I stopped to pick up a prescription for my son this morning. I had called to fill it three days ago, but the pharmacy tech who answered the phone informed me that I wasn’t permitted to pick it up until today due to state law.
When I got to the pharmacy after dropping the kids at the bus and on my way back to work, the prescription wasn’t ready. The pharmacist assured me, it probably just hand’t been filled yet. He looked it up on his computer and then told me, “Oh, that’s been backordered for weeks and we don’t know when we’ll get it back in. We actually can’t fill it”.
Why on earth would the person I talked to three days ago tell me to come back today if they haven’t had the product in stock for weeks? I asked. The pharmacist explained that the techs are not allowed to see the stock of certain drugs, so the person I talked to would have had no way of knowing whether it was in stock or not. Hmmm … then why would she tell me to come in to pick it up today?
The pharmacists was nothing if not helpful, which is a huge credit to him because I was not exactly delighted about the situation. He offered that he could fill it with a different strength, two pills that add up to the required dosage, but it would require a new prescription. He even offered to call the doctor’s office while I waited. Not bad. I stepped back to check my messages.
The pharmacist returned to the counter shortly to tell me he had to leave a message for the doctor’s office. So I was going to need to leave empty handed. Begrudgingly, I got in my car and drove home.
A few hours later an unknown number popped up on my phone. Hesitatingly, I answered it. Because you never know what sort of scam you might be answering, but I didn’t want to miss a call from the doctor. Thankfully, it was the doctor’s nurse.
Get this. This major, multi-location, highly regarded hospital’s IT system was hacked two weeks ago. For 14 days now they and their patients have been unable to access most of their digital tools. In our case, this meant they couldn’t send a new prescription to the pharmacy because it has to be an “e-script”, which is currently out of commission. The state requires the e-script format theoretically to reduce fraud. So they can’t send an old fashioned fax, or even send the prescription to one of their own pharmacies through a different system.
Our only option was a paper script, which I would have to drive 1.5 hours to pick up (3 hours rountrip), or that they could drop in the mail. Of course, thanks to the ongoing cuts at the post office, my city no longer has a mail sorter, so that script would be routed to a nearby larger city, which can take as long as a week to arrive at my house.
This type of script can’t be transferred to another pharmacy, also due to state regulations.
In the end, the pharmacy was able to work things out verbally with the doctor, but not after literally hours of back and forth and hassle. I’m grateful that I don’t need to rearrange my work schedule to spend three hours on the road for a simple piece of paper, but still.
If you’re keeping track, this is the number of delays or impediments that occurred during this seemingly simple transaction:
- State law required a delay of three days to place the refill order.
- The script was not filled as promised, and I was not contacted.
- I drove to the pharmacy.
- The drug was not in stock, has been backordered for weeks, and has no ETA.
- The pharmacist called the doctor and had to leave a message.
- The nurse called me back to explain that she can’t send a new script.
- I called another pharmacy who informed me this type of script can’t be transferred.
- I called the pharmacist back who finally told me they could take a verbal modification from the doctor over the phone.
- I called the nurse’s line to leave another message (their phones also don’t work, so you can only leave a message).
- The nurse called the pharmacist back.
- The pharmacist called me.
- The pharmacist filled the script.
How did we get here? To this place where the basic operation of society is crumbling around us? Where there is so much red tape around our average, day-to-day tasks that it’s almost a full-time job just to keep our households running, our kids healthy, and our families functioning?
What we’re experiencing is the fallout from decades of business and government models that favor extraction of wealth over resiliency. We’ve removed all of the checks and balances in our systems, the safety nets, seat belts, and bicycle helmets. We’ve traded effectiveness for efficiency and what’s left is a world where you’re on your own and, not only that, the system is literally designed to make it harder for you to survive, let alone thrive.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve let it happen. We’ve become complacent. We let others do our thinking for us. We let them convince us that, if we just let them dismantle everything that made our lives and society work, they’d happily throw us a bone now and then. Surely they wouldn’t simply pocket the savings and then disappear? Right?
Apparently not. It seems like we should have learned our lesson by now. But better late than never, right?
We need to push back now on the systemic dismantling of our neighborhoods, communities, workplaces, and society as whole. That means becoming more active in the democratic process, through voting and attending our city council and school board meetings. It means being more vocal at work and in our communities, pointing out the decisions being made that are clearly not in our best interest. And it means building strong relationships with our neighbors and colleagues so that we can work together to apply healthy pressure where necessary and to support actions that are building us all up instead of tearing it all down.
It’s not going to be easy, but if we all do our part, we can make a difference. I know I’m up to the challenge. Are you?
