Shields "Care Corner" Blog

Always Striving For The Best

Samantha, a patient with a lifelong chronic illness, made her monthly visit to refill her prescription at her local pharmacy. Samantha had always filled her medication at this pharmacy because it was the only pharmacy she was aware of in her area. Recently, during an appointment with her physician, she was told about the specialty pharmacy in the hospital nearby and the patient services it provided, such as home delivery, medication refill reminders, financial assistance, and more. She was intrigued by the new option and was eager to start filling her monthly medications at the hospital specialty pharmacy since it would be easier and more convenient than her current pharmacy. 

 

Soon after her decision to change pharmacies, Samantha approached the counter at the hospital pharmacy where she was greeted by a pharmacy technician who was eager to listen to her concerns and answer her questions. When the pharmacy technician checked the price of Samantha’s medication, she noticed that it was a fairly high copay for the drug.  The pharmacy tech immediately pointed this out to Samantha, who was not surprised by the price at all, since she was used to paying this amount on a monthly basis and figured that nothing could be done about it. The pharmacy technician was troubled by this high copay and made sure to verify with Samantha that the pharmacy had her correct insurance in the system and that her colleagues at the pharmacy had processed the medication through the insurance company correctly.  Samantha insisted that the high copay was standard for her and did not want the pharmacy staff to worry about it too much. Samantha soon left the pharmacy and went on her way with her prescription. 

 

Later that evening, her pharmacy technician had gone home for the night but was still bothered by the high copay that the patient had to pay. So she started to research some financial assistance options for Samantha. Finally after a few hours of work, the pharmacy technician found a cost savings card for Samantha’s specific drug that would help cover the high copay costs.

 

The Pharmacy technician was eager to inform Samantha of this the next day and was able to tell her that she would no longer have high monthly co-pays for a necessary, life-saving drug. Due to the pharmacy technician’s hard work and dedication after hours, Samantha can now use her new cost savings card to help pay for her specialty medication each month. She is so grateful for her pharmacy technician’s thoroughness and feels she has a person on her care team that she can always lean on if she needs help with her medications and treatment going forward. 

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