Managed Pharmacy Care: Coping With Mail-Order Woes

LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of Americans use mail
order to fill prescriptions. Some do so to save a co-payment; others because
they are mandated by their company or third-party payer.

But problems continue to occur in the delivery system, even if it is generally
agreed among the profession that mail order does a fine job in supplying
product.

Independent pharmacists hear an average of 2.47 mail order complaints per day
from consumers. In most cases, pharmacists are not able to intercede, provide
counseling or even sell a limited-days supply because the prescription is not
from their store.

Most boards of pharmacy are interested, however, in unresolved problems. Those
include:
-- Prescriptions not received in a timely manner.
-- Receiving improper prescriptions, including a product mailed to an
address not of the recipients.
-- A product improperly delivered, whereas the recommended storage
temperature is noted on the package but may be dropped off on a porch
in
100-degree or below-freezing weather.
-- There is a change in the prescription, from what was written to what
was
delivered.

In all instances, the mail-order company will urge its customers to contact
them first. But for consumers interested in pharmacy standards being
maintained, this is not necessarily the best course of action.

Mail-order companies are held to identical standards as store pharmacies with
the exception of signing for a prescription. The state boards of pharmacy,
however, are keenly interested in hearing and tracking mail-order incidents.
When improper deliver is discovered, the mail-order company is issued a "hefty
fine" in hopes that internal problems can be corrected.

The boards of pharmacy want to hear from consumers who receive improper
medications, fear a product has been stored incorrectly in their mail box or
door front, failed to receive telephone counseling in a timely manner or had a
prescription "switched" from the prescribed product to another without doctor
and patient authorization. Those consumers are urged to contact complaint
hotlines and "save the evidence."

In case of mail-order problems, California residents should call 916.574.7900
or 916.574.7909; Montana State Board of Pharmacy 406.841.2319 or
hclcomp@mt.gov; Washington Department of Health at 360.236.4700 or
hpqa.csc@doh.wa.govIdaho State Board of Pharmacy at 208.334.2356.

Managed Pharmacy Care, Inc. is a network of independent pharmacists.

Contact Gary Ellis 800.582.5889 for additional information.

SOURCE Managed Pharmacy Care, Inc.

Gary Ellis of Managed Pharmacy Care, Inc., 1-800-582-5889