Researchers have been looking into the amount of prescriptions that go unfilled for kids on Medicaid and they’ve found some pretty startling results: Almost 17,000 or 22% of prescriptions at two clinics went unfilled. Those findings mirror other studies along the same lines for adults, which have found discrepancies from 16% to 24% of those medications never getting filled. [More]
prescriptions
Optometrist Knows I Want To Buy Contacts Online, Won't Give Me My Prescription
By 8.16.12
In all of the chatter over our post about prescriptions at the vet’s office, many people commented that this kind of conflict is exactly why human doctors don’t sell us the medications we need from right behind the counter. The thing is, there is a kind of human doctor who does just that. I speak, of course, of the optometrist: dispenser of contact lenses and crusher of dreams. [More]
Pharmacists Forced To Throw Out $30K In Auto-Refilled Prescriptions
By 3.19.12
What happens when your mail-order prescriptions keep on coming, automatically refilling month after month? If you pass away, your family might just find a cache worth $30,000 in unopened, expired meds, and give it to a local pharmacist to deal with, as happened recently in New York. [More]
Don't Be Seduced By Discounts On Brand-Name Drugs
By 3.7.12
Nearly 19 million Americans took advantage of a coupon or manufacturer’s discount on prescriptions last year. But what many of those people may not have known is that, while they did pay less for brand name pills, they could have gotten a generic for even less. [More]
Doctor Accused Of Murder For Prescriptions That Led To Overdoses
By 3.5.12
The Los Angeles District Attorney revealed that a California doctor faces murder charges for allegedly pushing unneeded prescription drugs to patients, three of whom died of overdoses in 2009. She also faces 21 felony counts of writing fraudulent, purposeless prescriptions. Authorities says she prescribed tens of thousands of unneeded prescriptions to various patients, including methadone, Xanax, oxycodone to patients. [More]
Kroger Now In The Business Of Filling Your Pets' Prescriptions
By 1.23.12
Tired of paying exorbitant prices to your vet to get those prescription pills, creams, eye and ear drops for your pets? The folks at Kroger hope you are, as they have just expanded the availability of pet medications to all the supermarket chain’s in-store pharmacies nationwide. [More]
CVS Makes Mistake, Robocalls Me Incessantly For Their 3 Bucks
By 11.10.11
Sarah noticed after a visit to the pharmacy that the technician had failed to charge her for one of her prescriptions. It’s difficult for her to get into town from her college campus, so she figured because it’s the store’s error, she’d let it go. Karma does not agree, and has sent swift and annoying punishment down for Sarah. She must pay for the prescription, or the CVS system will robocall her several times per day reminding her to pick up the prescription. [More]
Why I Won't Ever Go Back To Kmart
By 6.24.11
Everyone has those moments as a consumer where we say, “Screw you guys, I’m not coming back.” For M., that moment came for her at Kmart when she came back to pick up a refill and learned that in order to take part in Kmart’s $10 for a 90-day supply generic drug program, she would need to enroll in the discounter’s new Kmart Pharmacy Prescription Savings Club for only $10 per household per year. M. chose instead to transfer her prescriptions to one of the many pharmacies offering the same price for her generic drugs, without having to sign up for any memberships. [More]
Caremark Switches My Prescription To Name-Brand For No Particular Reason
By 3.24.11
Many people expressed surprise that drug retailer CVS is a participant in our Worst Company in America tournament. In addition to the everyday issues that a pharmacy/drugstore creates for consumers, though, CVS also owns prescription benefits administrator Caremark. Brandon is a Caremark customer who takes a venerable but still useful medication called Synthroid. He recently ran into a weird situation with his refill, where he was switched to the name-brand medication for no discernible reason. Twice. [More]
Don't Miss Your Nonexistent Prescription Refill Reminder From Target!
By 1.7.11
If you choose to use auto-refill for your prescriptions at a chain pharmacy, be very, very careful if you move, or if you just happen to get one refill at a different store than usual. G. learned the hard way that Target, at least, will refill your prescription, fail to call you, and if you don’t happen to pick up your refill within two weeks: too bad for you; you’ve lost that refill! [More]
Giant Eagle Dispenses Antidepressants Instead Of Fertility Drugs, Now Taking It Very Seriously
By 9.1.10
The words “Clomiphene” and “Clomipramine” might look similar, but if you work in a pharmacy, you should know that they stand for very different things. Clomiphene is the generic version of the fertility drug Clomid. Clomipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant. A woman in Pittsburgh says that the pharmacy at a Giant Eagle grocery store gave her the antidepressant when she was prescribed the fertility drug. She had a severe allergic reaction and ended up in the emergency room. [More]
Adventures In Crazy Birth Control Pricing
By 7.14.10
Rebecca experienced the wrath of the birth control pricing gods on a Walgreens visit, discovering that the generic version of her pill, Yaz, was suddenly more expensive than the name-brand version. She braved her insurer’s customer service hell to track down some answers but only got more confusion. [More]
Medicare Donut Hole Checks Being Sent Out This Week
By 6.8.10
Hey people with Medicare, you’re about to become a little more attractive to scammers. That’s because this week the government will start sending out its one-time tax free rebate checks to those of you who have already hit the donut hole gap in your Medicare coverage. The main thing to know, advises Medicare, is that you don’t need to provide any information to anyone to get the rebate–it’s automatic. [More]
Save On Drugs By Making Your Pharmacy Price-Match
By 6.2.10
What made Jules sicker than her strep throat was the price Kroger wanted to charge her for a 6-pack of generic Azithromycin. $38.72! “That’s highway robbery!” she told the them. Then Jules stumbled onto something most people don’t know that could save them serious money on prescription medication: you can price-match your pills. [More]
Publix Giving Away Free Diabetes Drug
By 3.16.10
Publix wants people with diabetes to become their longterm customers, so they’re giving away 30-day supplies of generic metformin in 500 mg, 800 mg, and 1000 mg dosages, with unlimited refills. Although Publix would love it if you subsequently get all your prescriptions filled there, it’s not a requirement for the free drug. [More]
New Study Suggests Drug Ads Ineffective, But Expensive For Consumers
By 11.30.09
Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver looked at sales figures and prices for the blood thinner Plavix after direct-to-consumer advertising started in 2001. What they found was that the campaign was largely ineffective at increasing prescribing rates, but that the price of the drug shot up 12% almost immediately to cover the cost of the marketing campaign. [More]
Find Flu Shot, Cheap Generics With Medtipster
By 9.29.09
Medtipster is a website that locates nearby sources of discount generic versions of prescription drugs, as well as flu and other immunization shots. You enter the drug (or shot) you’re looking for and your zip code and it spits out a list of nearby pharmacies. Currently they don’t list H1N1 vaccination sources, but they say they’re going to add that info as soon as it becomes available.
Keep Track Of Your Prescriptions With This Free App
By 9.10.09
If you have to take meds, you know that one of the big issues is watching out for potential drug interactions—the last thing you want is to pass out at the supermarket from uncontrollable flatulence and a sudden onset of glaucoma. Consumer Reports has developed My Medication Tracker, a free desktop app that lets you privately keep a record of your medication history (and related costs), as well as watch out for potential interactions.
