Prescription for disaster: America's broken pharmacy system in revolt over burnout and errors

[Jilly_in_VA]

Emily Le Coz

Pharmacists with the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain felt dangerously burned out.

It was August 2020. The pandemic was in full swing, straining an already weary workforce hit by a decade of relentless budget cuts and rising demands.

One by one, the pharmacists dialed into a weekly conference call with their boss. He could have empathized with them or addressed the reality of their pressure-cooker environment – one that breeds medication errors and creates missed opportunities to prevent potentially deadly mistakes.

Instead, CVS District Leader Khalil Haidar turned up the heat. He harped on his Texas-and-Louisiana-based team to hit corporate quotas: Sell more store memberships. Push for more prescription pickups. Vaccinate more people. He threatened discipline and staff cuts unless pharmacists convinced at least five customers that week to get a flu shot before flu season had even officially started.

“If you get your goal, nobody will come after you," Haidar said on the call, one of several recorded and shared with USA TODAY. "And many patients, they are ignorant. They don’t know what the flu is ... How are you going to convince them? How can you persuade them? That’s your job as a pharmacist.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/10/26/pharmacy-chains-dangerous-conditions-medication-errors/71153960007/

I quit Walgreens because they closed in solidarity with other strikers and I couldn't get my meds when I needed them. But I had to go to Walmart because Part D *sigh*

[IbogaProject]

1. CVS is the one in the article excerpt

I kept w our local chain Duane Reade who were bought by Walgreens here in NYC, as I have a 24 hour pharmacy near me. I had been on CVS care(less)mark mail order but when I needed an emergency refill at a local CVS it was like I wanted heroin. What traps me w a national chain is NY went almost totally e-prescribe, my local Dr doesn't do any written prescriptions. I will forever hate that fake Democrat Andrew Cuomo for setting that up, optional and maybe required for controlled substances would be ok with me, but epipens, insulin and heart medicines should be dual e-script plus a backup paper one. Insulin used to be over the counter then the new forms are now prescription only. It's such a mess, but w being in the Walgreens network my script can go anywhere I need it. We need Single Payer Health insurance and campaign finance reform, no pacs no corporate donations, even no union donations, individuals only and some very low limit per election.