A Former Medco Pharmacist Is On A Hunger Strike
42 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // July 14th, 2010 // 8:24 am
This morning, Raj Bhat entered the 10th day of a hunger strike to protest allegedly illegal and unsafe business practices, as well as wrongful treatment of pharmacists by Medco Health Solutions, the big pharmacy benefits manager, where he worked until July 2005. Prior to his dismissal, Bhat complained to Medco managers that a new policy requiring pharmacists to process at least 45 to 55 prescriptions an hour was “unreasonably high” and led to a growing number of errors that placed patients in jeopardy.
Among those who he contacted while attempting to overturn the policy was the Florida Board of Pharmacy, the US Drug Enforcement Agency and, later, Medco ceo David Snow. But his efforts, he claims, eventually cost him his job. In fact, he points out that he was fired exactly four days after the Florida agency closed its case without taking any action. And so in 2007, he filed a lawsuit, charging Medco retaliated against him, which violated the state Whistleblower statute. The case was recently dismissed, but he plans to appeal. Meanwhile, he says Medco is seeking $1 million in legal fees.
Frustrated by the turn of events, Bhat began his hunger strike to raise “public awareness of what is going on at Medco. There are health and safety issues,” he tells us. “I started this hunger strike because I want to explain what is happening. And I want national press coverage to provide some form of public documentation and create a setting where Medco officials would have to answer questions. So we have also gone to Senator Grassley,” the ranking Republican on the US Senate Finance Committee who is conducting several probes involving the pharmaceutical industry. Bhat, who is currently unemployed, also started a blog that he updates each day.
At the moment, Bhat is holed up inside his Tampa, Florida, home and drinking only water, adding a little salt when he feels cramps. He has lost 12 pounds and insists he is willing to press his hunger strike as long as it takes to gain more attention, but is he willing to die for his cause? “To be honest, I’ve avoided seeking publicity until now. The focus should be on the issues and not me,” he says. “I don’t want a knee-jerk reaction. But no, it’s not my intention (to kill myself). I’ll have to assess how far I’ve gone. It’s not like I want this to continue indefinitely, but so far it’s had an impact.”
In response to a question, a Medco spokeswoman sent us this: “Medco’s Office of Ethics thoroughly investigated Raj Bhat’s issues and found that they were without merit or foundation. Mr. Bhat’s issues were also investigated by Florida Board of Pharmacy and were found without merit or foundation. In addition, Mr. Bhat’s allegations were dismissed by the court in January 2010, when Medco won summary judgement. Mr. Bhat’s termination was based solely on poor performance and his failure to raise performance levels to acceptable standards – despite repeated warnings.”
Hat tip to Bnet
RPh
45 to 55 prescriptions an hour is unconscionable. That’s 1 perscription every 65 to 80 seconds. I’ve worked in extremely busy hospital outpatient pharmacies where 500 prescriptions in 12 hours was not uncommon (1 Rx / 1.44 minutes or 130 seconds). However I might have 150 identical birth control scripts along with 150 scripts for natal vitamins. So I could fill them in a batch. Plus the patients were young women whose medication records were already in the hospital’s system and had been checked by a clinical pharmacist prior to discharge. So there was little checking for interactions or inputting of data into the system needed.
In a normal retail pharmacy 12 prescriptions per hour (1 every 5 minutes) per pharmacist without technicians is a busy workload. With 2 technicians 1 pharmacist can do around 150 and maybe occassionally up to 200 prescriptions by themselves in an 8 hour shift (1 Rx / 3 minutes).
If the numbers this pharmacist is reporting are correct then Medco is likely endangering lives.
pharmavet
According to The Guiness Book of World Records the longest recorded hunger strike without intervention is 94 days. Let’s see who outlasts whom.
elmore
Interesting case. What’s especially thought provoking is that Bhat went on his hunger strike after contacting the Florida Board of Pharmacy, the USDEA, the Medco CEO and now Grassley. But the claim was found to be without merit by Medco, the Board of Pharmacy, and then dismissed from court.
He seems awfully determined–and went to a lot of trouble —for a guy whose claims are baseless. Is he completely nuts? Or is there some sort of fix in at various places?
Very curious to see how this works out, and especially if Grassley takes it up.
Pharmahelper
Medco pharmacies are highly automated and most likely the pharmacist must sit at the end of the automated line and verify that the correct drug is in the bottle. It is very likely that a picture of the drug appears on the screen and the pharmacist must merely make sure that the drug in the bottle matches the drug picture on the screen. This is not comparable to the work a pharmacist does in a retail pharmacy or hospital pharmacy. This guy doesn’t appear to be a good fit for the Medco world.
FedUp
What he is likely referring to is checking the images of prescriptions against what a technician has entered into the computer. This is where 95% of the potential problems (and liability) are.
For each Rx the following must be checked:
1. Correct patient?
2. Correct/appropriate drug?
3. Correct/appropriate dose?
4. Correct/appropriate directions?
5. Correct prescriber?
6. Drug interactions/allergies/dupliaction of therapy, etc.
Not much time for all of that…
Raj Bhat
I am hearing from RPhs around the US.
PharmaHelper refers to a back-end RPh who can’t catch a problem if there is one, however the volume of scrips-filled has eliminated any humans from the process. It’s just robots “at work” back there now.
I am referring to a front-end RPh who validates the scrip.
If you are processing 40-50-60 and I hear up to 120 and 130 Rxs PER HOUR on a computer screen…there is very little time to use your professional skills to avoid errors. (The Quota System).
FYI. Upon final recap by an RPh the Rx is then filled robotically (in another state), labeled, packed and shipped out within 20 minutes.
The “Quota System” has got to go! It is not in the interest of the Public Good. Not safe. Not realistic.
If you are a RPh, its time to speak up and speak out. Tell me about it.
Patient safety and public health is the issue.
Update: Senator Grassley R-Iowa cares!
Follow me on FB or my blog. I appreciate your support. To be continued.
-Raj Bhat RPh
Raj Bhat
Cozy relationship with the Regulators and lobbyists who do corporate bidding and knowingly compromise Public Interest and safety has been the trend of this decade(BP oil spill,mining disasters etc.)It is no different in this case.
Florida Statute 465.026 prohibits employers from interfering in pharmacist’s professional judgment.This was suggested by the Florida Board of pharmacy to the concerned Medco Pharmacists during the board meeting in June 2003.Medco employed former members of Board of Pharmacy and via cozy relationship with Department of health and Dea made sure that no corrective actions were taken to stop these practices.
Pharmahelper
Thanks for the clarification, Raj. The role is certainly different for the front-end pharmacist and does require more problem solving and interpretation.
It is my opinion that the Pharmacy Boards do not want to get involved with big mail-order pharmacies who ship to multiple states. Just too many jurisdictions to contend with.
The only real solution is for the mail-order pharmacists to form some sort of union or guild so you can negotiate work rules. Safety is still a good justification for union activity.
Good luck
barbara
i think this guy is being railroaded and no one wants to take on medco; he stands alone, he told the truth, and no one wants to hear it. that many prescriptions is too many. He probably was at the end of a prescription line where it would have been difficult to “catch” errors that were processed down to him and he would have been held responsible for; that is the terrible truth. It is a dog mill for prescriptions; it is like the oil spill after so many years and so many greased hands of regulators who did not know what they were doing and looked the other way.
This guy may be a marytr who now has no job, no one will hire him, he is a piryna and no one wants to look at medco (BP) processing policies and make waves. PLEASE SOMEONE HIRE him, he would be an asset to some reputable company.
Raj Bhat
In this article Medco contends that “my issues” were without merit or foundation.Please see my response on my blog RajBhat Hunger Strike vs Medco to find out the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Raj Bhat
If there are any pharmacists out there who wish to go on record about your Quota System I will speak out for you; you can remain anonymous. Otherwise, speak up.
Now is the time.
There are 100s of pharmacists who are pushing themselves to keep the scrips moving aka Quota System, potentially setting aside their Professional Judgment for job security and corporate demands. Many of them are not able to properly supervise their technicians. These are 2 fundamental provisions of state pharmacy statutes for all concerned in the United States.
RxMan
Stop your crying Bhat. I worked for Medco as a Pharmacist for over 16 years till I retired. It happens to be the easiest job in the world. You receive top pay and benefits that most people would be envious of. No nights, holidays or weekends. All you do is sit there and verify what a Tech. has entered, Patients name, drug name, drug strength, directions, MD’s name, refills, DAW or not and qty. You have no interruptions, no phone calls, no patients asking you questions, you just sit there and verify information on a computer screen. Try working at a chain pharmacy doing 300 to 500 hundred a day or more, with loads of interruptions see how long you would last. If you can’t do 45 to 55 or more an hour at Medco maybe you should find another profession. I am sure you can get a job in Florida at Publix maybe as a bagger……..
Raj Bhat
I agree with Rxman that Medco was a good employer(only till around 2002).I do not know when he retired from Medco.45-55 scripts/hour, I am referring to here is for entering and checking scripts by the pharmacist himself(without tech help).As of now at Medco,with techs entering scripts, the number of scripts a pharmacist is pressured to check in front of the computer without distractions is 130-150 per hour.If he thinks a pharmacist can completely & accurately verify info entered by a tech in less than 25 seconds/script,then readers should make an informed commonsense judgment. Knowing the respect he has for a publix bagger, I know how much respect he has for patient safety. May Almighty bless his soul.
Chen Yen, PharmD, Pharmacist Job Market Expert
I think there are 2 different issues here: 1. Is a quota for professional judgment activities appropriate?, 2. Your efficiency and whether it warranted being let go.
I don’t think a quota for professional judgment activities like screening scripts on the front end is appropriate, because if a problem comes up and requires more attention than others, you would need to rush thru other Rxs to stay within quota. Hopefully the quota #s are reached based on leeway for things that come up requiring clarification.
However, I do see the need for a certain level of efficiency by a pharmacist. If a pharmacist takes 10x the amount of time to screen Rxs compared to another pharmacist, is that useful to the employer?
So having a quota is a way of maintaining standards. The question would be whether the quota requirements are reasonable or not for the average pharmacist to do to do a good job. Out of curiosity, how many Rxs/hr, do you think is fair in your setting, Raj?
I think the # of Rxs/hr that’s appropriate for a pharmacist to screen or verify really depends on the setting you work in…hard to compare apples to oranges. If you have access to full patient records (chart notes, labs, etc), you have more possibilities of digging in to find more info & more problems, which take more time to tend to.
Raj Bhat
Mr.Yen’s comments are highly useful for a respectful debate,focuses on issues(not personal attacks)and facilitate understanding of facts and truth in proper perspective.
Talking about apples and oranges, let me give the readers some perspective by way of Retail Pharmacy vs.Mail order pharmacy like Medco.I have worked in high volume retail pharmacies with good productivity and quality.In a busy retail pharmacy, if you process about 250 scripts per day, typically more than 50% of the scripts are refills and do not require much scrutiny and time.For all new prescriptions, you spend enough time as necessary to ensure every aspect of the prescription entry is correct and thereby maintain high quality. By judicious use of resources and time,you can achieve good productivity and maintain high quality. At least with the high volume retail employers I have worked, they have not pressured me with check rates per hour or interfered with my professional judgment.How it is different at Medco, see my next comment.
Raj Bhat
In contrast to a retail pharmacy setting which I have explained in my previous comment, at a mail order Medco pharmacy, all scripts that need processing by a front end pharmacist are new(no refills.) Hence each and every script screened on the front end require exercise of professional judgment.This quota system does not allow any leeway for things that come up requiring clarification.In fact, Medco penalizes pharmacists for exercising professional judgment.He/she is not allowed enough extra time as necessary, as he is threatened to stay within the quota of 45-55 scripts per hour (65-80 seconds per script to enter as well as check without tech help).
Till around 2002, maximum number of scripts entered and checked by a pharmacist at Medco in Tampa was around 30 per hour( about two minutes per script)and the quality was good.
Due to lack of space, I will answer Mr. Yen’s question of performance standards and why Medco practices constitute Criminal negligence in my next comment.
Raj Bhat
To answer Mr. Yen’s question—The following facts substantiate that reasonable performance standard at Medco setting is around 30 scripts per hour to maintain high quality, provided the pharmacists are not interfered with in their professional judgment.
In 2003, Medco implemented these practices of pressuring pharmacists to enter and check 45-55 scripts per hour with threats of disciplinary actions and termination.To attain this number, obviously pharmacists had to cut corners and many conscientious pharmacists quit Medco fearing danger to patient health and safety. Quality deteriorated as high as up to 10 folds by way of increase in the number of Medication errors. In practical terms that means, ten times more number of patients received wrong medications.Medco intentionally ignored this and proceeded with quota requirement of entering and checking 45-55 scripts per hour.The Quality has continued to be bad ever since 2003.Medco has intentionally and knowingly accepted and adopted these lowered standards of quality to maintain this quota.It is an undisputed fact now that this unreasonable quota and interference in pharmacist’s judgment constitutes criminal negligence.
Sally Ethics
God bless you, Raj! You need to outlast the fight! Don’t take it on alone.
Rxman sounds like the ‘hacks’ that we work with everywhere. If one is burdened with morals as in first in first out, refusing to ‘cherry pick’, fixing what ‘hacks’ throw around carelessly, taking the invoices with a lot of rxs, disease states, interactions, then you are comparing apples to oranges! If one thinks following S.O.P. (as in checking all pieces for pt notes, verifying addresses or calling to clarify an rx)is a waste then change the S.O.P! But the company hides behind S.O.P. (decreasing their portion of liability) while patting people on the back for cutting corners!
If a pharmacist needs to be a hot shot, find a way to risk your own life and stop adding risk to an innocent patient.
Walgreensrph
Hi raj,
I am agreed with u that employer should not dictate number of prescription. But in Walgreens they r forcing pharmacist to do 280 prescription per hour … 13 second per prescription …I prey everyday so god can save those people whose prescription we r verifying…. It is like time bomb
Angry RPH
The problem at Medco was their errors(thus terminations) were not based on performace. They were based on a standard 6 errors per year. Therefore, a pharmacist that entered/verified 20 rx’s an hour gets away with a higher percentage error rate. Whereas a pharmacist processing 70 rx’s an hour, is held accountable for a lower percentage error rate.
70/hour x 40 hours x 52 weeks = 145,600
6 errors/145,600
20 rx’s/hour x 40 hours x 52 weeks = 41,600
6/errors/41,600
It’s alot easier making an error processing 145,600 rx’s/year than it is 41,600 per year. There should be a lawsuit from the 50+ RPh’s that were fired about 6 years ago due to discrimination and unfair practices in evaluating performance vs error rate.
Raj Bhat
I appreciate the perspective Sally Ethics has brought to this debate.It is highly hypocritical on the part of Medco to demand Pharmacists to follow Standard operation procedure (SOP)which mandates every aspect of prescription info is thoroughly verified and on the other hand not give enough time for them to do so.
Angry Rph has a good point to make. In 2002, the maximum number of prescriptions entered and checked by any Pharmacist at Medco Tampa facility was around 30 per hour and the quality was good.In 2003-2004,Medco started pressuring pharmacists to enter and check unreasonable and unsafe targets of 45-55 per hour.The pharmacists who succumbed to that pressure to keep their jobs and even went overboard entering and checking which Angry Rph says (even up to 70 per hour)to impress Medco committed more number of errors.Those Pharmacists should have known better that they would be committing more number of errors at those unsafe targets and they did.
Raj Bhat
280 scripts per hour which Walgreensrph refers to, I believe include significant proportion of refills which do not require much time to process.I also believe that he is a back end pharmacist double checking the prescription entry already made by the front end Pharmacist.I believe his job is double checking the script before dispensing the Medication to patient. I would appreciate if he can clarify this.
All the same, I am shocked to know him/her that highly reputed brand like Walgreens has chosen to follow Medco’s path forcing Pharmacists to process unsafe targets per hour. It is very unfortunate that whoever is running Walgreens now has chosen a Management path of self destructing the BRAND which the founder took many decades to build meticulously earning public trust. I am not surprised now why Walgreens’ has got involved in recent years with significant fatal Medication Errors which is a common knowledge among the Public now.
Raj Bhat
I am startled by Walgreensrph’s comment that he prays every day to God to save those people whose prescriptions are verified by his Company Pharmacists. Turning a blind eye and pray…Is this the best Walgreens pharmacists can do? Have our personal sensibilities and responsibilities to the Society sunken to such a low level that keeping our 120k jobs to maintain our so called material status and rosy life to our family, is more important than showing some collective courage and efforts to stopping these criminal acts by the Company?This applies to all Medco Pharmacists as well.
Obviously Walgreens pharmacists do not have confidence in their own colleagues to verify their own family scripts. If the recipient is a child whose family we do not know, and we dispense a wrong Medication leading to a fatal error, can we all live with our conscience for the rest of our lives? Are we not living in a humane society in this 21st century and not in the Wild lawless West?
Raj Bhat
I would like to make a correction to the 1st sentence of the 2nd para of my August 2nd 11am comment. That sentence be read as
“All the same, I am shocked to know FROM him/her that highly reputed brand like Walgreens has chosen to follow Medco’s path forcing Pharmacists to process unsafe targets per hour.” I regret the typing error.
I once again urge Walgreensrph to clarify those check rate figures at his Pharmacy.If a pharmacist is given less than 25 seconds per script at any pharmacy(to check script entered by a tech)it is only inevitable that medication errors would happen left, right & center. These 25 seconds do not discriminate between fatal errors and non fatal errors.I am continuing this fight on behalf of all those innocent patients who trust pharmacists and the system to have taken every right measure to do the right thing in their interest. Visit my blog “ihungerstrike.blogspot.com” for more info.
Raj Bhat
An innocent patient looking at the pills may not know whether he/she is getting the right or wrong medication.For the same reason,when the error turns out to be fatal, the patient may not know that the fatality was caused by the wrong medication and may not even report the error.Do we have to wait till a family member or a child of a celebrity or one of our own die attributed to a fatal error, for a criminal public investigation of these wrongful Pharmacy Practices?
It is high time we hold not only Companies like Medco accountable, but also the Regulators who do not do their jobs for which they are hired. I have been fighting since July 5th to bring this issue to the attention of public.I believe Public has a right to know and we as pharmacists have an obligation to provide public the facts.I urge Medco and other pharmacists to join the debate on my blog at “ihungerstrike.blogspot.com” and get involved.
Josh
You know if the rror is fatal….I doubt the patient is going to care….they are dead.
DoucheMagoosh
If we werent such money whores you could walk out and get a pharmacy job you enjoy. Every pharmacist position in America pays well enough to support a family. There are a lot of people doing it on half of what we make, with both parents working.
On a side note, man up Raj. Your not in retail or hospital. Your at a desk with a cup of coffee and no interruptions. How hard is it to make sure this looks like that? You don’t even have to fix any errors, you just send it back. Obviously there are a lot of pharmacists doing this without killing pt’s or losing their license. Way to be in the bottom 10% buddy.
Annmarie
“Douche Magoosh” you are a real Dou… Bag!Obviously you are not a Pharmacist if you don’t have a problem with this issue.Raj Bhat clearly took a stance.If he simply went to work elsewhere the public would not be informed about this issue. So I applaud Raj Bhat for bringing it to my attention. I hope that other Pharmacists would BOYCOTT MEDCO so they would cease to function until they established more humane guidelines.
NARAYAN RAO
I am not a pharmacist , nor a resident of the US. Raj is my brother-in-law.
Having given that disclaimer , I am surprised by the lack of support from fellow professionals , who are part of the system , and knowing that what Raj is fighting for is morally correct , are keeping quiet.
I would like to suggest that Medco moderates its quota system so that instead of 55 or even 155 prescriptions per hour is changed to whatever is the corresponding number per week.
This way , even an inefficient pharmacist can still be within the quota by working longer hours ( without being paid overtime , of course ) , so that he / she can have a clear conscience , and still satisfy their employer.
Frustrated RPH
Dear Raj Bhat I commend you for everything that you are trying to do. In response to your comment on regulators not doing their jobs I would like to say that unfortunately everything is about money.
Those regulators (Ex. Board of Pharmacy auditors/pharmacists) have been forced to take 3 Furlow Fridays/month off (at least in CA, I don’t know about any other state) because their budgets are low (which means they must be so angry and bitter about the whole thing).
So instead of enforcing the law where they should they barge into pharmacies and give numerous citations which = money for the Board of Pharmacy (since the board is so desperately in need of money). They don’t care who they cite and for what. All they care about is the citation and money.
“Cozy relationships” and money is what it comes down to. I wish they had taught us that in pharmacy school (maybe some of us would not have continued). It is a shame.
Seen It All
Americans want to have their cake and eat it too …….
Many are forced to use mail order by their employer’s insurance …..
Some choose to because of lower co-pays ….
Having your cake and eating it too isn’t going to work in the long term …..
As for chain drug stores, they are all understaffed or prescription mills now …..
This all began when pharmacists let insurance companies begin telling them what they were going to pay for the drugs …… they should or taken a hike then but most are petty whores who were willing to cut their neighboring pharmacist’s throat by filling a prescription for a dollar less before chains and insurance companies took over.
As for the have-your-cake and eat-it-too syndrome, see the letters written by “gromto” ……
http://www.grist.org/article/food-do-you-have-the-balls-to-really-change-the-food-system/#comments
Seen It All
Back Again,
I just had to comment on this one more time.
To begin with, we do not live in a democracy or a republic ……. this is a plutocracy.
In most states, the members of the Board of Pharmacy, are chosen by the governor ….. they are political positions …… they are not staffed by pharmacists …… they are staffed minions of the governor who do what he tells them to do.
And what sort of people do you think are chosen for these positions ?
Two … a few states still elect their board members from among practicing pharmacists in the state by democratic vote of all practicing pharmacists.
They may have the moral principles to pass regulations to try and protect the public and pharmacists, but the laws are de facto very rarely enforced.
The Boards have limited resources and the Chains and Mail Order outfits can tie them up in court for years …… effectively neutralizing well-intentioned regulations.
For example, in 1985, pharmaceutical companies knew that the HIV virus was “out there” and blood borne.
There was no attempt to screen for the virus.
Blood was being bought “on the street” in large cities ……. where everyone knew that large numbers of the donors would be addicts, etc.
As a result of the amount of blood required to provide sufficient quantity of clotting factor for a “major bleed” for a hemophiliac (which could happen several times a month), each time they had a bleeding episode, they would be exposed to a thousand donors.
You will not find any hemophiliacs above the age of 60 …… they all died back then from AIDS.
The younger generation has had access to a recombinant product.
French and Japanese companies were also involved in the irresponsible provision of contaminated blood products.
French company officials went to jail.
Japanese officials “fell on the sword” ……
resigning in disgrace.
The USA ???
With their unlimited teams of lawyers, they tied the plaintiffs up for years ……. most died while waiting for the conclusion of the trial and families ultimately received, in the final legal settlement, less money than the drugs to treat them while they waited to die cost.
No person in any USA company was punished.
The legal system in this country, in its bias towards the corporations and the rich do as the Pharisees which Jesus admonished.
“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
This is not a civil society ….. it is full of conflict, religious and racial divide and its materialism and greed make right and wrong ….. ethics, of no effect.
As the Old Testament prophet said “Every man taketh a bribe.”
Raj Bhat
During the past year, I did not have any opportunity to apprise Mr. Narayan Rao about the details of Medco working conditions, and the US labor laws. Here in US, an employer can not make his employee work overtime without paying overtime compensation. The issue here is not one of accommodating inefficient Pharmacists to fit in the quota system working long hours, and thereby satisfying Medco. The issue here is to stop the practice of unreasonable and unsafe production demands as imposed by the quota system which DOES NOT ALLOW ENOUGH TIME FOR ANY EFFICIENT and CONSCIENTIOUS PHARMACIST TO COMPLETELY and ACCURATELY CHECK prescriptions following Medco’s own Standard Operation Procedure(SOP).
I appreciate the perspective SEEN IT ALL has brought into this debate, in relation to how Regulators here in US work at the pleasure of Politicians and why they do not do their jobs for which they are hired. The contrast he has provided in relation to how it is better and different in other developing countries is very enlightening.
Raj Bhat
It is very unfortunate that there are some pharmacists who volunteer to participate in quota system and some others who do so for fear of retaliation and losing their jobs (knowing clearly well that they jeopardize patient health and safety). I am not sure if Mr.Douche Magoosh is a Pharmacist. I would suggest to him and others as well to visit my blog site “ihungerstrike.blogspot.com,.. go to Top News Stories… select Hurried Pharmacist goes to jail… and see the CNN video of the pharmacist, Mr. Eric Cropp from his prison cell. He was held criminally liable for death of child Emily attributed to a Medication Error, caused by unreasonable workload & working conditions. Emily died because of Sodium Chloride overdose. Mr. Cropp lost his Pharmacist License (and not his Employer). If a similar error were to happen at Medco, a Medco Pharmacist CAN NOT PUT UP A CRIMINAL DEFENSE that the working conditions of a quota system and interference in Pharmacist’s Professional Judgment did not provide him/her enough time to check the script completely & accurately and hence he/she committed the Error.
Raj Bhat
I would also urge the readers of this blog to visit my blog “ihungerstrike.blogspot.com”… Go to “Bhat Vs Medco Media coverage…click 8-9-2010 Attorney Distasio Blogs about Quota System…You can read info pertaining to all Pharmacists’ criminal and Civil liability cases.You can also read the following topics on my blog.1. Justice Delayed is Justice Denied 2. My Final Message 3. WHAT YOU CAN DO.
Pharmacists are at a crucial point in relation to challenges faced by us to practice Pharmacy safely in the interest of innocent patients. On my blog I have provided lot of info and facts in relation to these challenges. You can make a difference by participating in a debate like this by posting comments on my blog as well, enlighten all the readers and thereby bring the truth to the attention of Public at large. Today is the 94th day of my hunger strike. I will be fighting this issue till these unsafe Medco practices are stopped and we recapture some sanity towards the right direction of safe practice of our Profession. I will be doing so till my last breath.
Troll
And why does this matter? Pharmacists will be replaced by robotics soon enough.
Raj Bhat
I appreciate the opportunity TROLL has provided me to throw light on the actual facts in relation to ROLE OF ROBOTICS and ROLE OF PHARMACISTS in this Modern Technology.
It is an established fact that majority of prescriptions processed at Medco are handwritten by the Doctors which necessitates significant requirement of having to clarify MD intent if prescriptions are scribbled by the doctor or are not clear. This can be done only by a HUMAN by exercising his/her professional judgment and not by a ROBOT. Irrespective of the type of script (handwritten or Electronic), the fact remains that every prescription requires to be read and entered manually by a HUMAN technician or a HUMAN Pharmacist at the front end pharmacy and final checked by a HUMAN pharmacist for accuracy.THE NEW ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT and WILL NOT CHANGE THAT, primarily because robots can not decipher, interpret read exercise professional judgment in relation to entering and checking prescription info.
Raj Bhat
This is a continuation of my previous comment. Medco is currently using the ROBOTIC Technology. Here is an explanation of what robots do.After the HUMAN Technicians and Pharmacists finish entering and checking prescriptions at the front end (as explained in my previous comment),the info is electronically transmitted to the back end Pharmacy where ROBOTS fill medications exactly as per the instructions of the Front end HUMAN Pharmacists.Why this is important?If a Pharmacist is allowed less than 25 seconds per prescription he/she can not completely and accurately check for errors. The unsafe pace at which Medco pharmacists are forced to work at Medco leads to more Medication errors, left right and center. Once these errors are committed at the front end by the HUMAN Pharmacists ROBOTS that fill actual medications at the back-end can not stop them.
Hence it is only appropriate to conclude here that Pharmacists can not be replaced by Robots in relation to functions associated with entering and checking prescription info.
Troll
On the contrary, as more rx’s are adjudicated electronically, the less important your position. The handwriting is on the wall. Laws can be changed.
Raj Bhat
Attention: Troll– I once again would like to emphasize here that electronic prescriptions also need to be entered and checked manually by Human Technicians and Pharmacists,(like handwritten ones)before they are filled by Robots. Just because Doctors send prescriptions electronically..it does not mean that they do not commit errors while selecting the drugs,the instructions and other prescription info while on their key pads.They make significant number of errors while transmitting prescriptions electronically.
Errors they commit also include similar ones Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacists do when they enter the data manually. Pharmacists play the role of checks and Balances and the last line of defense with their Medication expertize and training. Do you want to eliminate the role of the Pharmacists altogether and put the responsibility totally on Doctors for medication errors? Robots can not be held accountable for Doctors committing Medication errors.Then who is going to take the blame? Pharmacy owner or CEO of a robotic pharmacy? You can not have it both ways.
Raj Bhat
Attn:TROLL
As for changing Laws, and lessening the Importance of a Pharmacists’ position,with adjudicated electronic prescriptions,….Is American Medical association prepared to impose the responsibility of dispensed prescriptions on the shoulders of the Doctors, and the consequent liability and accountability for quality of care & Medication errors? Are the Doctors prepared to undergo additional qualifications and training to play the dual role of being both pharmacists/Medication experts and Doctors at the same time? Are they prepared to take on that extra responsibility? If the answers to these questions are “yes” and if the Pharmacists are viewed as impediments and not facilitators to safeguard patient safety,then Legislators should go ahead and make Laws accordingly and completely eliminate Pharmacy Education.At least the Pharmacists will be set free from the moral dilemma imposed by the Code of Ethics.
md pharm
troll… realy, do u work in pharmacy, u must not
if u did u would know that most e rxs must be rewritten because softwares dont always jive. we call on as many e rxs for clarification as we do for written ones. ur not a troll ur a tool