Chain or Independent? Why I Made The Switch.

For so many years, I used the nearest chain retail pharmacy for our son’s medications…..until I didn’t.

There are so many GREAT reasons to use a chain pharmacy for your child with medical complexities.

1. THERE IS USUALLY A DRIVE THRU. This is a MUST if you have to take your child with you to pick up prescriptions. Obviously, that is because getting out of the car is a production (at the least). If you add a “bad day” to that, that can be just enough to put you over the edge.
2. THEY HAVE LONG HOURS. Longer hours are extremely convenient, especially when you need an emergency prescription after an ER visit. Many retail pharmacy chains are even open 24 hours, which is a HUGE bonus.
3. YOU CAN TRANSFER PRESCRIPTIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL. It happens to all of us. In the chaos of trying to pack everything you need to take a trip, you forget to refill a prescription. Mind you, this is one of about 15 prescriptions that your are keeping track of. If you are a family that travels quite a bit, the convenience of being able to transfer your prescription or refill your prescription while you’re away from home can truly be a lifesaver.
4. THEY HAVE MANY MEDICATIONS IN STOCK. Most often, retail chain pharmacies carry many medications and have more shipments coming in routinely. That equates to less wait for a new medication and more convenience.
5. YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF OTHER ERRANDS WHILE YOU’RE THERE – Who doesn’t pick up toothpaste or a birthday card while you’re picking up the meds???

With all these perks, why did I leave for the small, independent pharmacy?

FIRST, I was in a position to go to the pharmacy without our son. I did this while he was with the nurse and/or at school. That was honestly the biggest factor that ALLOWED my switch. If I didn’t have reliable care for him, I would not have been able to make the switch.

What else happened?

When you’re a frequent user of the pharmacy, you make NUMEROUS phone calls to the pharmacy to check whether a medication is in stock, ask whether the insurance will cover it, determine whether a prior authorization is needed, and inquire why the app is not letting you refill it yet even though you only have 3 days worth of medication left. These calls are not specific to the chain pharmacy, but the chain pharmacy requires you to go through the automated menu, which can become a nuisance if you’re doing this on an almost-daily basis.

But CERTAINLY, this is not the ONLY reason I switched.

When your child takes so many medications, it is inevitable for problems to arise regarding the brand, glitches in the automatic refills, and insurance authorization issues. What I realized, and what you probably already know, is that the conveniences of pharmacy chains comes with automated processes, high volume, and an element of lack of human attention. I often found that messages about insurance authorizations and intricacies of rare drug prescriptions were becoming lost in the shuffle. That resulted in my repeating the same story over and over again to get the job done and many wasted hours – hours that I just did not have to waste. It became frustrating enough that I decided to try something new.

One day, I decided I had enough and transferred our son’s prescriptions to a local independent pharmacy. It turned out this was a place where I could talk through insurance issues with the pharmacy staff and troubleshoot insurance medication authorizations without messages being lost in a game of telephone. Interacting the pharmacy was no longer a hassle, it was actually a pleasure. I think a part of that came from my comfort in the staff knowing me when I called or went in, and perhaps I felt their empathy about my having a medically-complex child at home.

It may sound as if I’m glorifying this experience, but the amount of stress alleviated was REAL. There is something to be said about the “local pharmacist”, and that something is that “it was a win for me”.

NOTE: This post is not to devalue the role of chain pharmacies, but to encourage others to explore other options when things aren’t working.