Antibiotics are crucial in treating infections, especially in urgent cases where prompt intervention can prevent hospitalizations and potential fatalities. However, forcing patients to rely solely on mail order services for obtaining antibiotics is considered unethical, immoral, and financially irresponsible.
Recently, a friend shared this post from Skippack's Pharmacy page.
"A patient walked in at 2:58 pm and came directly from the emergency room at the hospital.
We go to fill the antibiotic and get a rejection saying refill too soon, medication filled through mail order.
Alright, mail order, the patient will just wait a couple of days to get the medication they need to start today.
Scary thought, but imagine if the day comes, that mail order is the only option your insurance allows. Chains are closing down their stores in numbers (because it’s cheaper to operate from mail them an actual store), and pharmacy benefit managers/companies PBMs/PBCs are pushing patients more to use mail order. Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts are PBMs/PBCs.
Are you ok waiting a few days to start an urgent med?"
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I started this petition with the best of intentions and believed strongly in its purpose. If my child has an earache or my husband has an infection that needs urgent antibiotics, mail shouldn't be an option. Forcing patients to mail order for an urgently needed antibiotic should be illegal.
Upon starting the petition, I realized that we could stop Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts from forcing to their pharmacies, but what good will it be if our local pharmacies close? In addition to forcing to their own pharmacies, Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts also oversee the reimbursements of their competitors and are purposefully reimbursing their competitors below their costs of medications. That's not all. Optum RX, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts also perform audits on their competition.
Skippack Pharmacy isn't just any pharmacy. The owner, Dr. Mayank Amin, was featured across news headlines as "Superman" Pharmacist during the Covid Pandemic. During a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Meeting, a pharmacist, Dr. Benjamin Jolley, discussed that Dr. Amin's pharmacy would lose thousands of dollars for an audit by one of the three PBMs. Although "no discrepancies were found with his billing."
America's safe pharmacy and medication access are collapsing for the greed of these pharmacy benefit managers. The toll that these unethical practices are taking is far beyond the harm done to the patient. Our medical community, including physicians and pharmacists, also suffers as they cannot provide the care their patients need.
Community members must step forward to safeguard it. Only through the active involvement and dedication of caring Americans can we rescue this crucial aspect of healthcare. We must demand that our legislators and regulators hold pharmacy benefit managers/companies (PBMs/PBCs) accountable for jeopardizing patient lives.
Thank you,
Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate
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