Concerned RPh

[InsuranceOligopoly @InsOligopoly]

Happy Friday. I applaud @AFergusonFTC @SecKennedy @DrOzCMS @AlMeyer19 work in cutting out @MedicaidGov fraud.

Please
Please
Please
Beggin’ you

Analyze what the 4 PBMs $CVS $CI $UNH $HUM (with 87% market share) are doing.

@ExpressScripts
$0.89 drug
Being paid $0.89
No dispensing fee

Is this what they bill the government?
Is this what @walmart is paid when they dispense?
Is this what @Cigna is paid when it leaves mailorder?

Then they make us pay $150 to remain in network. We put all the information on their dashboard. Same data year after year. Same data available on https://t.co/SAsZYAwyVo website.

Before you ask, “well, if it’s so bad, how are you still in business?”
We borrow money as lines of credit!

$230,000 at local bank
$126,764 to @SBAgov

$356,764 with interest to keep employees employed, taxes paid, licenses active, and checks to vendors like @PioneerRx and wholesalers @CencoraGlobal to clear.

They are underpaying independent community pharmacies AND overcharging the payors…..

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@kpharmd12 Just ran into this yesterday...medicaid will only cover the brand name Restasis, not the generic

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@kpharmd12 I hope there are some young energetic new grads that want to own their own. I'd like for someone, other than a corporate chain phcy, to take over my indy pharmacy

[HealthCareDenied @CareDenied]

"[PBMs] wield enormous power and influence over patients’ access to drugs and the prices they pay. This can have dire consequences for Americans, with nearly three in ten surveyed Americans reporting rationing or even skipping doses of their prescribed medicines due to high costs." - Excerpt from FTC report

[KP, Pharm.D. @kpharmd12]

Just discovered one of the most egregious pharmacy Medicare Part D claims to date…

pregabalin 50mg 180 capsules (90 day supply)

@WellcarePlans sets the reimbursement for Walmart at $104.40.

Walmart is a standard, in-network pharmacy.

Our independent pharmacy is also a standard, in-network pharmacy.

So, what do they set the price at for my independent pharmacy for the same prescription?

$14.40

This type of shit should be illegal and prosecuted.

The unsuspecting patient would pay a price 7.25x higher just by walking into Walmart instead of a locally owned pharmacy.

I thought Walmart prides itself on having the lowest prices?

Guess that ideology doesn’t apply toward prescription drugs.

Big shoutout to @ExpressScripts for making this possible.

Rot in eternal hell.

[William Beckman @BillsPills]

To all of you independent physicians:
Welcome to our world, that of Independent Pharmacy. Where quality care patient advocacy, and common sense prevail.
You are now having the same happen to you as what the PBMs did to us - bankruptcy and servitude.
WAKE UP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@ReFresh_Shawn @mcuban Yes! We're licensed & inspected by our State, complete & update our info in the National NCPDP credentialing website yearly, PSAO annual credentialing, & required to re-credential with the big 3 PBMs annually who alao charge us additional fees so we can lose $ on almost every rx

[APCI @_APCI]

The legal scrutiny surrounding #PBM drug pricing continues to grow.

Ohio’s attorney general is opposing efforts by Cigna, Express Scripts and Prime Therapeutics to dismiss antitrust claims involving prescription drug pricing. This is another example of why #PBMreform must remain a priority at both the state and federal levels.
https://t.co/jR1x8VlQ77

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@kpharmd12 @sterlingkoonce Same here

[KP, Pharm.D. @kpharmd12]

What other business would be actively persuading people to take their business elsewhere?

Imagine a small business selling a $500 product, but telling the customer to go to a larger competing company to purchase that product instead.

By purchasing the $500 product elsewhere, it would prevent the smaller company from losing money selling it to the customer.

Also, the larger competing company makes a significantly higher profit than the smaller company.

Sounds extremely dumb, right?

It happens multiple times a day owning/operating a small pharmacy.

I refuse to believe that employees at Best Buy would be telling customers to go to Walmart to buy their next TV, but maybe I’m wrong.

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@SenWarren at what point are you & other legislators going to take action against the PBM mafia??? Enough hearings! They're crooked & you all know it! 🤬 Save taxpayer money, terminate the contract! Then throw them in jail where they belong! The company runs on FWA- end it now!

[NCPA @Commpharmacy]

Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Keith Bass on Express Scripts’ Tricare monopoly in last week’s Senate Armed Services hearing.

Thank you @SenWarren for advocating for community pharmacy, military members, and their families!

[Carter High @CarterHighRPh]

#txlege here’s one for proof.

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@CarterHighRPh 😢😢😢

[InsuranceOligopoly @InsOligopoly]

3 PBMs have 80% of pharmacy business
Same 3 run mail order and specialty
Same 3 owned by healthcare conglomerate

Result:
They control competitor access to insurance networks
Offer competitors take or leave contracts
They pay competitors below cost, below what they pay themselves
They charge back, clawback fees and audit competitors
They use competitor dispense data to market their mail order
They bill payers 10X, 100X, 1000X what they pay competitors

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@sterlingkoonce @DButterfieldRPh Not another one! This is so sad 😢😢😢

[InsuranceOligopoly @InsOligopoly]

Meanwhile, our government @AFergusonFTC @MeadorFTC @AlMeyer19 allows $CVS fortune 7, $UNH fortune 3, and $CI fortune 13 to steal and use the theft to pay fines. Never put on @OIGatHHS exclusion list nor dropped from @CMSGov networks. Malfeasance

https://t.co/CutTOHFtjx

[Pharmageddon 💊⚛️💪 @sterlingkoonce]

Pharmacist/owners. READ THIS. IT IS IMPORTANT. DO NOT SIGN ANY CONTRACTS Before you READ THIS.

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@sterlingkoonce The PBM Mafia is at it again 🤬 I don't trust them, never have. They are only looking for more ways to screw the independent pharmacies and their patients. They are never satisfied!

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

@sterlingkoonce It truly is 😔 And it makes me ill when I look back at how much money was stolen from us via the skyrocketing DIR fees year after year. How was this not corrected years ago? The people that were supposed to oversee this were paid off with the money the PBMs stole from us

[Concerned RPh @ConcernedRph]

We are forced to deal with this every single day. Moral injury, ethical decisions, can we afford to take a loss on yet another Rx to help our patient or do we have to transfer their Rx to another pharmacy? Will we be forced to close? It's stressful & weighs on our hearts & minds

[InsuranceOligopoly @InsOligopoly]

Question for our government @AFergusonFTC @MeadorFTC @DonaldJTrumpJr @SecKennedy @DrOzCMS @WaysandMeansGOP @WaysMeansCmte

Question for @Aetna and their PBM CVS/Caremark, BOTH owned by @CVSHealth $CVS

I filled an antibiotic cream for a burn for a @MedicareGov patient.

You paid our Pharmacy $1.40
Total!
Let me say that again. You paid $1.35 for the drug and $0.05 dispensing fee.

A total of $1.40

For my license, malpractice insurance, software to bill insurance, label, the tube of cream, my liability, counseling, and record keeping

Does that seem ethical?

How much do you bill @CMSGov when this is dispensed from @cvspharmacy?

@FrierLevitt @BergerMontague why is this legal?