From Mrs. HM's fingertips to The Universe's collective eye! Scarcely had I logged off LAPPIE when I got a text from my pharmacy! At 2:04 p.m. "3 of 3 Rx's ready for HM" Imagine my glee when I drove up to the window, and the little gal immediately grabbed my bag from the rack. And then when I got back to the Mansion, and saw that I had 3 MONTHS of refills!
I guess being a squeaky wheel pays off. As inactive Chief of the Grammar Police, I will forgive them for using an apostrophe after Rx.
6 comments:
3 months is a good idea, you don't have to go to the pharmacy as often. But you might want to mark your calendar to call for an appointment a week before they all run out.
River,
Well, that was the plan THIS TIME! I had 10 days left when I tried to get an appointment. So I guess I'll have to try a month before they run out, since that was how soon I could get an appointment this time. As for the three month supply, they will only do that if I get it by mail. Which ain't happenin'!
You can't get the three month supply by going there? Your system needs an overhaul.
River,
YES! I think Farmer H can do it with his doctor (nurse practitioner) and pharmacy. But mine won't. Everything needs to be standard with providers and pharmacies and insurances.
A 3 month supply is cheaper per pill and most insurance companies want you to get the 3 month supply. It might be the way the presciber writes the prescription. If they write " 90 day supply" you can still ask for a 30 day supply and get it. However if they write "30 day supply" some pharmacists will not give you a 90 day supply. Prescriptions are good for one year, after that they expire. You can actually purchase the entire 12 month supply if you want to, not sure about the insurance provider though. I remember waiting on a sweet little old lady in her 90's getting a 14 day supply and it was signifancantly higher in price than a larger amount. I asked her if she was ure she wanted only 14 pills and she replied, "yes, honey, that is all I want for now, I cold die any minute and would have wasted all that money!" I could be friends with her!!
Kathy,
Two of my three prescriptions are free. So I wouldn't be saving money on them. The other is not on the preferred list, and by paying cash, I get it cheaper than I did with the co-pay. Not sure how that one would work out with a 90 day supply.
I agree with that old lady about wasting money! Especially for people who are put on a new med, and don't know how their body will react. No store is taking back unused meds! Happened to me when insurance demanded that I be given a new generic before they would pay for the real thing. After one week, it was apparent that I couldn't take the generic. It was not time-released, and my hands and feet swelled and I had shortness of breath. So I at least got my regular med back. It's a beta-blocker heart-slower, I think.
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