U.S. investigating CVS prescription refills


David Lazarus

6:00 AM EDT, October 19, 2012





CVS has denied doing anything wrong.













Document: What CVS pharmacists were told








Document: CVS Pharmacy Business Metrics



A training manual provided to drugstore employees shows that they're graded on everything from an individual store's profits to how long a patient's prescription waits to be picked up. To reach the quota for refills, CVS pharmacists are instructed to call patients at least three times to pick up their medicine.

The documents from the May pharmacists' meeting stated that CVS aims by the first quarter of 2013 to "develop effective strategies for addressing the most common patient objections" to having prescriptions automatically refilled.

The company also intends to "create guidelines for effective motivational communication" when a patient balks at a refill, such as "asking open-ended questions" that discourage one-word answers. Example: How do you feel when you take your medication regularly?

CVS pharmacists said these meticulous "best practices," introduced over the last couple of years, have resulted in a high-pressure environment in which employees feel their jobs depend on meeting company quotas.

"If you do not meet your targets, you face writing action plans to better improve it and write-ups for poor performance," a second California pharmacist told me. "Also, you need to know that if the metrics are not met by your review, you receive a 'needs improvement' and therefore no raise.

"Many pharmacists, including myself, have not seen a raise in two years," the pharmacist said.

A third CVS pharmacist in California said employees share the goal of making sure people take their meds. They'd just prefer a less profit-focused approach.

"Sure, some pharmacists just want to get the scripts done and never speak to a patient, but there are also those who will want to know why a patient isn't taking a certain medication anymore," the pharmacist said.

"Do they have side effects that are bothering them? Are they struggling financially with co-pays? Are they aware that they can use a pill box to help them, especially if they are elderly or have a lot of medications?

"That is the right way to improve compliance, by getting down to the bottom of the problem," the pharmacist said. "Not filling scripts like a factory … and having patients build up stockpiles in their house because they can't get off our calling list."

Complaints can be filed with the California Board of Pharmacy at http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov. State officials said they will coordinate their investigation with federal authorities.
