Skippack Pharmacy

"𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞-𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬." - CVS Pharmacy 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 Those words echoed in my head as one of our long-time patients came in & said they were upset but would like to transfer their scripts to the CVS up the street. The patient has been getting calls & letters from their insurance company encouraging them to switch. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘 & 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑐𝑦.  The patient persisted in ignoring the many attempts of steering for years but finally caved in. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲. In fact, I love it as it encourages us to work harder, push beyond barriers, and strive to be our best. BUT, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 & unfortunately, this is what has happened when one company is permitted to own a local pharmacy, a mail order pharmacy, a pharmacy benefit manager, and a medical insurance company. 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲. Steering removes patient choice. Steering creates pharmacy desserts. Steering can destroy our healthcare system. As we went to Harrisburg last week to advocate for our patients, one of the State Reps asked, "𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 & 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔?" Someone replied, "Yes, it's an issue affecting all of us minus one company. Walgreens is here, grocery store pharmacies are here, and independents are here. The missing seat at the table who isn't here is a pharmacy on an island of its own. They don't want transparency because they have things to hide. They don't want PBM reform because they own a PBM. They don't care about steering because they do it." To the regional manager who called & said we will not succeed in opening Skippack Pharmacy five years ago...we told you then & we tell you now, "𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒖𝒔." 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬. The fight for our patients & independence goes on. No matter where you are, please keep making noise! Friends, please let your legislators know that we need #PBMReformNow to #SaveCommunityPharmacies. We need our officials to vote YES to Senate Bill 1000 & House Bill 1993: https://lnkd.in/eYp5sxkJ FTC Chair Lina Khan's recent story: https://lnkd.in/em5R98TQ CVS friends, still love you, just can't stand bullying. cc: National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) | Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association | Federal Trade Commission #Pharmacy #PatientAccess #PBMReform #CommunityPharmacy