Omnicare Pharmacy-discuss

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:down: In my experience we have a big problem getting meds delivered in a timely fashion.You all know that if we don't have a med available (even if it is something as simple as a multivit) the DOH wants us to document and make every reasonable effort to obtain the med. We have to inform the doc if a med is missed,fill out a pharmacy occurrence report yada yada yada....And we are prohibited from "borrowing" a med from another resident. What happens to us frequently is we'll fax labels well before the cut off time for same day delivery but then 2 days later get a written notice that the fax was illegible...HELLO? 2 days later? You are now probably out of some meds.Shouldn't someone be picking up the phone each and every time a fax is received that transmitted poorly and notify the sender? Then there are the times we get a notice stating "our records show this order was d/c'd on this date " and we look in the chart and no order was written on or around the date they cite. ow does that happen? Or-we don't receive a med that we have called them several times for-then we end up with NINE BOXES of the med....Then other times we can not get a refill because "our records show this med was ordered too soon" How does THAT happen? I remeber working in a facilty years ago in which pharmacy staff came in on a monthly basis and switched out the med carts-we were not responsible for routinely ordering refills.That system worked out well-I don't remeber ever having these problems.Omnicare is almost self serve-we have to peel and stick re-order labels on a sheet to fax...On top of our mega med pass....whoopee...
Specializes in Geriatrics, WCC.

I have a laundry list and am not sure where to start...

Meds are delivered twice a day by a courier service (mid afternoon and around MN). Most of our admissions come on the PM shift, if orders are faxed over by 5PM then they come on the MN run sometimes with the med sheets; if the sheets do not come then the nurse has to hand write them just until they arrive the next day. If the orders are not faxed before 5PM then the meds do not arrive until the next day. Wonderful not to have medications for post-hospital admits. Or try administering them without med sheets.

Told constantly that something is reordered too soon... shows up then on my facility bill. The have the face sheets and payor sources for everyone in the building but, my bill always has charges for individual residents that i should not be paying for.

They changed my rep one day and when I called her and heard someone else's voice on her answering machine; had to make another phone call to find out what was up. My nurse manager called to question a something and was told by the new rep (that i didn't know had changed) that it was the DON's fault since a letter had been sent out explaing the change. I called the pharmacy to ask, what Letter???? They can send out these non-stop invitations to monthly dinners andtalks on anti-depressants and such but can't get the needed info to me. They also were suprised to find out that my "new" rep had not called to set up a meeting with me and had berated me to my staff. Needless to say, another rep was assigned to me.

The new rep we have now had for about a year. Any issues we have are immediately our fault OR because they have new people working in the pharmacy. Nothing is ever fixed or taken care of. I am still tring to get credits on my bill from months ago.

Last week, one of my managers spent 3 hours on the phone in one day trying to get narcs for the new rehab residents. One resident had not had them for 3 days. They had written a letter on March 11, mailed it on the 16th and received it on the 18th (when I was not there) detailing their new policies on ordering narcs. Great!!!! The NHA faxed a letter to the head of the local Omincare giving a 60 day notice that we were changing pharmacies, enough is enough. He immediately got a call from a regional person wanting to come in for a meeting.

During the meeting, two Omnicare district reps arrived and promised the sun & moon. They were "shocked" to hear of all the issues we were having for years. They would be our main contact and "fix" everything. First of all, the way they tried to fix everything for my manager was get on the phone to the local and tell them to take care of things. So, back to dealing with the same old s---. Lip service, very noticeable. My NHA stood his ground and stated he will continue to proceed with the 60 day notice.

All you need to do is type in Omnicare into any search engine and you start finding all the problems they have had over the years. Multi-million dollar suits for fraud and such. That's what happens when you absorb all the smaller guys and are the largest in the nation. customer service has went right down the tube.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

Let's talk about obtaining blood modifiers-with the FDA "red box" warning it's a big pain but add in Omnicare's in-eptness and it's a nightmare....

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I am a pharmacist in a small independent pharmacy which has been doing meds for a drug rehabilitation center. I am interested in your comments about the problems your are having and am wondering what you would like to see the pharmacy and the pharmacist do for you.

I want our service to be outstanding, and while your situation is not the same, there are many similarities.

We are having trouble getting the center to reorder in a timely manner. Almost all shifts will call with refills on a stat basis, and we have tried to communicate that 48 hours would mean a huge difference between missing doses or getting them on time.

We are not allowed by state law to give these facilities any emergency med paks because there are no RNs on staff.

Could you share some insights so that we can become better at what we do so we do not cause frustrations on your side?

thanks

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I have had problems with Omnicare. Once sending out meds for a resident that had been dead for months. Sending meds that are the wrong strength, D/C'd months ago then just go back to the old dose. I think their computer system randomly changes things around. We get a ton of "order to soon" from them.

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Specializes in Stroke Seizure/LTC/SNF/LTAC.

Sure, thing get missed and screwed up sometimes, but overall there are things you can do about fixing them before they cause problems instead of coming here to complain. I hear way too much complaining in LTC and not much taking responsibility. Why don't you talk to the pharmacist who comes in and tell him or her what's been happening and solve the problem? /quote

Are you flipping kidding me? Our rep "Rosie" always has a big smile and says, "I'll fix it!" NOT!!:angryfire We have the same issues: Rx says they "didn't get the order", we have a fax confirmation. Rx d/c's the wrong meds claiming there's "no order", but we've been getting the med for years; we get 4x/daily deliveries, but still takes DAYS and numerous calls to get stuff; oh, don't forget about the suddenly "need pre-authorization" when it's been delivered for ages?/:bugeyes: Yep, we have a Pyxis machine for an e-kit, but even that gets depleted with certain popular meds. Oh, and PRN'S not used for 60 days get a rec to d/c, even though federal guidelines are unused in 90 days.:nono:

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Let's see just how many fax confirmations does it take to get the drug/drugs ordered/reordered? I have personally counted an even dozen on simple med as digoxin.

Omnicare is the pits.

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Sure, thing get missed and screwed up sometimes, but overall there are things you can do about fixing them before they cause problems instead of coming here to complain. I hear way too much complaining in LTC and not much taking responsibility. Why don't you talk to the pharmacist who comes in and tell him or her what's been happening and solve the problem? /quote

Are you flipping kidding me? Our rep "Rosie" always has a big smile and says, "I'll fix it!" NOT!!:angryfire We have the same issues: Rx says they "didn't get the order", we have a fax confirmation. Rx d/c's the wrong meds claiming there's "no order", but we've been getting the med for years; we get 4x/daily deliveries, but still takes DAYS and numerous calls to get stuff; oh, don't forget about the suddenly "need pre-authorization" when it's been delivered for ages?/:bugeyes: Yep, we have a Pyxis machine for an e-kit, but even that gets depleted with certain popular meds. Oh, and PRN'S not used for 60 days get a rec to d/c, even though federal guidelines are unused in 90 days.:nono:

this you can blame on Medicare D
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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

You think it's bad now just wait till Obama's health care reform goes through. It's all socialism.

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Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice.

Question: Maybe this is oversimplifying things, but if the pharmacy sends out a 30 day supply of, say, Keppra, then why can't the pharmacy just send a new order of Keppra at 27 or 28 days, instead of relying on pulling stickers? Unless there has been a new order, why can't it be just an automatic reorder? That would save so much faxing, refaxing, and calling, recalling, etc. We have this same issue in our facility. We switched from Omnicare to another pharmacy but we are still having these issues. It seems to be the focus of my mornings way too many days.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.
Question: Maybe this is oversimplifying things, but if the pharmacy sends out a 30 day supply of, say, Keppra, then why can't the pharmacy just send a new order of Keppra at 27 or 28 days, instead of relying on pulling stickers? Unless there has been a new order, why can't it be just an automatic reorder? That would save so much faxing, refaxing, and calling, recalling, etc. We have this same issue in our facility. We switched from Omnicare to another pharmacy but we are still having these issues. It seems to be the focus of my mornings way too many days.

It would be nice if they made things that easy. The fun thing (note sarcasm) about working on our TCU is that our pharmacy only sends SEVEN day supplies for the patients, since they are short stay (although I would say MOST of them are there for upwards of 3 weeks to a month, in some cases longer). So we go through this all the time--searching for meds from e-kits, calling about e-kits that need replaced, new orders bc the meds on TCU change all the time, but not having the med to give. It's awful.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Question: Maybe this is oversimplifying things, but if the pharmacy sends out a 30 day supply of, say, Keppra, then why can't the pharmacy just send a new order of Keppra at 27 or 28 days, instead of relying on pulling stickers? Unless there has been a new order, why can't it be just an automatic reorder? That would save so much faxing, refaxing, and calling, recalling, etc. We have this same issue in our facility. We switched from Omnicare to another pharmacy but we are still having these issues. It seems to be the focus of my mornings way too many days.
Because that would cut in on their profits.Having us pulling the labels to re-order saves them lots of manpower/hours...
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Because that would cut in on their profits.Having us pulling the labels to re-order saves them lots of manpower/hours...

i would hazard a bet that it could be done....but it would cost the NURSING HOME money, and that is why it isnt done.....the bottom line, again

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