Choices in Pharmacy: Patients vs Management?

Many pharmacists and pharmacy staff are dedicated to ensuring that patients leave with the medications they need. They understand that finding affordable options for their patients is essential for keeping them healthy. However, if you've worked in a pharmacy long enough, you might have come across a rules which discouraged the use of prescription discount cards. Why would management prohibit something that benefits patients and brings in more prescriptions for the pharmacy?

The Hidden Costs of Prescription Discount Cards

At the pharmacy counter, prescription discount cards seem like a win-win. Patients get their medications at a lower cost than what their insurance would cover, and the pharmacy gets to dispense a prescription it has already prepared. However, these Rx discount card companies wouldn't exist if they weren't making money. Each time a prescription is filled using a discount card, the pharmacy must pay an administrative fee to the discount card vendor. These fees can range from a fixed amount of $2 to $3 per prescription or even more, depending on the medication's price. With pharmacies mostly dispensing low margin generic medications (up to 90%), these fees can cause the pharmacy to lose money on each prescription filled.

Varieties of Card Vendors

Blanket bans on prescription discount cards often result from a quick response to declining pharmacy profits. It's important to consider the type of discount cards you prefer to use. Prescription discount card vendors display the "lowest" price they want you to use. Some focus on providing the lowest price to the patient, while some larger vendors display not the true lowest price but one with the highest administrative fee, costing the pharmacy more. And some vendors aim to balance the lowest price with the lowest administrative fee. However, most vendors do not reveal their selection methods, making it challenging to determine which cards benefit both your patients and your pharmacy.

Prioritizing Patients

Using a card with your pharmacy's brand is typically a good choice to support your pharmacy and minimize financial impacts. However, even when sharing a brand with your pharmacy, these cards may not always offer the best price on a given day. In such cases, the best approach is to prioritize your patients' care, which means providing the lowest possible price. A Pharmacy Savings website can help you find that lowest price. At RxCard Compare, a leading Pharmacy Savings solution, we always display the lowest possible price for your patient from all our prescription discount vendor partners. Many of these partners offer low prices without administrative fees, which means choosing the RxCard Compare low price benefits both your pharmacy and, most importantly, your patient.