Who is treating the patient these days? Is it a doctor, pharmacist or the insurance company?
I am post-surgery for right cataract extraction and intraocular lens transplant. I was given a prescription for certain eye drops. The physician wrote a prescription for eyedrops to put in my eye four times a day for 30 days. And the prescription I got is for 5 milliliters and the prescription says that it is for 30 days with no refill. Actually, the dispensed quantity is only for 25 days (as 1 ml equals 20 drops). I called the pharmacy and I asked about this discrepancy. I was told that it only comes in 5 milliliters and they cannot dispense more than that because the insurance company would not allow it.
My question is how can a patient get another five days of medication? Surprisingly, the pharmacist did not have any answer to it.
This is a very common issue and needs to be addressed. Millions of patients are suffering because they are not getting enough medications and nobody's taking the responsibility for this major issue. Most of the patients don't even know what's going on. My issue is that pharmacy should at least tell the patient why they are filling the prescription with less quantity so that patient may deal with insurance company or ask the physician to write in a different way. Also, why is pharmacist indicating that something is for 30 days when he or she is dispensing it for 25 days?
In this type of situation, a pharmacist should be held responsible. Is this ever going to happen? I seriously doubt it. I believe that this is a bigger issue than the price hike of medications because in the case of higher charges, at least the patient is not being given the wrong information.
Dr. Mahendra S. Khera, Sykesville