This is fantastic news for those of you with a prescription to transfer. Walgreens has a new prescription transfer coupon available!
Get a $25 Walgreens Gift Card with any transferred prescription, good through April 29, 2009.
Check the site for a list of restrictions regarding valid items and state laws.
PharmTard - the sequel
COUPONS, COMMIES AND HEART MEDS, OH MY!
IT’S A COUPON DEAR, GET OVER IT! A COUPON. A C-O-U-P-O-N. YOU WORK AT THE PHARMACY – DON’T THEY HAVE SOMETHING YOU CAN TAKE? I’M A BIT SCARED YOU’RE ALREADY DIPPING INTO YOUR WORK. MAYBE A VISIT TO YOUR LOCAL PHYSICIAN WILL FIX YOU UP. I KNOW WHERE YOU CAN GET A COUPON. LOL WHAT A WEIRDO.
I’M OFF TO “LOOK IN THE MIRROR FOR ANSWER” CIAO
Tracy
LOL You guys crack me up. RACH – did you ever find your coupons? I have a bunch but don’t tell PharmTard. She might put me on the list and then I’d have to name names. If you still need em let me know. Ebay has a bunch too. Good Luck
mona
intern,
SHUT THE HELL UP! ring me up and give me my 25 bucks. pharmtard/dan(or whatever the schizo wants to call himself) got it right-WEIRDO! you work for these companies so you do what they tell you to do. you prolly think your job is worthless so you pull arguments like this.
camilla
I agree with Mona and Dan. Shut up – shut up – shut up! Shouldn’t you be at some communistic pharmacy convention or something? lol Leave us little coupon hunters alone. We don’t like your kind around here.
tracy
What a hypocrite, PharmIntern says she used to get $25 for every two people she could get to transfer prescriptions. Guess it’s okay when she gets paid.
bette
I don’t think she knows what she gets paid. Scary that this is the person that counts out your pills huh? I’m more afraid of that now, than changing pharmacys! Ew and please… close your tunic.
PharmIntern
uh….1..2..7..10……30
Dur, I have no life and want to deprieve customers of valid coupons. O and like to dress like mother theresa
To: PharmInternal Disorder
Hypocrite! It’s okay for you to encourage folks to change their pharmacy when YOU receive the GC and then you criticize those of us for using coupons? TSK TSK TSK ! I did read through your posts and they sure didn’t start off with you caring about the customer! You flipped THAT around when you were called on the carpet for not treating people with respect! You are a rude and hateful person. I feel so sorry for your co-workers and customers.
NurseH
Not that I am all into these blogs.. or posts.. im not very good on computers, other than my pixis at work… but I had to do this for an continue ed course and the effects of polypharmacy.. I think what the intern is trying to get across is this, it’s not a wise decision to go to pharmacy to pharmacy, becuase when you end up going to the ICU or ER and need a list of medications to give to the on call doctor and you use many pharmacys they cannot correctly ID all the drugs you are on, and let me tell you giving heprin to someone that already takes a thinner, is deadly, it’s just not a good idea, and I think he is just trying to say it’s not a wise decision to do that. Thats being a good intern and just stating the facts that every medical book will tell you. ( Lewis or Potter and Perry and two great books if you are wanting to look this up) The whole coupon deal, I mean this is just a “post” to say yes you can get a transfer coupon to use at a pharmacy… great grand wondeful.. I personally don’t have the time or energy to go from place to place, its great to get a free giftcard here and there, but I mean I don’t personally care to go here and there, I work.. A LOT but Kmart did send out a thing in the mail and my husband got it, and it said if you switch they would give you a 20 or 25$ gift card something like that, thats the only thing I know about the gift card, we didn’t do it, I really don’t care if I get a gift card… but honestly are you all grown adults?? I just think its really rude to make fun of people’s wages, or anything like that, we all started somewhere and I just do have to say one thing, to be an intern is tough I was there once as a nurse student, and I made squat… but once that is over the pay is not so bad, and some people believe it or not like what they do regardless of the pay, nurses do not make very much and I like it becuase I like to take care of people, I just don’t think it’s appropriate to make fun of wages people are lucky to have a job these days… and as far as the coupon goes, possibly check the mail I know thats where I get them all the time. I hope you all just relax, take a deep breath, and thank you for giving me material to write about for my AEU class.
IowaNurse
T
I think everyone above is missing the real arguement. It’s not the coupon users, it’s the coupon producers that are the problem. To all of you who use the coupons…..it’s not you that those of us in the profession hate. If there’s a coupon, why wouldn’t you use it? Our big problem is with the corporations who present these coupons to the public. The biggest problem with pharmacy was caused by pharmacy itself. The traditional “corner pharmacy” started out as a “soda shop,” so to speak. From then on it has just become increasingly more far removed from what it actually is…a health profession. That’s right, a profession. Pharmacists are doctors. They are doctors of pharmacy. They are the experts on medication and to be simply viewed by all of you people above as just a person who sticks your pills in a bottle is incredibly insulting, but it’s really not your fault. It’s the image you’ve been given by corporations, and it needs to change.
What I would like to see is a general movement to educate the public on the value of a pharmacist. For example, I’m sure that none of you in this trail of insults is aware of the fact that there are pharmacists who work in hospitals that see patients on a daily basis, and based on their reviews of patients actually recommend therapy courses for the physicians to carry out. When it comes to medicine, pharmacists know more than physicians. That is simply a fact, even a physician will attest to. When it comes to diagnostics, physicians know more than pharmacists. Each of us in the medical profession has his/her own specialty and we work together for the common goal of providing patients with quality health care. No one is anyone’s “slave.”
Now for the retail setting: Let’s take an antibiotic for example. A pharmacist will check a patient profile to see that the patient is not on any other medications that could interact with the antibiotic, he/she will check the prescribed dose against the recommended dose based upon the diagnosis (including dosage by weight for children). The pharmacist will check the final prescription to make sure your insurance was billed correctly and that the technician entered in all of the directions correctly. Finally, this pharmacist will tell you everything you need to know about your medication, including how to use it, what to expect while you’re taking it, and what you should avoid while taking it. Counseling is another thing the general public does not always see the value in. It is very frustrating to have eyes rolled at me when I tell a patient they need pharmacist counseling on a medication they have never taken before. Most people think of antibiotics as no big deal. When in fact, any drug is a big deal. It is a chemical substance your body does not want inside of it and not used properly, ANY medication has the potential to be extremely disruptive to your body, if not fatal. Did you know that there exists an antibiotic that is so sensitive to alcohol that you can end up on the floor puking your guts out if you use mouthwash while you’re taking it? I would not consider this common knowledge for most people, and this is just one of the few warnings you may miss out on if you skip pharmacist counseling.
Pharmacists are an incredible wealth of information and knowledge and it is simply a shame that the general public does not know about it. There is nothing wrong with wanting to save money, but these coupons are truly not a safe thing. Pharmacy-hopping tremendously increases the possibility of adverse drug events, whether you believe it or not. It does. I once encountered a woman who stopped taking her blood pressure medication for a week because she figured there’d be a coupon coming out soon and she could get a gift card when she transferred it. While this comes down to personal responsibility, and not everyone would make that same mistake, the fact of the matter is these coupons should not be allowed. They are not safe, they cheapen and insult the value and knowledge of pharamcists, they turn health care into a game of “lets make a deal” and that’s simply not the way it should be.
Pharmacy as a profession is making a call to stop the production of these coupons.
Bonnie
T,
I understand your argument and I appreciate that it was intelligently written and respectfully given. You are a rarity among pharmacists today unfortunately. I cannot tell you of one instance where my “pharmacist” tried to give me any advice, counseling, etc. about any medication that I was to take or that I was to give to my children. Not at one of my many pharmacies that I have chosen to use, maybe for convenience or for a coupon, I have tried quite a few. You know what I get. Sign that saying you’ve waived your right to counsel and that you have no questions. I am not asked if I have any questions or concerns, nor am I offered any counsel, instead I am just told to sign and pay. Over and over. So it may well be the fault of the corporations for putting out the coupons, but for us to use them is pretty smart on our part, because as far as I am concerned there aren’t too many pharmacists out there any more who give a hoot about counseling their patients. Again, I will reiterate, I don’t think that you are one of those who don’t care about your patients, T, you were very smart with your comment. Unfortunately, more of the pharmacists that I come in contact with are far more like the rude intern.
PhrmIntern
Bonnie,
This is completely aside from coupons.
There are a few reasons that I see in the stores I have worked for why the pharmacist does not counsel much.
1. The corporations care more about volume of prescriptions. That’s where THEY make money. Even though part of the prescription fee is for the pharmacist’s counseling. So the pharmacist is swamp with so much work and the corp. keep adding to the pharmacists duties.
2. The tech should have asked if you wanted counseling. I think almost all states require at least the question. Some states require that all new prescriptions are to be counseled. So only some states mandate that a pharmacist counsel patients on new prescriptions.
3. Like T said, the public views the pharmacist as the pour, lick, stick person and the doctor is viewed as the all powerful god of health. I know that view is slowly disintegrating bc of the information that is open to the public now. So many patients are not receptive to counseling from teh pharmacist, bc they think they know what to do. Also, I’m sure its partly beause the patient is a little scared and turned off of talking to another random person if they do not know the pharmacist well enough. Others do not even care. Someone came in for a refill and I asked which one they wanted refilled. They told me they did not know the name. I asked her what was it for and they told me, “I don’t know. I just take what the doctor tells me to do.” I cringed at that thought. The patient needs to be a part of his/her own care. So from experience, I have seen a pharmacist or two get discouraged from patient’s lack of interest in getting counseled.
I’m pretty sure pharmacists would LOVE to counsel all day. Would you want to stay behind a counter and keep looking at prescriptions and pills all day? Whenever a patient comes up for consultation, many of the pharmacists I have worked with jump up and get new energy.
I’m sorry if I came off rude. The coupon issue is both the corporation’s fault and the public’s. The corporation worries more about money and they feel the coupons would cause the normal everyday person to see what their store is like and hopeful stay. Most patients that use the coupon stay around, but there are a few that do hop around. Now that you have seen multiple people warn you about the dangers of polypharmacy/pharmacy hopping do you see where I’m coming from in my view thats its irresponsibility. People do have the ability to say, “No, I am going to do the better thing for the health care system and myself/family and not go pharmacy hopping.” I have NEVER denied a coupon for a patient. I received a giftcard myself if I got 2 friends/family to transfer over to my pharmacy. That’s the only reward I have received. The only reason I would deny a giftcard coupon is because it’s unlawful for Medicaid or Medicare patients to receive the offer. And I do not hold it against the patients. I even told a young woman who came with 3 coupons bc for some reason my pharmacy decided to mail 3 coupons together. And I explained and made the corporations look bad. I did not scold the patient.
Ok, it became a ramble, but don’t let your “perceived” view of me give pharmacy a bad image. And give your pharmacist some respect. Let’s hope no one goes off the wall and come up with more immature comments about me….
T
Bonnie,
PharmIntern is right. Most pharmaicsts do want to counsel their patients. The act of checking prescription after prescription gets extremely tiresome after a while and they enjoy the interaction with people. I work in a state where any prescription marked “new” must be offered counseling BY THE PHARMACIST, not the technician. What we must do is ask the patient to step to the consultation window before we give them their prescription, and have them wait for the pharmacist. I cannot tell you how many people have yelled at me, rolled their eyes, and even told the pharmacist “I’ve taken this before and you’re wasting MY time.” It’s so discouraging when we try to do what is best for the patient and it is not well-received at all. People can’t take 3 minutes out of their day to wait for something; it’s disgusting.
I have recently moved out of state, and since then I have had a few new prescriptions. I am not a pharmacist, I am also an intern, and I have not ever been offered counseling, even when I was given antibiotics. I was extremely surprised and I asked for counseling, which the pharmacist was very willing to give.
Humanities Scholar
I came across this thread while searching for the kind of coupon in question, and I am really glad that both T & the intern were as tenacious/outspoken as they’ve been. In this struggle to cast blame within what I think we can all agree is a terribly flawwed system, I want to stress the existence of someone who, like myself, is willing to go as far out of her way to research meds before she takes them (or gets a script filled) as she does to find a deal; that is, someone who is sensible to the risks it presents. Unfortunately an element of the worst case scenario/common complaint/LCD is going to exist despite whatever changes you make to a given business model… There are problems that cannot be anticipated. I don’t say that to encourage people to accept things as they are but to prompt regard for the ballance that’s often struck. It isn’t unwise to jockey for $25 giftcards as a function of your regular expenses, particularly with respect to the fact people often simply transfer scripts for meds they’re already taking…
But again, that ballance is disrupted when you introduce a new one.
(Hopefully most people know to do some research & ask informed questions at some point.) Even if you remove the pharmasists from the business environment, you still have the drug reps who approach physicians with incentives to write specific scripts; and, yes, people who inherently trust their health-care providers’ expertise. Anyway, I’m glad these people devoted their time to this. Unlike most threads I stumble across, this one ends up being quite informative.
Grace
If i have a new prescription for my daughter and have submitted it to walgreens but have not collected it yet. What can i do in order to get the $25 gift card? Was thinking of taking prescription back from Walgreens n send it to Walmart since i have a store credit from Walmart.
Grace
Hi there, i have a new prescription for my daughter which i just sent in to Walgreens but have not gotten the medication from them yet. How do i go about to get the $25 gift card? I was thinking of getting back my prescription from Walgreens and bring it into Walmart since i just remember i have a store credit with Walmart.
Tara Kuczykowski
Grace, if it’s a new prescription, they likely won’t honor this coupon as it’s supposed to only be used on transferred prescriptions. It wouldn’t hurt to call and ask though.
Grace
Hi Tara, where can i get this coupon? I called and asked and it seems like the prescription is going cost around $100 so it will be good if i could get a $25 discount on it. If i transfer it to Walmart or anywhere else, would i get a discount card on it? Cos i do not have insurance and have to self pay.
Tara Kuczykowski
Grace, it looks like this particular coupon is gone, but there is one available for Rite Aid right now. Sorry!
Grace
Hi Tara, thanks for answering my question, however there are no Rite Aid in my area. Nevertheless, it was nice of you to help.
tracy
Grace, there are new coupons available THIS WEEK in Walgreen’s Instore Flyer. You’ll find it on the back side of the wrap-around. The new coupons are for new or transferred prescriptions. Grab a few. I think they are good until 5/26. Happy Coupon Hunting! Tracy
Grace
Hi Tracy, I have this week’s Walgreen Flyer but they do not have the wrap-around with the coupon u said. Perhaps its bcos of the area i staying? I am in Missouri. Mabbe i will try their website n see later. Thanks for the info thou.