What's Wrong with Health Care: What It Took to Get My Painkiller Presciption Filled

Pretty please, just fill my prescription...    

Last time, I wrote about my troubles getting my prescription for morphine filled at my regular pharmacy: What's Wrong with Healthcare: Getting a Pain Pill Prescription Filled.  Today I'm back with an update.

They Just Said No

Remember how I couldn't get my morphine prescription filled at my regular pharmacy for over 3 months?  When last I wrote, I had just called another location of my old pharmacy, which was CVS by the way, and they told me they had my pain medication in stock.  I was cautiously optimistic that I was finally getting my medication.  

Well, I went there the next evening and guess what?  They DIDN'T have it!

Fed up, tired and frustrated, I took my prescription to a different chain pharmacy the next day and my prescription filling experience was completely different.

Filling a Painkiller Prescription, Redux

As I walked up to the prescription drop-off counter at this other chain pharmacy, the first thing I noticed was a sign explaining that some narcotic painkiller prescriptions could not be filled the same day because the medications would need to be ordered. 'Fair enough,' I said to myself.

I presented my prescription at the drop-off counter. The staff checked and they didn't have the medication in stock. So they 1) kept my prescription and 2) told me they would order the pain medicine for me. I was informed that the medicine should come in on Wednesday and 3) they would text me (my preference) when my prescription was ready for pick-up.

Since I hadn't used this pharmacy in quite a while, I needed to present my insurance card and my photo ID. "No problem," I told the pharmacy tech. As I waited for my information to be verified in their system, I could see the pharmacist completing the paperwork necessary to order my medication.

Wednesday afternoon rolled around. I hadn't gotten a call, so I decided to call them. I was told it was going to take one more day to get my prescription filled. Annoying, but I could wait one more day.

Sure enough, the next day, I got a text message letting me know my prescription was ready for pick up.

Bye-Bye CVS, Hello Better Customer Service

Despite the wait, this was a huge improvement over how I was being treated at CVS. Interacting with the staff at CVS left me feeling frustrated and like some kind of undeserving, second-class patient. This other pharmacy made me feel welcomed, important and worthy of their time and attention.

So I decided enough is enough, and transfered all my active prescriptions from CVS to this other chain.

On the day my new pharmacy called to get my prescriptions transfered, a pharmacist from CVS called and asked me to call them back. 'Too little, too late,' I thought and I didn't bother calling them.  I also didn't return their call when their corporate customer service department called me a few weeks later in response to the complaint I filed on their website.

The bottom line:  I'm done dealing with CVS, especially when I can get better customer service somewhere else.

The Curious Case of Painkillers "Lost" at CVS

By the way, I did some research and I think I know why CVS wasn't filling my prescription.

It seems there is a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and California Board of Pharmacy probe into the "alleged loss of painkillers" at four CVS stores in Northern California. According to the L.A. Times, over 37,000 oxycodone hydrocodone combination drug pills, mostly generic Vicodin, went missing from these stores in 2013.  The article also states that earlier this year, CVS corporate told their Southern California stores to get their records in order because they were coming to audit them.

Now my prescription wasn't for oxycodone a hydrocodone combination drug (like Vicodin or Tylenol with codeine), it was for morphine. The key difference between these medications is that morphine is a Schedule II drug and therefore is locked up in a safe, whereas oxycodone hydrocodone combination drugs aren't, which makes it easier for the pharmacy staff to swipe it off the shelf if they are so inclined.

But clearly, all these problems with painkillers at CVS stores seems to have made them less inclined to fill patients' prescriptions for any kind of narcotic pain medication, which doesn't seem like good customer service or professional business practice to me.  Why should I be denied my pain medication because some CVS pharmacy staff members can't be trusted to handle these medications?

And About CVS's "Painkiller Rules"

I also decided to call my local office of the DEA, because I was told by several different people at CVS, both in the pharmacy and on the telephone with someone in their corporate customer service department, that:

1) The DEA won't allow CVS to answer telephone inquiries about whether they have certain pain medications in stock. (This also applies to CVS stores calling each other on behalf of a patient to see if another store does have the medication in stock.)
2) The DEA won't allow CVS to call me when they have my pain medicine in stock.
3) The DEA won't let CVS hold my prescription while they order the medication for me. (I was told that I needed to go into the pharmacy in-person with my prescription in hand in order to find out if they have my medication in stock.)

Well, guess what? The officer I spoke with at the DEA said that their agency doesn't have any regulations like these for pharmacies.

So what's the real truth here?

I was once told by a pharmacy staff member that the reason CVS doesn't answer telephone inquires about whether they have narcotic pain medications in stock is because they are worried about being robbed. How ironic is it then that the "robbers" they need to worry about are their own employees, not some thugs off the street?!?

I Think Patients In Pain Deserve Better Treatment

What more can I say? A person (like me!) with a prescription for a narcotic pain medication in their hand deserves the same exact customer service experience as someone with a prescription for any other medication behind the pharmacy counter. Yes, I am aware that the rules for dispensing painkillers are different. But as long as it is legal to prescribe them and legal to dispense them, patients living with pain deserve to get their prescriptions for pain medications filled without all the extra judgments, hassles and hoops to jump through courtesy of the pharmacy staff.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

What's Wrong with Healthcare: Getting a Pain Pill Prescription Filled

You want me to fill your prescription?!?   

This series of posts has been a long time in the making.  This year marks 10 years since I started my not-so-new life with daily, disabling chronic pain and fatigue.  I have a multitude of mixed feelings about this milestone, as does my hubby and everyone else who knows and loves me.


As I mulled over my situation yesterday, I realized that, among other things:

1. the current health care system can't fix me or make me even a little bit better
2. I am not happy with much of the "health care" I receive
3. the health care system doesn't know how to care for people with chronic illnesses
4. my initial assessment that health care reform wasn't going to effect me was WRONG
5. I believe there are things my health care providers could be doing for me, but the culture within the health care system often prevents them from providing me with care to relieve my pain, symptoms and stress from chronic illness

Which brings me to Rant #1.

Can You Fill My Prescription?

After years of living with pain and struggling when my pain flares up, I found a pain medicine physician who believe in palliative care, i.e care to relieve my pain, symptoms and stress from chronic illness.  She prescribes narcotic pain medication for me.

I got my second prescription for morphine in mid-January 2014.  I took it to the pharmacy where I got my first prescription filled. When I presented my prescription at the drop-off window, I was told that 1) they didn't have the medication in stock and 2) I needed to check back with them at the beginning of February to see if they get it back in stock.

Really?  I have to wait 2 weeks to get my prescription filled.  And you won't even do me the courtesy of calling me to let me know when you have it? That's not great health care.

Let's Try This Again.... 

So then I get the flu.  And I get busy with a bunch of other doctor's appointments.  I wasn't so low on my pain medication that I needed it right away, but I didn't forget about getting the prescription either.  So it's February and I'm at the pharmacy picking up another prescription, and I remember to ask if my pain medication is in stock.  The pharmacy tech tells me yes, but then I realize that I forgot to bring my prescription!  Ugh.

So some more time passes before I finally find myself back at the pharmacy.  And this time I have my prescription in hand.  Yay me!  I present my prescription again, and again I am told it is out of stock.

Well this time I won't take that for an answer.  I ask the pharmacy tech to order it for me.  She tells me they will "try" -- no guarantees -- and I need to call them or come back on April 2nd to see if the medication has come in.

Really? Again?  This is b***s***.

The Reasons Why My Prescription CAN'T Be Filled

So I talk to the pharmacist.  He tells me:

1) they don't keep this in stock because it's a lower dose than what most patients are prescribed
2) they have problems getting this dosage from their supplier
3) they are the 4th busiest location for this chain and their store has problems keeping this dosage of morphine in stock because of the volume of business they do

Blah, blah blah.  Wait, did he just tell me if I was taking a larger dose of morphine he could fill my prescription???

Then I asked if he could call another location to see if they have the medication in stock.  The pharmacist refuses, stating that 1) other locations won't give him that information over the phone and 2) another location would find it suspicious if he called them asking for this information.

W.....T......F!

It's Complaint Time

Here is the thing.  Right by the drop-off counter is a Notice to Consumers poster from the California State Board of Pharmacy.  The poster says:

"This pharmacy must provide any medicine or device legally prescribed for
you, unless:

• It is not covered by your insurance;
• You are unable to pay the cost of a copayment;
• The pharmacist determines doing so would be against the law or potentially harmful to health.

If a medicine or device is not immediately available, the pharmacy will work with you to help you get your medicine or device in a timely manner."

So when I get home, I head over to California State Board of Pharmacy website and I file an online complaint.

I also head to the chain pharmacy's website and fill out an online complaint there too, letting them know I filed a complaint with the Pharmacy Board as well.

So Will I Ever Get This Prescription Filled? 

Really needing to get my pain medication ASAP, I call another location.  I know this chain's policy is NOT to tell callers if they have narcotic medications in stock because they are afraid of being robbed.  So I start by giving my name and phone number so they can look me up in the system.  Then I ask if the medication is in stock, letting them know I tried to fill my prescription at another location and was unsuccessful. 

I get lucky.  A very nice man puts me on hold, checks, comes back on the line and tells me they have it.  But I guess I won't know for sure until I get my hubby to take me there tonight.

I think there is something really wrong with healthcare if it takes this much time, energy and effort to get a pain medication prescription filled.