It's sad that it requires a 3rd party app to help people not get screwed over by the current US medical system.
Another suggestion, at least for California: always ask for paper prescriptions! Fuck digital prescriptions. With a paper prescription you can go to any pharmacy you want and have it filled (i.e. shop around and find the cheapest)! But with a digital prescription you can't have it transferred to another pharmacy without calling up the doctor, which is completely fucked up. It's especially frustrating when your regular pharmacy is out of your prescription and your refill day happens to land on the weekend. Now you have to wait 2 days for your refill. One situation I've had happen occasionally is that I'll miss my regular pharmacy's closing hours because I was busy, so I'll just drive to my nearest 24-hour pharmacy to have my prescription filled; you can't do that with digital prescriptions!
I've literally saved hundreds of dollars, just by shopping around a bit. And heck, it's not as if driving an extra half a mile is such a big deal, especially when it can end up saving you a few hundred dollars. I'll also note that sometimes even within the same franchise prices can vary greatly, so it's often worth going a little bit further.
I think pharmacists are allowed to point out services like GoodRx, but it might be frowned upon, I'm not sure. At least in my case, I found out about their services thanks to a pharmacist: I was refilling a prescription, and the pharmacist walked out of their sealed off area, pulled me to the side and told me to look up this "GoodRx" thing.
For example, the pharmacist at a CVS decided not to refill my Vyvanse (amphetamine) paper script because I was paying in cash (+ using paper script). Treated me like a criminal. Digital scripts avoid this unpleasant scenario.
The pharmacy system itself needs reform. It’s idiotic that your doctor can write you a prescription that gets denied by someone who puts pills into a bottle. An anti-abuse system that treats everyone like criminals needs a better solution.
Even in Alaska, not generally a very technically advanced state, I never met a doctors that didn't have the ability to send eScripts. I never visited a doc in a remote village however, might be a different story out there.
A pharmacist is required to fill any prescription, paper or digital, except if the pharmacist has a religious objection (birth control, morning after pill, etc...). This came out in a recent court case.
It's the state that decides if prescriptions for controlled substances (like your Vyvanse) get rejected through a centralized database that works off of your driver's license/state ID scan* to prevent abuse.
There was much chaos a few months ago when the state imposed tighter restrictions on the number of opioid pain pills that could be dispensed at one time. You might have a prescription from your doctor for a 90-day supply, but you could only pick up five at a time. (Not an exact number, as I'm not on opioids.) For months, the lines at the pharmacy were backed up for hours as thousands of people ran into the new rules and took them out on the pharmacists.
* Amusingly, one of America's largest supermarket chains, Albertson's, isn't using the computerized driver's license scan. It keeps records in paper binders where the pharmacist writes down your DL# and you sign next to it. They don't even record what it is that you filled, or how much. Good job, Albertson's!
Obviously if certain behaviors correlate strongly with people who abuse, then it’s their job to use their discretion to demand more proof, or deny.
I always use smaller, non chain pharmacists too. Msny will compound, they know me and mine, and that relationship is worth a lot.
The cheapest is not too important most of the time. Things being right, and an active pharmacist helping with cost, special programs, and accuracy matters more.
When you use insurance and pay the co-pay, that counts against your out of pocket maximum on the plan. Prescriptions bought with GoodRx don't.
The insurance isn't doing a great job when they charge a co-pay that is larger than the price GoodRx has negotiated, but it isn't evidence of a scam.
https://www.discountdrugnetwork.com/what-rx-bin-and-group-nu...
Pharmacists can intervene a lot more than your doctor friend lets on. A good pharmacist will tell the patient there is a generic version of the drug when the doctor wrote a script for a brand name.
A good pharmacist will also tell you not to use your copay when its more than the out of pocket cost.
A bad pharmacist will do neither of those, but they are 2 simple questions anyone can ask when they go to get their prescriptions filled.
Is there a generic? Is it cheaper than my copay?
I learned the hard way after coming home with an Rx that was more expensive than I remembered. Wife found out they gave my brand name "well thats what the doctor wrote!" and chewed her out.
That said, if you are OK with privacy concerns or don't have the time to call yourself, GoodRx is nice to find the lowest cost as they definitely aren't standard and some places even have certain drugs for free.
Source: wife & mother pharmacists :)
Source: awesome family pharmacist.
"GoodRx does not sell information regarding your drug prescriptions and medical conditions that are linked to your name, contact information and other personal data you provide us."
I was with a friend picking up his meds and I bleeped my rewards card to collect the points, since he didn't have one. Now I get offers in the mail to treat his condition.
So with that in mind, I went and looked at Walgreen's notice of privacy practices [1] and they say that they will get a written disclosure before using PHI (and that is restated in their Balance Reward ToS.
Bottom line is, if they are selling information then hopefully you're friend has signed a form authorizing use of the PHI otherwise Walgreens is violating HIPAA.
[0] https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance...
[1] https://www.walgreens.com/topic/help/general/noticeprivacypr...
Both sell prescriptions, both use USPS or whomever to ship. Besides I bet it would be easier to track illicit use if it was regulated. Not to mention cheaper, faster and digital. Less prejudice.
Too bad the general consensus is that these jobs are necessary when they aren't.