Use The Force, CP

CP: Have you ever been forced to pay for something you neither wanted nor needed?

CPP: Girl Scout cookies come to mind. 

CP: Okay. That's more of a guilt trip than gun-to-the-head coercion. 

CPP: Agree to disagree. Why the query?

CP: This recent, yet always timely, conversation:

CP: Thanks phor calling CP's Pill Palace. How may I help you?

Lady Out Of Touch Can't Really Afford The Expense: You forced me to pay for this and I don't need it. 

CP: Hmm. Sounds like assault. Did one of my staff have a gun?

LOOT CRATE: No. 

CP: Katana Spatula?

LOOT CRATE: No. 

CP: Take one of your family hostage?

LOOT CRATE: No. 

CP: Menacing look?

LOOT CRATE: No!

CP: Then I am at a loss as to how you were compelled to purchase something against your will. 

LOOT CRATE: She asked for my credit card. 

CP: Which you willingly swiped of your own free will?

LOOT CRATE: Yes. 

CP: Sounds like an open and shut case of a normal business transaction. 

LOOT CRATE: I don't need it. 

CP: How did we receive it?

LOOT CRATE: I don't know. 

CP: <checks profile> Upon further review, it appears as if your prescriber submitted an electronic prescription, hmm, unsolicited by us, to our pharmacy yesterday. Apparently it is a new therapy. Did you contact the office recently?

LOOT CRATE: Yes. 

CP: Aaaand. . . ?

LOOT CRATE: She said she would send it to the doctor for review. 

CP: Aha. You initiated a call to your provider who, upon further review herself, decided therapy was warranted and, taking the next logical step, sent us the prescription which you then ran down to the pharmacy to retrieve, right? 

LOOT CRATE: Yes. But I don't need it.

CP: Did you mention this to your provider? 

LOOT CRATE: No. 

CP: When you were at the counter, did you ask any questions about the medication; what it was? what it was for? side effects? anything? *

LOOT CRATE: No. 

CP: Hmm. So you just picked up a random medication you were not expecting, paid for it, took it home, THEN decided you didn't need it?

LOOT CRATE: Yes. 

CP: Ok. What do you wish? 

LOOT CRATE: For my money back. 

CP: First, I cannot do that. Second, your copay was $1.89. That was a pretty cheap lesson. Next time, ask us what you are picking up. It's a good habit to employ at other places as well. (Boy, this bag feels light/heavy. What's in here? Did I get all of my stuff?) 

LOOT CRATE: Well I don't need this. 

CP: Then make sure you call your provider and let her know you have not and will not start the therapy she prescribed for you. We can't allow you to be more non-compliant.

*Yes. A pharmacist walking up to the counter to counsel may have helped. It may not. Maybe she drove off from the drive thru instead of waiting, maybe the RPh was giving a shot and she didn't want to wait, maybe she was offered counsel and she refused, maybe this, maybe that. We ALL know how our days go and not every one of our 600 patients/day receive a proper counsel. Maybe. Maybe not. Let it go. That's not the point of the story.