Will pharmacy survive an even moderate y2k?

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Most prescriptions these days are paid for by a "3rd party". An insurance company, a union what or whatever. These claims are processed by some 200 claims processors whose computers must be compliant for the pharmacy to be paid. To date only 35 processors have submitted for a free check sponsed by Eckerd, Wal-Mart, Walgrens, American Stores and Rite-Aid. If these processors are not up payments stop and so will prescription filling. Check out nhin.com to see if your benefits provider's processor is OK.

-- Charles Miller (riffraff@cybertime.net), April 05, 1999

Answers

NO! Screw ups for months.

-- SCOTTY (BLehman202@aol.com), April 05, 1999.

I got a notice from Blue Cross last week saying that it was having some difficulties in processing a prescription claim. That's the first such notice I've ever received, but I have only been submitting claims on that particular policy for about a year, so I don't know if that's unusual or not.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), April 05, 1999.

Thanks Charles, this is the kind of information that needs to be brought to the publics attention. When you get to the link be sure to check the list of Claim Processors that have agreed to participate. Here is the direct link:

Claim Processors

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), April 05, 1999.


Once again:

Claim Processors

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), April 05, 1999.


Thank you, Charles and Ray. Our provider isn't on the list at all. Hmmm. Must make some phone calls.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 05, 1999.


My wife is a Pharmacist, and she thinks that things will be at a standstill.

W/o computers, she can't order the drugs, dispense them, or bill insurance.

IF you have cash, and she knows you well, you MIGHT get a couple of pills if it's a life-threatening condition. Otherwise, how will she know that you even have a prescription on file?

She'd have to know the exact date of your prescription (all originals are kept for years, but you try to locate one particular precription in the stack when the customer doesn't know the exact date - her store does 1400 prescriptions a week, so that's alot of paper to search through)...

Plan to do without, or stock up before hand.

I expect that the pharmacy will be closed in short order.

-- Bill (billclo@msgbox.com), April 07, 1999.


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