Walgreens must fill contraceptive prescriptions

[Longhorn]

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&ArID=143579

Austin Walgreens pharmacies must fill prescriptions for birth control and emergency contraception even if pharmacists don't want to.

The order comes from a vote of the city council revising the city's contract with the drug store chain. The move makes Austin the first city to take such a step.

Councilman Brewster McCracken proposed the measure following complaints about pharmacists refusing to fill certain prescriptions based on personal opinion.

The "no refusals" amendment states that a store manager must fill a prescription, if the pharmacist refuses to do so.

[davidinalameda]

1. whoo hoo!

other public agencies should follow suit

[Megahurtz]

2. Right On!

Now they should make this a Federal Law!

[Tace]

3. Only Make Sense

: )

[sonias]

4. I was part of that small group of women at the support rally

Kudos to our Austin City Council for doing the right thing and kudos for Planned Parenthood for fighting for our rights!

Sonia

Here's the Planned Parenthood e-mail release

GREAT NEWS!

This morning the Austin City Council voted unanimously to pass a "no refusals" amendment to its pharmaceutical services contract with Walgreens. Our elected officials heard your voices loud and clear.

What does this mean?
Last year, the City of Austin entered into a contract with Walgreens, which covers pharmaceutical management services and prescription dispensing for patients treated at the City/Travis County Community Health Centers and for enrollees in the City of Austin and Travis County Medical Assistance Programs. The "no refusals" amendment that passed today, authored by Council Member Brewster McCracken, guarantees that patients served by this program will have fair and equal access to their prescriptions.

This amendment ensures that Walgreens pharmacists may not refuse a prescription because of their personal beliefs. In the event that a pharmacist declines to fill a prescription based on personal belief rather than professional judgment, Walgreens has committed to serving those patients in-store, without delay or discrimination. No delays, no lectures, no hassles.

Will this apply to all Walgreens pharmacies?
This applies only to those pharmacies that participate in the City/County program. However, it is our hope that Walgreens will adopt this policy at the corporate level and apply it to all of their locations.

What does this mean for other cities?
Austin is the first city to take this bold, proactive step to protect patient rights. This sets a great example for other communities to follow.

[mcscajun]

5. Interesting amendment...are all Walgreen's store managers also

pharmacists?

If they aren't, there'd be some legal problems there.

[Ilsa]

7. That was my first thought as well, and

I don't know that I want a script filled by a nonpharm. Yeah, it's only a compact of pills, but what if they read it wrong and gave out the wrong drug? Or what if there was another drug the woman was taking that might interfere in the effectiveness of the pill or the pill affect her other med? No, it needs to be dispensed by a registered pharmacist.

[sonias]

8. I don't think it means the manager fills it literally

It means the manager has the responsibility to make sure it's filled i.e. call in another pharmacist to fill it, even if it means making some pharmacist come in to do it. I'm sure that Walgreens will be managing their pharmacy staff to make sure they have a willing person on board at all times. Otherwise, they could lose the contract and it's a high value contract.

I have the agenda item description, and it's a four year contract not to exceed not to exceed $14,343.054. Now that's for a lot of different medications under the Health Initiatives services not just contraceptions, but jerking around women by refusing to fill their prescriptions can terminate the contract.

Sonia

[mcscajun]

9. Whew! That sounds a whole lot better!

:)

Whatever has to be done...just get the women their 'scripts'. End of story.

[ironman202]

6. good....worthless pices of crap that they are

i'm a little shocked wallgreen's corp parent lets them do it at all.

[Longhorn]

10. My daughter was turned down by a Walgreens

She was going out of town so tried to get her prescription filled before she left. They told her it was "too early" to refill and then wouldn't give it back! I tried to get her to fight it but she just decided to go to Planned Parenthood instead.

Has anyone heard of a policy that you can't get your prescription filled too soon? It's been a long time since I was on the pill but it seems to me I got three to six months at a time. I thought maybe they were giving her the run-around to avoid filling it.

[sonias]

11. Longhorn, have her report that to Planned Parenthood

They need to keep track of these events. The amendment goes into effect immediately, that means today 8/18. Please make sure that she tells Planned Parenthood when this happened and which Walgreens did this, so they can track it.

PP gives you a 12 month script so you can get all 12 months at once, or as many of those as you want and can afford at one time. There is no reason she could not get her script filled unless it had expired or was specifically restricted to be dispensed let's say one pack a month, or three each quarter. You would have to take a look at the prescription and see how it was worded. Since the pharmacy held it and she no longer has a copy, she should tell the doctor that gave her the prescription and have them re-issue it and tell them what Walgreens did also.

Sounds like something she should post here, under tell my story
http://www.saveroe.com/fillmypillsnow/
National is tracking refusals too and ranking pharmacies with these stupid policies.

Sonia

[Longhorn]

12. Thanks, Sonia.

I'll ask her about it but this happened last spring. She has since moved to Denver and just went to the Planned Parenthood there earlier this month. She was actually headed to Denver on a job/house-hunting trip when this happened and I believe she went to PP when she got back but I don't know if she told them what happened.

Another daughter goes to one here in Austin. I'll ask her if she's had any trouble.

[tammywammy]

13. Yes, I've heard of this

I think it's more to do with your insurance though. From my understanding, the insurance will only pay once a month, so you can't get it refilled too early (only every 3 weeks or so).

I know that they have rules on other types of prescriptions as well, more importantly pain killers and I know my mom's blood pressure medicine cannot be refilled too early either.

I use the Kroger pharmacy, and I've never had a problem getting anything filled, except if they're out of stock (which has happened a couple of times).

[sonias]

14. Good point tammywammy

Hadn't thought of insurance being a possible issue. Some policies don't cover contraceptives so I assumed she was paying for them out of her own pocket. I don't have prescription coverage with my insurance. I just feel lucky to have insurance for catastrophic illness. That's another big issue, how the richest county in the world has so many millions uninsured people. We should be ashamed.

Sonia

[Lisa0825]

16. Yes, it is an insurance issue.

It happened to me too. However, the insurance company is supposed to allow it to be filled if she calls the insurance co and says that she is going out of town to a place where she could not easiy have it filled.

[Lisa0825]

15. That's excellent, but I sure wish

the corporate office would come up with a better overall policy, so individual cities didn't have to resort to this.

I posted about this at the Houston Democrats Blog: http://www.houstondemocrats.com/archives/2005/08/goodbye_walgree.html

[CoolOnion]

17. What's up with people who don't want to do their jobs?

If you're a pharmacist, your job is to carry out doctor's orders and fill prescriptions. If a person doesn't want to do that job, they should pick another career!

My dad was a pharmacist, and his big thing was sleep aids. He thought people should try natural remedies before trying chemical sleeping pills. But guess what--he never refused to fill a prescription, never questioned the doctor or lectured the patient. The only time he'd express an opinion was when a customer would ask a question about over-the-counter remedies.

Until these right-wing freaks came along, I'd never heard of pharmacists not filling prescriptions! They should be fired, and barred from dispensing drugs.