Wal Mart cuts getting to me, advice please.

[sozetone]

guys,

My store does about 1700---2000/wk. bad neighborhood, the usual dumpster fire store. I spent the last two years getting out the bad eggs and have been making good profit and running smooth for a while now....did a total 180 on a store nobody thought would amount to squat. Now 2nd in profit in my market, metrics are pretty solid too. I took a bad hit on these last cuts and im down to bare bones. single coverage is killing us....this last week was my try-out so to speak and i'm absolutley over whelmed. It gets so chaotic ya feel like your going to kill someone ya know? constant interruptions even worse than before, and whats gonna happen when i'm doing 15-20 flu shots a day? I'm worried i can no longer manage effectively with the staff provided. No matter how good a manager you are (and i'm decent) , you do reach a point where you have to throw in the towel, no? because all i see at wal mart now is higher ACCOUNTABILITY, and more tasks, goals...etc, and much less help. It almost seems like a setup for failure....?

Is it worth even addressing with my DM ? Should i just bail back to my home state (fL) and take a crappy floating job? I feel like they are intentionally trying to hold the older, higher paid pharms accountable to over turn the current stock and hire the newer (lower paid) ones. I have a serious life decision to make here......and im only 40!!! WTF? aging out at 40 huh? nice...

what would you guys do?

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[awval999]

You'd be crazy to leave your $70/hr job when it's no better anywhere else.

You need to go into financial defense mode. Start saving, build up a 12 month emergency fund. Eliminate recurring expenses. Car payments? Student loans? Start the conversations with your spouse/partner that your current upper-middle class life is coming to an end and get them on board.

 

[TerryTerry]

FL is really tough place to find a pharmacist job. Especially South Florida. Being able to speak Spanish is almost mandatory down there. However, considering your extensive experience and skill, you may have a good chance.
We`ve talked about this already. They will push pharmacists until they burn then repeat to replace them. There are enough pharmacists out there for them to be able to do this for at least a decade.

 

[Sine Cura]

Increase wait times and DGAF about bitchy patients. No more "two is a crowd" and other customer-first bull****. I just enjoy the decline. If you want to write me up I don't give a **** as long as you get rid of the slacktards first.

Everyone who has their job as their primary source of income is now skittish about their heads being next and it's hilarious to see.

Mandatory EPCS in 2020 will result in my store losing maybe 5% of current Rx (we'll lose all the tooth extractor Rx, ED Rx, some pain mgmt, and low-income psych clinic Rx to CVS, big whoop) and a full-blown recession will see even more pain.

 

[King2440]

I do about the same as you man. No overlap, preparing for our events, manager duties; yes it is def overwhelming.

Train your team well. They must do all they can do, so that you can do only what you can do.

Take the best care of each patient, one at a time. Most patients will know you are busting your tail with the resources you have. If they complain, then oh well.

 

[Sine Cura]

California pharmacists are definitely spoiled compared to other WM. For example we recently got called out on a conf call about not doing enough work before opening (not enough filling or VV to justify coming in early) and that the RPH templates will be changed if there is no productivity but at least it is claimed that no pharmacists in California got the axe. Meanwhile it sounds like overlap is being cut in other states for at least the bottom percentile stores to 50%-70% percentile stores like 1600-2000 sold range. Again mandatory OT and/or tech ratio limits probably figured in their calculus on whether to cut pharmacists in California.

Some of these loser RPH can't even verify 100/day doing jack all nothing else, the type to be bewildered when there is no off-label dosing info on Facts & Comparisons, so you gonna expect them to do 200 a day? I;d like to see that happen

The next logical step is to cut operating hours. Like **** this 9 AM to 7 PM garbage on Saturday when all you get are useless acute scripts 5-7

I don't worry about the ****ty techs either because most of these degenerates want to keep their ****ty Medi-Cal and other government benefits

 

[Lubeckd]

Increase wait times and DGAF about bitchy patients. No more "two is a crowd" and other customer-first bull****. I just enjoy the decline. If you want to write me up I don't give a **** as long as you get rid of the slacktards first.

Everyone who has their job as their primary source of income is now skittish about their heads being next and it's hilarious to see.

Mandatory EPCS in 2020 will result in my store losing maybe 5% of current Rx (we'll lose all the tooth extractor Rx, ED Rx, some pain mgmt, and low-income psych clinic Rx to CVS, big whoop) and a full-blown recession will see even more pain.

lol have some empathy, but it is funny to watch ahahaha

 

[wagrxm2000]

Suck it up, you are now no better off then CVS or Walgreens. You are so used to easy work.

Train your staff properly and you should be comfortable working.

Until you say your tech hours, no one can truly help you, only cheer you up.

Stop complaining, you get paid 70/hour, any person would kill to make that much.

 

[Bubba98]

guys,

My store does about 1700---2000/wk. bad neighborhood, the usual dumpster fire store. I spent the last two years getting out the bad eggs and have been making good profit and running smooth for a while now....did a total 180 on a store nobody thought would amount to squat. Now 2nd in profit in my market, metrics are pretty solid too. I took a bad hit on these last cuts and im down to bare bones. single coverage is killing us....this last week was my try-out so to speak and i'm absolutley over whelmed. It gets so chaotic ya feel like your going to kill someone ya know? constant interruptions even worse than before, and whats gonna happen when i'm doing 15-20 flu shots a day? I'm worried i can no longer manage effectively with the staff provided. No matter how good a manager you are (and i'm decent) , you do reach a point where you have to throw in the towel, no? because all i see at wal mart now is higher ACCOUNTABILITY, and more tasks, goals...etc, and much less help. It almost seems like a setup for failure....?

Is it worth even addressing with my DM ? Should i just bail back to my home state (fL) and take a crappy floating job? I feel like they are intentionally trying to hold the older, higher paid pharms accountable to over turn the current stock and hire the newer (lower paid) ones. I have a serious life decision to make here......and im only 40!!! WTF? aging out at 40 huh? nice...

what would you guys do?

Being over 40 you are in a "protected class" so you are fine. Welcome to the club. But seriously, accept the decline. A lot of it is ego tied around you getting the store's numers in line. Now you have to let them go. Not you fault. Employ a fabian defense, make a stand on certain things to buy yourself time and then retreat to make another stand. There is always corners you can cut.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Sozetone-

Working hard is relative. When you compare Walmart to CVS/Wags, their pharmacists and technicians work a lot more efficiently than WM. You will have to work like Wags.CVS/RA. Get interrupted constantly while answering customer questions and phone calls. Learn to work under distraction-focus. Your techs will be your biggest problem going forward. Re-train them, give them verbal warnings, write-ups, they need to learn to multi task. When they are on a call- they can type a simple e-rx simultaneously. Same for phone+counting. You need to learn to multi task. Phone call/count/type- any combo of the two.

Everything you described is my store and we have single RPH coverage per day (no overlaps) and we get less techs than you do. Yet, we clear 400s rx a day by 6 PM.

Hire the right talent.

 

[owlegrad]

What is more important to you, your paycheck or your pride? If it is your paycheck, you are golden. Just go in and do your job. It will take a LONG time for them to performance you out. By your own accounting you are one of the top performing PICs. How many PICs will they need to terminate before they get to you?

If your pride is important to you, you are screwed. You will almost certainly never be able to retrain your staff to be more efficient. They will always remember the days of having more help and in their minds there will be no need for them to work any faster or more efficiently than they ever had. You will either need to pull off a miracle by successfully retraining them or more likely turn over your whole staff and train new people to be better than the old guard. Most won't be capable of the former and won't be interested (or capable for that matter) in the later.

I don't have an easy answer though. Being a PIC at CVS was killing my soul. I don't need my work to feel fulfilled but conversely it was totally demoralizing to work in an environment where I felt like couldn't succeed. So I sympathize with you - you are used to having enough resources to succeed and now that is being taken away. It sucks.

Perhaps you can have a heart to heart with your DM about your concerns? It is possible you have hirer standards for yourself then they do, in which case it may be helpful to get your expectations in line with your bosses. Also maybe you should consider that you don't need to be the best (as measured in metrics) as long as you aren't the worst?

 

[owlegrad]

When they are on a call- they can type a simple e-rx simultaneously. Same for phone+counting. You need to learn to multi task. Phone call/count/type- any combo of the two.

I love this so much because it is so hard to train. At my current job people complain about having "no time" or being "so busy" but they will literally spend two minutes on hold and do NOTHING while they are on hold. Just sit their holding the phone waiting for someone to pick up or complaining about how no one is picking up and how they don't have time to wait. Uhh....are you aware you can keep working while you are on hold???

Although you say pick any two between call/count/type - I would be VERY impressed by someone who can type and count at the same time since presumably they would need 3-4 hands to do that! LOL

 

[Sine Cura]

You guys are right that WM is the land of idiot techs and pharmacists hitting F4 mindlessly because they don't think you could clear the fax queue or 2-5 resolution items in the amt of time it takes for adjudication to finish (in the event you have to inform pt of coverage status)

I saw that at Target too since PDX is said to be the underyling backbone of Connexus

However Walmart has a lot of rinky dink bull**** usually piled on by regional, like clips on bags, "teal" card mandatory counsel bull**** and then system failures like e-script responses not being received if you cancel out the refill request (what? just ****ing LOL), failure of autofill mechanism, two step checkout/POS. Oh yes and there's "Walmart Wellness Day" too which is a total waste of time as 99% of people just go to the most convenient pharmacy, which is typically the closest and cheapest that takes your ins.

And then there's the Anthem Medicare Advantage OTC card. You walmart people know what I'm talking about. Unlike overpriced drugstore chains Walmart actually moves a lot of product in OTC so you get a lot of OTC-related "encounters"

 

[quickpic007]

California pharmacists are definitely spoiled compared to other WM. For example we recently got called out on a conf call about not doing enough work before opening (not enough filling or VV to justify coming in early) and that the RPH templates will be changed if there is no productivity but at least it is claimed that no pharmacists in California got the axe. Meanwhile it sounds like overlap is being cut in other states for at least the bottom percentile stores to 50%-70% percentile stores like 1600-2000 sold range. Again mandatory OT and/or tech ratio limits probably figured in their calculus on whether to cut pharmacists in California.

Some of these loser RPH can't even verify 100/day doing jack all nothing else, the type to be bewildered when there is no off-label dosing info on Facts & Comparisons, so you gonna expect them to do 200 a day? I;d like to see that happen

The next logical step is to cut operating hours. Like **** this 9 AM to 7 PM garbage on Saturday when all you get are useless acute scripts 5-7

I don't worry about the ****ty techs either because most of these degenerates want to keep their ****ty Medi-Cal and other government benefits

What the S*** are you talking about. 5-7 Saturday is when all excess paperwork gets done =)

Suck it up, you are now no better off then CVS or Walgreens. You are so used to easy work.

Train your staff properly and you should be comfortable working.

Until you say your tech hours, no one can truly help you, only cheer you up.

Stop complaining, you get paid 70/hour, any person would kill to make that much.

I would probably stay at WM and complain for less hourly than go to WG for 70$ PIC. Knowing there has/will not be any raises and marginal bonuses at WG (opposed to WM still giving 15-20K bonus)

That is the problem with this profession, he should be getting 75$ not having to break back for 70.

 

[sozetone]

LOL, why does everyone blame my techs? i promise i am NOT the KING of managers like that RxWags guy i ignored....ok? i do well though. AND, my techs are ALL ace techs who are pushed to the limits. I've lost 50% tech help since 2017 and 1/3 pharmacist help. I think thats a little much no? at some point we have to shift some blame to the help available. I develop and train these techs well, and they are ALL female, which i actually like. IT seems like women get stuff done the first time and right, ya dont have to stay on them like us dudes...lol. You guys feel like that at all?

The real issue is my volume is medium to high ya know? 1600---2000/wk and im ALL medicade and the rest is old folks with medicare part D, i cant even remeber the last time somone had a BC/BS or Aetna, or cigna card. Thats crazy. And it does not help i have a homeless shelter on one side of me and a psych hospital on the other. My store is like a "hangout" for thieves, IV drug abusers,prostitutes, bums, bag ladys, and whinos.....it's pretty rough i swear..my census data shows 30% live BELOW the poverty line in that zip code! and like 85% have achieved a high school diploma, so i'm not dealing with the most intelligent people. Everyone is poor and it brings a TON of negativity and problems. You guys know the deal..."i have medicade" ok may i see your card? " I dont have it" do you have your number? "no"....lol and a million other issues that hold up my entire day....crazy

IF you work at WM you understand better, we have a system that is antiquated and inefficient. Too many steps to get things done as well. Really a beast to process Rx's. I promise it's not my training or the techs that are the issue, these girls are sharp. it's just a lousy situation over-all. some days i just feel like bailing, others go smooth, like today....Next week we officially start the two pharmacist roatation. My plan is to feel it out and see if i am going to encounter issues meeting deadlines, demands, metrics....etc. And my boss is cool, we are on good terms.....but he is VERY competative and has VERY high expectations, pushes us real hard....not that i mind, but when im so darn short staffed, ease up off the gas a little or the engine is gonna blow man!

ok im done venting, thank you for listening.....lol i gotta prepare for WELLNES DAY saturday......a totally useless event the company assumes will bring in more business.....;-P

 

[sozetone]

You'd be crazy to leave your $70/hr job when it's no better anywhere else.

You need to go into financial defense mode. Start saving, build up a 12 month emergency fund. Eliminate recurring expenses. Car payments? Student loans? Start the conversations with your spouse/partner that your current upper-middle class life is coming to an end and get them on board.

I'm way ahead of you and good thoughts man....we have signifigant savings, a little loan debt i am toying with...but can drop when i feel like it, we do have car payments, but nothing extravagent , she drives a maxima, i have a WRX STI (no it was like 36K, nothing crazy) got a good deal. no CC debt, live VERY simple, renting right now for cheap. I play PS4 , she watches lifetime...lol she is VERY frugal too which i like. we also have had some money come in from family stuff as well.....quite signifigant. We are trying to start a business, but it just seems like it's near impossible to get anything solid and running these days. but yeah we have never lived upper middle, always middle-frugal! we have seen this coming for some time.....I guess time will tell...thanks man

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Hey Sozetone,

You just described my store again. 30,000 average household income, 2000 rx/week. I started at this store 2 months after license as PIC so I am used to the lack of help. I guess I am already used to all the stuff that is happening to WM. Me and all the folks at CVS and Wags. No offense. Oh, and my pharmacy is #1 in the city. It is about good help... again, how "good" someone is, is relative. Your techs may seem great to you but put them in my store and they would be subpar...

There are always loopholes and shortcuts in the system. Dig into it and discover them

 

[sozetone]

What the S*** are you talking about. 5-7 Saturday is when all excess paperwork gets done =)




I would probably stay at WM and complain for less hourly than go to WG for 70$ PIC. Knowing there has/will not be any raises and marginal bonuses at WG (opposed to WM still giving 15-20K bonus)

That is the problem with this profession, he should be getting 75$ not having to break back for 70.

Bonuses huh? they have re-structured the bonus qualifiers....lol i assume i will no longer be getting that hefty bonus i enjoy. They have tricks up their sleeve. Wal mart is VERY slick about how they roll......whatever, i know this is the last of the gravy train, im gonna ride it till my biscuit wheels fall off!! lol (kingpin, bill murray).

 

[sozetone]

Hey Sozetone,

You just described my store again. 30,000 average household income, 2000 rx/week. I started at this store 2 months after license as PIC so I am used to the lack of help. I guess I am already used to all the stuff that is happening to WM. Me and all the folks at CVS and Wags. No offense. Oh, and my pharmacy is #1 in the city. It is about good help... again, how "good" someone is, is relative. Your techs may seem great to you but put them in my store and they would be subpar...

There are always loopholes and shortcuts in the system. Dig into it and discover them

Well i've been around for a minute, but nothing has gone wrong yet is my point. We are still performing very high. my concern is will it last? everybodys situation is a little different. Your opinion of my tehcs is your opinion and you are entitled to it......i dont mind.

 

[wagrxm2000]

LOL, why does everyone blame my techs? i promise i am NOT the KING of managers like that RxWags guy i ignored....ok? i do well though. AND, my techs are ALL ace techs who are pushed to the limits. I've lost 50% tech help since 2017 and 1/3 pharmacist help. I think thats a little much no? at some point we have to shift some blame to the help available. I develop and train these techs well, and they are ALL female, which i actually like. IT seems like women get stuff done the first time and right, ya dont have to stay on them like us dudes...lol. You guys feel like that at all?

The real issue is my volume is medium to high ya know? 1600---2000/wk and im ALL medicade and the rest is old folks with medicare part D, i cant even remeber the last time somone had a BC/BS or Aetna, or cigna card. Thats crazy. And it does not help i have a homeless shelter on one side of me and a psych hospital on the other. My store is like a "hangout" for thieves, IV drug abusers,prostitutes, bums, bag ladys, and whinos.....it's pretty rough i swear..my census data shows 30% live BELOW the poverty line in that zip code! and like 85% have achieved a high school diploma, so i'm not dealing with the most intelligent people. Everyone is poor and it brings a TON of negativity and problems. You guys know the deal..."i have medicade" ok may i see your card? " I dont have it" do you have your number? "no"....lol and a million other issues that hold up my entire day....crazy

IF you work at WM you understand better, we have a system that is antiquated and inefficient. Too many steps to get things done as well. Really a beast to process Rx's. I promise it's not my training or the techs that are the issue, these girls are sharp. it's just a lousy situation over-all. some days i just feel like bailing, others go smooth, like today....Next week we officially start the two pharmacist roatation. My plan is to feel it out and see if i am going to encounter issues meeting deadlines, demands, metrics....etc. And my boss is cool, we are on good terms.....but he is VERY competative and has VERY high expectations, pushes us real hard....not that i mind, but when im so darn short staffed, ease up off the gas a little or the engine is gonna blow man!

ok im done venting, thank you for listening.....lol i gotta prepare for WELLNES DAY saturday......a totally useless event the company assumes will bring in more business.....;-P

I'm actually trying to help you. I need your tech hours per week so I can determine if it's your techs efficiency or not.

While you may love your techs, they still may need to work quicker "ya know"

 

[owlegrad]

I'm actually trying to help you. I need your tech hours per week so I can determine if it's your techs efficiency or not.

While you may love your techs, they still may need to work quicker "ya know"

You would only know how to compare them to Walgreen's techs though. Walgreen's system is a lot more efficient than CVS' from my experience and may be WAY more efficient that Walmart. I wouldn't consider it apples to oranges since it is still retail but it's hardly like comparing one Walgreens to another and even that can be tricky when you consider different patient populations (e.g., some patients might be good about using the app vs seniors that love nothing more than chatting on the phone).

 

[wagrxm2000]

You would only know how to compare them to Walgreen's techs though. Walgreen's system is a lot more efficient than CVS' from my experience and may be WAY more efficient that Walmart. I wouldn't consider it apples to oranges since it is still retail but it's hardly like comparing one Walgreens to another and even that can be tricky when you consider different patient populations (e.g., some patients might be good about using the app vs seniors that love nothing more than chatting on the phone).

I honestly just wanted to see just how many more tech hours he has then Walgreens.

I have no advice for a guy who constantly complains while getting paid $70/hour.

He will literally create a new thread tomorrow complaining about something different.

 

[owlegrad]

I honestly just wanted to see just how many more tech hours he has then Walgreens.

I have no advice for a guy who constantly complains while getting paid $70/hour.

He will literally create a new thread tomorrow complaining about something different.

You would die if you saw how many tech hours LTC pharmacies use to fill scripts. All while complaining about how short staffed we are, lol.

Just tonight in an 8 hour shift I had 16 hours of Order Entry, 6 hours of Adjudication, 10 hours for IV, 10 hours for controls, and 28 hours for production. Oh and 19 hours of RPh coverage. I didn’t check the numbers but we probably did like 500-600 scripts in that time frame.

And those are just the workflow techs, every week we spend 200 hours on support staff that do not work in workflow at all. Stuff like purchasing and credits. Imagine having a full time tech just do credits (our version of RTS). And she complains how overworked she is and how they used to have two techs for credits. And another full-time tech just for purchasing. It’s mind boggling.

 

[trailerpark]

I can tell which of you have never worked at Walmart. Connexus is the most inefficient obnoxious way to get a prescription from start to finish. You have to start telling your "patients" to call their **** in a week ahead of time. The ******ed old people that constantly show up to drop off with a bag of empty vials with some out of refills, some out of stock, some on backorder all while saying "I guess I'll die" need to do just that.

I don't have time to click 50 times and go through 30 windows to fill 1 medication. I'm too busy writing A Tale of 2 Cities "pain stories" in the counseling notes that no one will ever read besides my DM who goes looking for them to pretend she's being useful and fighting the opioid epidemic. Someone is on a benzo and opioid!? THAT'S RARE! LOL quick someone ask them if they want narcan and when they say "no" we have to qualify if it's a hard no (ask again in 6 months) or a soft no (ask again immediately). Are rape victims that say "no" asked if it was a hard or soft no?

Oh no I haven't logged into RxCompanion in months so I can cold call patients and educate them on why it's common sense to take your meds. I need to spend a good hour doing those calls to get a solid 5 dollar reimbursement! I'm so glad our "clinical" pharmacist PCSM got canned with cuts. What a complete waste she was. On a recent conference call we were told Walmart has the highest cost "by far!" to fill 1 rx. Hmmm I wonder why... Well got to go to bed because there's another AMAZING HEALTH & WELLNESS DAY TOMORROW! I can't wait to beg the beasts that shop at Walmart to get a free screening. The same beasts who are all on Medicaid and can use the ER as a primary care free walk in clinic. Healthcare begins here? What a joke! Lets lay off hundreds of pharmacy staff then send us all to DISNEY's mickey mouse training this fall to drink another company's kool aid. I hope I can create moments of care and share it on our Ethernet. The last shout out I read was a pharmacist who called a urgent care to switch a eye drop to something else that was covered. WOW doing your job, go you!

OP just remember Walmart isn't about the "tasks" as they're calling it anymore like filling or typing or 4 pointing or processing prescriptions in any way. It's about creating these moments of care so strap on your mickey mouse ears and have at it.

 

[sozetone]

I can tell which of you have never worked at Walmart. Connexus is the most inefficient obnoxious way to get a prescription from start to finish. You have to start telling your "patients" to call their **** in a week ahead of time. The ******ed old people that constantly show up to drop off with a bag of empty vials with some out of refills, some out of stock, some on backorder all while saying "I guess I'll die" need to do just that.

I don't have time to click 50 times and go through 30 windows to fill 1 medication. I'm too busy writing A Tale of 2 Cities "pain stories" in the counseling notes that no one will ever read besides my DM who goes looking for them to pretend she's being useful and fighting the opioid epidemic. Someone is on a benzo and opioid!? THAT'S RARE! LOL quick someone ask them if they want narcan and when they say "no" we have to qualify if it's a hard no (ask again in 6 months) or a soft no (ask again immediately). Are rape victims that say "no" asked if it was a hard or soft no?

Oh no I haven't logged into RxCompanion in months so I can cold call patients and educate them on why it's common sense to take your meds. I need to spend a good hour doing those calls to get a solid 5 dollar reimbursement! I'm so glad our "clinical" pharmacist PCSM got canned with cuts. What a complete waste she was. On a recent conference call we were told Walmart has the highest cost "by far!" to fill 1 rx. Hmmm I wonder why... Well got to go to bed because there's another AMAZING HEALTH & WELLNESS DAY TOMORROW! I can't wait to beg the beasts that shop at Walmart to get a free screening. The same beasts who are all on Medicaid and can use the ER as a primary care free walk in clinic. Healthcare begins here? What a joke! Lets lay off hundreds of pharmacy staff then send us all to DISNEY's mickey mouse training this fall to drink another company's kool aid. I hope I can create moments of care and share it on our Ethernet. The last shout out I read was a pharmacist who called a urgent care to switch a eye drop to something else that was covered. WOW doing your job, go you!

OP just remember Walmart isn't about the "tasks" as they're calling it anymore like filling or typing or 4 pointing or processing prescriptions in any way. It's about creating these moments of care so strap on your mickey mouse ears and have at it.

Damn, you literally summed it right up. One thing trailer. I believe this disney thing , coupled with accountability, drastic cuts, is all designed to work out the "older" paid pharmacists. I'm sure you can see that. Why would a company invest time and money into accountability, cut back so bad and then ask for more? The cuts are a way of shaking things up and eliminating higher paid pharms straight away. Those who only got cut, not canned, will quit eventually.....and the best kicker? it makes life hard for everyone around them who now get to run single coverage with the most inefficient system ever created. They are trying to shake us off like a case of the fleas. they have put NO effort into making the system smoother like disneys 4th basic principle "simplicity"......why not? why cut everything to the point your people are set up to fail and not help..... it's pretty obvious bro. I got wellness day tomorrow too man...i love possibly catching scabies from the filthy homeless people i have to touch.....keep in touch man...and dont let up on that "high perormance culture", like we were not doing that already? lol

 

[Sine Cura]

The last shout out I read was a pharmacist who called a urgent care to switch a eye drop to something else that was covered. WOW doing your job, go you!

One of mine in recent times was about doing 16 TARs for a non-California resident who just "moved" to California the week prior and who got Medi-Cal almost immediately (like WTF?)

 

[Sine Cura]

Here's a list of sold Rx (not 90d equiv but actual Rx) to tech hour ratios (actually s3g "supportive hours" since you could use cheaper unlicensed people instead of techs) for some stores (California only). None of these are 3k or more a week.

9.4:1
8.4:1
8:1
7.8:1
7.4:1
7.3:1
6.3:1 ***
5.66:1 ***
3.6:1 ***

*** = I do not even know how they are even allowed to schedule that luxuriously (all below 1k/week sold)

The more Medicaid the higher the ratio

I am sure it is worse outside California though.

At cvs I did 2400-2800 sold on 250 tech hours consistently depending on snowbird season (did flex up to 280 if we had floaters to help out)

 

[nickw2401]

Do whatever you can to get out of retail. Look at smaller hospitals to start (300 beds or less) . I work 7 on 7 off and its glorious. No stress 4 weeks of vacation to start. 120k starting which is less than retail but quality of life is so much better.

 

[SoylentGreen]

guys,

My store does about 1700---2000/wk. bad neighborhood, the usual dumpster fire store. I spent the last two years getting out the bad eggs and have been making good profit and running smooth for a while now....did a total 180 on a store nobody thought would amount to squat. Now 2nd in profit in my market, metrics are pretty solid too. I took a bad hit on these last cuts and im down to bare bones. single coverage is killing us....this last week was my try-out so to speak and i'm absolutley over whelmed. It gets so chaotic ya feel like your going to kill someone ya know? constant interruptions even worse than before, and whats gonna happen when i'm doing 15-20 flu shots a day? I'm worried i can no longer manage effectively with the staff provided. No matter how good a manager you are (and i'm decent) , you do reach a point where you have to throw in the towel, no? because all i see at wal mart now is higher ACCOUNTABILITY, and more tasks, goals...etc, and much less help. It almost seems like a setup for failure....?

Is it worth even addressing with my DM ? Should i just bail back to my home state (fL) and take a crappy floating job? I feel like they are intentionally trying to hold the older, higher paid pharms accountable to over turn the current stock and hire the newer (lower paid) ones. I have a serious life decision to make here......and im only 40!!! WTF? aging out at 40 huh? nice...

what would you guys do?

I'm in the same situation. We haven't implemented the cuts yet but we will probably after this pay period and it looks like I will just be doing staff pharmacist duties all day, no time for anything to do with management, which will all be done for no pay after hours.

But we are probably all in this situation, and none of us are going to be as successful as we would like. Part of the new accountability policy is that the higher managers have more leeway. They are going to pick on the bottom performers, not fire all of the managers at once. If you can avoid being in the bottom 20% and not be a pain in the ass troublemaker, I can't imagine you would be terminated for performance. I think this was intended to get rid of troublemakers, dead weight, and people who don't execute the programs they come up with.

There might be some plan to fire everybody making over a certain amount. I don't know. So far it's speculation as far as I know. Have you seen any pharmacists fired or coached yourself that you think were targeted due to their pay? I haven't. Even if they do have that plan, who knows, maybe the new grads will suck and they'll back off on it. If we see it happening for real, we will know, and you probably won't be the first if your metrics etc are relatively good. Why take a pay cut now based on worst case scenario thinking when it might not happen, and if it does, you can take the pay cut later?

And why not bring up the concern with your DM? Maybe he'll be able to tell you something. I don't see the harm in expressing that concern, like that you'd be labelled a troublemaker or something like that.

 

[sozetone]

I'm in the same situation. We haven't implemented the cuts yet but we will probably after this pay period and it looks like I will just be doing staff pharmacist duties all day, no time for anything to do with management, which will all be done for no pay after hours.

But we are probably all in this situation, and none of us are going to be as successful as we would like. Part of the new accountability policy is that the higher managers have more leeway. They are going to pick on the bottom performers, not fire all of the managers at once. If you can avoid being in the bottom 20% and not be a pain in the ass troublemaker, I can't imagine you would be terminated for performance. I think this was intended to get rid of troublemakers, dead weight, and people who don't execute the programs they come up with.

There might be some plan to fire everybody making over a certain amount. I don't know. So far it's speculation as far as I know. Have you seen any pharmacists fired or coached yourself that you think were targeted due to their pay? I haven't. Even if they do have that plan, who knows, maybe the new grads will suck and they'll back off on it. If we see it happening for real, we will know, and you probably won't be the first if your metrics etc are relatively good. Why take a pay cut now based on worst case scenario thinking when it might not happen, and if it does, you can take the pay cut later?

And why not bring up the concern with your DM? Maybe he'll be able to tell you something. I don't see the harm in expressing that concern, like that you'd be labelled a troublemaker or something like that.

Pretty logical, I agree. I figure i will see how manageable the new template will be and see if any performance issues arise. My Dm and I are on good terms, so i dont expect problems, but who knows right? My contigency plan is, if ANY performance issues arise, I simply put in 2 weeks, and we head back to FL (home state). I wont be able to transfer anyway, right? but yeah i'm gonna hang on and just let the chips fall as they may. Wellness day was dumb as usual...lol how was yours? you save any lives?

 

[sozetone]

Here's a list of sold Rx (not 90d equiv but actual Rx) to tech hour ratios (actually s3g "supportive hours" since you could use cheaper unlicensed people instead of techs) for some stores (California only). None of these are 3k or more a week.

9.4:1
8.4:1
8:1
7.8:1
7.4:1
7.3:1
6.3:1 ***
5.66:1 ***
3.6:1 ***

*** = I do not even know how they are even allowed to schedule that luxuriously (all below 1k/week sold)

The more Medicaid the higher the ratio

I am sure it is worse outside California though.

At cvs I did 2400-2800 sold on 250 tech hours consistently depending on snowbird season (did flex up to 280 if we had floaters to help out)

I'm probably around 8-9:1 ........ i looked at last months P&L, we averaged ~1600/wk. That will bump up of course.....so im allowed like ~200/wk i think i can get away with...and single coverage shifts starting this week for pharms 80 for me 80 for my partner.....some weeks are worse, just depends...you think it's do-able in the WM environment?

And yeah, how on earth are they doing even 4:1 ???? thats pretty cush...

 

[SoylentGreen]

Pretty logical, I agree. I figure i will see how manageable the new template will be and see if any performance issues arise. My Dm and I are on good terms, so i dont expect problems, but who knows right? My contigency plan is, if ANY performance issues arise, I simply put in 2 weeks, and we head back to FL (home state). I wont be able to transfer anyway, right? but yeah i'm gonna hang on and just let the chips fall as they may. Wellness day was dumb as usual...lol how was yours? you save any lives?

It's easier to find a job when you already have a job - no employment gaps to explain away and it's easy to sell the idea that there's nothing wrong with you or your relationship with your current employer and you just want to go back to your home state from halfway across the country. If you're unemployed when you apply they might wonder whether you were fired for cause and you're slinking back home, and Walmart only verifies dates of employment to prospective employers. In today's job market, why should an employer take a chance on anybody with a questionable resume?

Why not just job hunt while you're still employed? It will take some time between the first hints of a performance issue and termination. I get performance issues all the time in that they want something else done or better metrics but that usually doesn't amount to any real trouble if you take some steps to whack whatever mole is popping its head up at the time. Again, they're only going to pick on bottom performers, barring some Logan's Run plot to get rid of oldsters.

As for Wellness Day, I'd have to ask the staff pharmacist who did it! Why should it be us managers? If I were there I'd rather be in the box maybe getting a chance to do an audit or something.

 

[SoylentGreen]

I'm probably around 8-9:1 ........ i looked at last months P&L, we averaged ~1600/wk. That will bump up of course.....so im allowed like ~200/wk i think i can get away with...and single coverage shifts starting this week for pharms 80 for me 80 for my partner.....some weeks are worse, just depends...you think it's do-able in the WM environment?

And yeah, how on earth are they doing even 4:1 ???? thats pretty cush...

My store is like a carbon copy of yours (maybe slightly busier) except they are still allowing double coverage each weekday, just not as much. Somehow I got away with cutting 16 hours when we were supposed to cut 40. I don't understand my boss's logic and I suspect he messed up and is going to come back and make me cut more. Our s3g allows just a little more than single coverage which is awkward since all of us commute in from an hour or more away, and nobody wants to work 6 short shifts every week, least of all me.

Really a good pharmacist should be able to handle this volume alone if they are delegating everything that does not require an rph license. Many Walmart pharmacist do not fit this description and will probably end up being terminated as everything goes to hell when they don't have someone else to pick up their slack anymore.

We are getting a tech hour per 7-8 rxs and this is considered a relatively easy store here. I wanna know if that store that does 3-4 rx per tech hour is hiring.

 

[sozetone]

It's easier to find a job when you already have a job - no employment gaps to explain away and it's easy to sell the idea that there's nothing wrong with you or your relationship with your current employer and you just want to go back to your home state from halfway across the country. If you're unemployed when you apply they might wonder whether you were fired for cause and you're slinking back home, and Walmart only verifies dates of employment to prospective employers. In today's job market, why should an employer take a chance on anybody with a questionable resume?

Why not just job hunt while you're still employed? It will take some time between the first hints of a performance issue and termination. I get performance issues all the time in that they want something else done or better metrics but that usually doesn't amount to any real trouble if you take some steps to whack whatever mole is popping its head up at the time. Again, they're only going to pick on bottom performers, barring some Logan's Run plot to get rid of oldsters.

As for Wellness Day, I'd have to ask the staff pharmacist who did it! Why should it be us managers? If I were there I'd rather be in the box maybe getting a chance to do an audit or something.

My dm makes the managers do it always!!

 

[Prepharm1214]

Cannot comment on Walmarts computer system inefficiencies but we've been at 1 tech hour per 10/11 scripts sold for years at RAD and still losing a fair amount of money apparently. The ratio is much worse at CVS and Wags as well.

 

[Chrish]

Increase wait times and DGAF about bitchy patients. No more "two is a crowd" and other customer-first bull****. I just enjoy the decline. If you want to write me up I don't give a **** as long as you get rid of the slacktards first.

Everyone who has their job as their primary source of income is now skittish about their heads being next and it's hilarious to see.

Mandatory EPCS in 2020 will result in my store losing maybe 5% of current Rx (we'll lose all the tooth extractor Rx, ED Rx, some pain mgmt, and low-income psych clinic Rx to CVS, big whoop) and a full-blown recession will see even more pain.

I feel wm will make exceptions on electronic controls. I don’t see emergency rooms doing e-rxs anytime soon. So it will be something like “we require e-rx but exceptions can be made based on pharmacist’s discretion etc.”

 

[Sine Cura]

In California there are specific requirements for written controlled substance prescriptions promulgated since January 1, 2007 that these ****ty printers of CS forms weren't following and lazy prescribers continued to use outdated forms, then Walmart starting making a big deal about refusing all of these due to BOP audits. Eventually most of them got into line due to complaints (except Sutter Health and lazy-ass Kaiser docs using pads from 2012) but then the California legislature came up with this stupid unique serial number requirement for 2019 THAT IS STILL NOT BEING IMPLEMENTED IN PDMP and then extended a grace period for adoption until 2021.

Of course I know customers would be upset about this bureaucratic crap, but I assure that all health systems, cheap-**** private practices, dentists all blamed WM because wEvE nEvEr HaD a PrObLeM iN tHe PaSt. So I normally wouldn't give a **** we get to get rid of all Kaiser controlled Rx, 90% of all dental controlled Rx etc.

However, California BOP is also known to stack the deck against licensees like this because patients are ****ing ******ed and won't contact their doctor's office, like this that happens tens of thousands a day across the United States:

"On January 30, 2015, patient Jody M. requested that Respondents obtain a new prescription for Lipitor 40mg from her physician, Dr. Anna S. Respondents did not receive a response from Dr. Anna S to their request for a new prescription. On February 16, 2016, Jody M. contacted Respondents to inquire about the status of her medication. She was informed that her physician did not respond to the request for a new prescription. On February 17, 2015, she contacted Respondents to request that another request for the new prescription be sent to Dr. Anna S. Respondents' pharmacy clerk told Jody M. that another request would be sent to Dr. Anna S. However, it was not sent to Dr. Anna S. nor was Jody M advised of the status of her medication.
"On February 24, 2015, Jody M. contacted Respondents because she had not received her medication. Respondents issued yet another new prescription request to Dr. Anna S. On February 27, 2015, Jody M. received her medication from Respondents."

It seems OptumRx and the PIC actually got cited for **** like the above for having "obstructed the dispensing of prescription drugs" (BPC 733(a)). Now imagine if Walmart persists in making this EPCS-only policy go live in California.

Just ****ing LOL

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Here's a list of sold Rx (not 90d equiv but actual Rx) to tech hour ratios (actually s3g "supportive hours" since you could use cheaper unlicensed people instead of techs) for some stores (California only). None of these are 3k or more a week.

9.4:1
8.4:1
8:1
7.8:1
7.4:1
7.3:1
6.3:1 ***
5.66:1 ***
3.6:1 ***

*** = I do not even know how they are even allowed to schedule that luxuriously (all below 1k/week sold)

The more Medicaid the higher the ratio

I am sure it is worse outside California though.

At cvs I did 2400-2800 sold on 250 tech hours consistently depending on snowbird season (did flex up to 280 if we had floaters to help out)

My store is 10.8 scripts per hour. And we have drive-thru

 

[Sine Cura]

I'm using 30 day not fake 90 day equivalence crap like it takes 3x the work to fill 90 day lisinopril instead of 30 days

Also i use rx sold not what's filled

 

[sozetone]

One of mine in recent times was about doing 16 TARs for a non-California resident who just "moved" to California the week prior and who got Medi-Cal almost immediately (like WTF?)

oh man your so right on, all these "moments of care" are literally stuff we have been doing, and should be doing ALL the time......

 

[sozetone]

I had a guy some in tonight, nice enough spanish guy, who injured himself at work. He had a bandage wrapped around one finger.....he told me the doctor advised him to take ibuprofen. ok right? so then he shows me the picture of his MANGLED finger. Down to the bone! i'm talking texas chainsaw massacre type nasty! i was like what?? not even a tylenol #3? WTF.... and he was such a nice guy. I actually called the ER and told the doctor in my best NY accent, like hey this guy has almost no finger, and his bone is exposed.,...hes in excrutiating pain! .....doc realized he messed up. Sent over #10 5/325 norco. immediately. What is going on in this country man.... i dunno...and still only 10 tabs? i wish i could show you guys....it was horrible, there was large skin chunks shredded away from the bone...a little ligament or tendon maybe exposed.....jeez...Is that a "moment of care"?

 

[Sine Cura]

Are you really surprised? I've seen people given scripts for the wrong person and they (both pt and prescriber) don't even know, ED PAs practicing chronic pain management

 

[Lubeckd]

Found this on reddit
"
Great post. Bootcamps are sadly doing to software engineering what ****ty law schools did to the legal field. That is, saturating the market with enthusiastic but vastly underqualified applicants. Computer science/engineering is a complex and demanding field and this notion that you can take a quick X-week course and somehow compete with a plethora of solid degree-holding candidates is...let’s just say naïve. That’s not to say that there aren’t some awesome developers that come out of these courses—there are—but, for the most part, graduates do little more than line the pockets of their respective bootcamps with little hope of landing solid employment. The saddest part to me is that many people, in an effort to keep up the illusion that their experience was different and “elite,” fail to speak out these against these diploma mills for what they are: complete rackets.
"

put bootcamps for pharmacy school

 

[sozetone]

Found this on reddit
"
Great post. Bootcamps are sadly doing to software engineering what ****ty law schools did to the legal field. That is, saturating the market with enthusiastic but vastly underqualified applicants. Computer science/engineering is a complex and demanding field and this notion that you can take a quick X-week course and somehow compete with a plethora of solid degree-holding candidates is...let’s just say naïve. That’s not to say that there aren’t some awesome developers that come out of these courses—there are—but, for the most part, graduates do little more than line the pockets of their respective bootcamps with little hope of landing solid employment. The saddest part to me is that many people, in an effort to keep up the illusion that their experience was different and “elite,” fail to speak out these against these diploma mills for what they are: complete rackets.
"

put bootcamps for pharmacy school

The country is now cashing in on peoples dreams man.....so sad...

 

[mentos]

Found this on reddit
"
Great post. Bootcamps are sadly doing to software engineering what ****ty law schools did to the legal field. That is, saturating the market with enthusiastic but vastly underqualified applicants. Computer science/engineering is a complex and demanding field and this notion that you can take a quick X-week course and somehow compete with a plethora of solid degree-holding candidates is...let’s just say naïve. That’s not to say that there aren’t some awesome developers that come out of these courses—there are—but, for the most part, graduates do little more than line the pockets of their respective bootcamps with little hope of landing solid employment. The saddest part to me is that many people, in an effort to keep up the illusion that their experience was different and “elite,” fail to speak out these against these diploma mills for what they are: complete rackets.
"

put bootcamps for pharmacy school

The difference is that if you can't code then you won't have a finished product by the client's deadline... You will get booted fast. Whereas in pharmacy if you're underperforming, well it may take a few years for them to get rid of you.

 

[Lubeckd]

The difference is that if you can't code then you won't have a finished product by the client's deadline... You will get booted fast. Whereas in pharmacy if you're underperforming, well it may take a few years for them to get rid of you.

You can't even walk in the door that's the main point. No technical skill, pharmacy is get in door but bad job security

 

[sozetone]

The difference is that if you can't code then you won't have a finished product by the client's deadline... You will get booted fast. Whereas in pharmacy if you're underperforming, well it may take a few years for them to get rid of you.

Few years? your being generous, wal mart has created an Express lane to accountability and firings......kinda like a SELF CHECKOUT.....lol One conversation about a behavior/performance can then lead to termination depending on how your DM interprets the impact it had on a customer/patient.....they basically gave our dm's open season on pharmacists. But i hear this is happening at ALL the big chains. ACCOUNTABILITY is the buzz word now....