In February I stopped by my doctor’s office to schedule my annual physical. I asked if they were seeing any signs of Coronavirus, and they said no.
On Tuesday, I stopped by again. I had no problems about seeing the doctor, but I was hesitant about getting blood work done.
This time, the door was locked. No one could enter who didn’t have an appointment, or who wasn’t showing any signs of sickness. I explained what I wanted through a screened window, and was let in.
There were no cars in the parking lot and no one was in the waiting room. I said I would like to postpone my appointment, if the doctor was willing to write a short term of one medication that would run out soon after our scheduled meeting.
This led me into another labyrinth, that of the ways of the mail-order pharmacy stipulated by my insurance plan. I suspected that if the doctor sent in orders for all my prescriptions after my physical, they would all be filled, even though I didn’t need them all at once. The pharmacy is no different than any other corporation looking for ways to get more money.
I always got paper copies, and mailed them in as I needed them.
This time, when I didn’t get the usual email acknowledgment, I called. Of course, I got the message about longer wait times than usual.
Then I was connected with someone in a call center who couldn’t understand my question. She kept telling me they had the prescription, and I kept asking about their procedures. I finally asked to be transferred to someone else. She apparently understood that to mean someone in the United States.
When I did get transferred, I immediately asked the man to make sure the young woman didn’t get some kind of demerit. I had worked with computers long enough to know, she’d only been given access to the screens she needed to answer the usual questions. It wasn’t her fault; it was simply the consequences of a division of labor.
I had had mixed results in Española when a doctor called in a prescription. One drug store wouldn’t fill it until I drove over and said I was going to pick it up. Then I could wait the usual two hours in line with some who were sick. I’m sure they had had many problems with customers who didn’t show up.
Another drug store didn’t receive it by the time I arrived. I’m not sure what their computer download cycles were, but I had to drive back to the doctor’s office and a get a paper copy for the drug store. The alternative was waiting some unknown period of time, or driving back later. That’s a ten miles round trip.
My question for the mail order pharmacy was simple: did they fill a prescription when it received it and charge my credit card, or did I have to contact them to authorize the charge. The man said the former, but the reason I hadn’t heard anything was the medication wasn’t due to be refilled.
Remember, my appointment was for the end of March, and I would have mailed it off when I had pills for about two-weeks left. I told him I understood; everything was a month early. He said if I hadn’t received it my mid-April to call again.
By then I assume their call center will be handing an even larger number of calls
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