Hi everyone,
In the news report by NBC Connecticut, a cancer treatment medication that cost over $9,000 was sent to the wrong address. Then, the same patient's medications were shipped improperly and left on a door step in extreme cold in nothing but a plastic bag. This resulted in a 6 day delay of her cancer treatment (Stoecker, 2014).
When she reached out to ask if her medication was safe to take:
o The caring knowledgeable doctor told the patient it was unsafe to take.
o The manufacturer of the cancer medication told her to discard the medication as it was unsafe to take.
o The pharmacy that shipped her medications improperly told her to TAKE THE MEDICATION.
The patient took the manufacturer's and physicians advice and did not take the medications that were poorly handled (Stoecker, 2014).
From what I have been told by different mail order pharmacies, this is how most mail order pharmacies ship room temperature medications year round, in plastic bags. ALL medications have temperature storage guidelines and this type of packaging will do nothing to protect a medication from extreme heat and freezing. Most medications say store at room temperature between 59-86 degrees. A non-temperature-controlled delivery truck such as UPS, Fed Ex, and USPS reaches extremely cold temperatures and extremely hot temperatures of up to 170 degrees in the summer.
This article proves how mail order delivery doesn't save money and is not always about what is best for the patient. Only allowing us coverage of our medications if they are shipped so carelessly that they should be thrown away is making our pharmaceutical insurance worthless. Employer sponsored coverage at one time was often the best coverage a patient could receive. From my experience, this is no longer true.
The delivery service employee is not a pharmacist and will not treat our medications like a pharmacist. We have to demand coverage of our independent and community pharmacist. Delayed medications can be a patients life. The additional stress that some patients experience due to mail order will only worsen the chronic condition.
When this patient tossed $9000 in medications, who pays for this? We do. Not the insurance company. We end up ultimately paying for the waste through higher premiums or higher taxes when it comes to taxpayer programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Thank you for your support!
Stoecker, Jeff. “Prescriptions Delivered to the Wrong Address.” NBC Connecticut, NBC Connecticut, 5 Feb. 2014, www.nbcconnecticut.com/investigations/Prescriptions-Delivered-to-the-Wrong-Address-243618931.html