Just the thought of it makes me want to gouge my eyes out! Seriously, what a pain.
I probably make 10 – 20 phone calls just to get something ordered! First you call insurance to find out what is covered, then call the doctor to get the prescription, then call the pharmacy to order it, then usually have to call the doctor back, then the pharmacy to check on the order….which they most likely haven’t done anything with yet, or they need something else from the doctor, so it’s back on the phone with the doctor. Now, I don’t know about you, but my doctor is rarely in the office. The receptionist always gets all the information (although I rarely feel that she is really listening to what I am saying and relaying the full message) and sends a note back to the doctor. The doctor usually calls back in 1 – 3 days, and has several more questions (that I had given to the receptionist but they must have gotten lost in translation) that I answer and then a day or 2, or 4, later, she sends the information to the pharmacy. THEN, they start processing it. I use a mail order pharmacy so I can get a 90 day supply, which is worth it, but it seems that they have a much more complicated process than the local pharmacies.
It is a very long, grueling process—-and thats when everything goes smoothly. If and when there are hiccups, or problems with insurance, well, you can imagine the insane amount of time spent and phone calls made then!
It has taken me over a month to get an order before. Anyway, I just placed an order. I had to call the mail order pharmacy first, to let them know that I had a new doctor and that the quantity of one of my expired refills had changed. I just needed them to know, so they didn’t automatically fill the last prescription quantity. I then called my doctor (well, left my message with the receptionist) to let them know that the pharmacy would be faxing over the refill order, and that I needed more of the test strips. She is sending a note back to the doctor’s nurse, who I will probably get a phone call from tomorrow because something was not relayed correctly in the message!
Hopefully, all will go smoothly and I will have my prescriptions, in the right amounts, charged to my insurance correctly, here within a week!
