Strange (to me) call from Safeway Pharmacy

Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson

Well-known Member
Location
Nampa,Idaho
Just received a call from Safeway,where I fill all my prescriptions. I figured it was a message telling me my Rx was ready but it was a real person. He asked me if I had thought about asking my doctor to prescribe a statin for me,since "you do take Metformin and a blood pressure med." I have,in fact,taken statins before,but the joint and muscle pain they cause me makes my life miserable. They now consider me allergic. When I told him that,he said "Oh,OK. We`ll take you off our list!" Weird or no?
 

Par for the course today. It's "Profit any way we can." Doctors, dentists, everyone is selling, selling, selling.
At my Dr. visit a few months ago, the assistant who weighs & takes BP asked me, "Have you had a flu shot, pneumonia shot, shingles shot, colonoscopy?" I didn't want to argue or debate because I knew she was only doing what her boss told her to do, so I just said, "No, not interested."
 
Prior to my last bulk shipment of maintenance drugs, I was pleasantly surprised when the pharmacy called and wanted to make sure that I wanted everything on the preauthorized shipment.

I assume that it is because I've exhausted my standard Medicare prescription allowance for the year and will have to pay a percentage of the cost for each item included in the order until catastrophic coverage kicks in.

I'm not sure if they call to prevent lengthy calls/complaints/returns or if they call to save people the shock of a charge hitting their credit card or both.
 
Pinky said:
My pharmacist will alert me about any contraindications between meds I'm taking, etc.
This is good practice, IMO.
Click to expand...

This was actually why I thought they were calling at first.Or,since the first thing he said was "I see you are taking Metformin",that they were going to recommend I stop taking it due to them finding out it contains a carcinogen. But no,that wasn`t it. And I don`t know why in the heck they would want to sell more drugs-they can`t keep up with customers they have now! Long waits to get scrips refilled and long lines when you go to pick them up.
 
As far as pharmacists being up on things: This pharmacist, at the drugstore I go to, totally missed the bus on catching a prescription order that I was allergic to. I had asked her if the PA prescribed Doxycycline was the same as Vibramycin. She said it wasn't. I did my own research, and it, in fact, is! Lucky for me I caught the screw up! I'm allergic to the stuff.
 
treeguy64 said:
As far as pharmacists being up on things: This pharmacist, at the drugstore I go to, totally missed the bus on catching a prescription order that I was allergic to. I had asked her if the PA prescribed Doxycycline was the same as Vibramycin. She said it wasn't. I did my own research, and it, in fact, is! Lucky for me I caught the screw up! I'm allergic to the stuff.
Click to expand...
Are you allergic to penicillin ? Edit: not related to penicillin
 
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Mrs. Robinson said:
This was actually why I thought they were calling at first.Or,since the first thing he said was "I see you are taking Metformin",that they were going to recommend I stop taking it due to them finding out it contains a carcinogen. But no,that wasn`t it. And I don`t know why in the heck they would want to sell more drugs-they can`t keep up with customers they have now! Long waits to get scrips refilled and long lines when you go to pick them up.
Click to expand...
Because ......
Ching $ Ching $
 
Yesterday a pharmacist in my local one asked me
if he could put me on the electronic prescription,
all I would have to do would be to take the form
to the Doctor for signature, he said it would save
me having to go to the Doctor for a prescription
and the madicine would always be ready.

I said no thank you, I do it this way to get some
exercise, he didn't like that answer, I wonder why.

Mike.
 
Mike, we signed up to get our repeat prescriptions automatically every 2 months from our pharmacist. (2 months is the norm. here). This is handy as both the medical centre and pharmacy are several miles away. The system seems to work OK.
 
I get my scripts filled online. That way, they email me when they're ready, and I just pick them up without having to wait around for 30-40 minutes.
 
Pepper said:
No, not weird. Their business is drug pushing after all.
Click to expand...
I aggree. I live in England snd my meds are NHS funded. My cholesterol meds was Atoravastatin at 40mg and daily. I had bad side effects and adked my GP if I can have less milligrams and he reduced it to 10 mg every other day and it works for me with reduced cholesterol.

Yes the GP's here are used by the big-boy drug companies to push their products and this is standard but not spoken about to any large degree. GP's are set targets as far as I am aware and the patient is a guinea pig. 40 mg is the standard dose
 
Yesterday a pharmacist in my local one asked me
if he could put me on the electronic prescription,
all I would have to do would be to take the form
to the Doctor for signature, he said it would save
me having to go to the Doctor for a prescription
and the madicine would always be ready.

I said no thank you, I do it this way to get some
exercise, he didn't like that answer, I wonder why.
Click to expand...

Mike, why do you have to go to the doctor for a prescription? Can't the doctor's office phone in the prescription to the pharmacy?

If it's a refill of an existing prescription, all I have to do is call the doctor's office and ask them to contact the pharmacy. Or I ask the pharmacy to
call the doctor's office. Physically running back and forth is totally unnecessary, unless you really like the "exercise!"
 
Pinky said:
My pharmacist will alert me about any contraindications between meds I'm taking, etc.
This is good practice, IMO.
Click to expand...
I agree and if my pharmacist believes that I may benefit from another Med for an ailment that I am already taking medication for, he/she will alert me. I have a very good relationship with my pharmacists. They have been at our market almost forever.
 
Sunny said:
Mike, why do you have to go to the doctor for a prescription? Can't the doctor's office phone in the prescription to the pharmacy?

If it's a refill of an existing prescription, all I have to do is call the doctor's office and ask them to contact the pharmacy. Or I ask the pharmacy to
call the doctor's office. Physically running back and forth is totally unnecessary, unless you really like the "exercise!"
Click to expand...
My dr wants a blood test every 6 months to regulate any drugs I maybe taking..
 
I'm a little skeptical of any pharmacist, who unsolicitedly recommends medications. You have to wonder if there is a financial angle for his medication concerns. This sounds like a drug company sales campaign.
 
Sunny said:
Mike, why do you have to go to the doctor for a prescription? Can't the doctor's office phone in the prescription to the pharmacy?

If it's a refill of an existing prescription, all I have to do is call the doctor's office and ask them to contact the pharmacy. Or I ask the pharmacy to
call the doctor's office. Physically running back and forth is totally unnecessary, unless you really like the "exercise!"
Click to expand...
Sunny, I said above that I do it this way for the exercise,
the Doctor has also asked me if I wanted her to send them
automatically.

A few years ago they asked me to do a programme designed
by a hospital, to get more seniors exercising and ever since I
try to keep the exercises going, so getting a prescription sent
to the pharmacy is defeating the object of the programme, if
I become infirm, I might then reconsider.

Mike.
 

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