When Prices Seem Too Good to Be True

When was the last time a patient handed you a prescription discount card promising a low prices, but the actual cost turned out to be higher? If you're like most pharmacy staff, you've probably encountered this situation recently, and you were left explaining why the app's offer doesn't match the claim price. Frustrated customers on a budget may not easily accept the real price, leaving you searching for an alternative card. Why doesn't the app show the accurate price instead of putting you in the position of managing unrealistic expectations?

The Issue: Process Lag and Latency

The simple answer is that it's due to slow processes. Prescription discount card vendors often adjust their prices daily. They do this to stay competitive, encourage more card usage, and comply with their contracts. However, these changes happen behind the scenes in the pharmacy claims processing system. These systems and services are crucial to the organizations, and to maintain their speed, customer-facing applications like websites don’t use the same backend system. As a result, data must be updated in multiple places every time a price change occurs. Non-Claim system updates happen less frequently, causing a disconnect between the website and app and the backend claims processing. This lag in updates leads to the disparity you encounter at the pharmacy counter between the website's prescription discount price and the price you see when processing the claim.

Dealing with Price Differences

When the price at the pharmacy counter doesn't match the one on the website, it can frustrate patients, and they may direct their frustration at you and your pharmacy. To resolve the issue and prioritize customer satisfaction, pharmacy staff often feel compelled to find a better price if possible. Searching multiple sites can be time-consuming and can lead to lower patient satisfaction scores.

Minimizing Frustration with a Pharmacy Savings Site

While only the prescription discount card vendors can ultimately resolve the price difference problem, there are ways to lessen its impact in your pharmacy. Recognizing that the issue will persist, utilize tools and websites that streamline the search process. Pharmacy Savings websites, such as RxCard Compare, search across various prescription card vendors to find the lowest possible price for your patient. Most importantly, when the lowest-priced card hasn't updated to reflect new, higher prices, RxCard Compare enables you to see the next best card without the need for additional searching. By using this feature, you can save time, secure the true lowest available cost, and eliminate patient frustration.