Vauhini Vara tells us why CVS Pharmacies stopped selling cigarettes and details a bit of the history of that now-ubiquitous chain. If nothing else, this piece will tell you what "CVS" stands for, which I hadn't known 'til I read this piece.
Personally, I think all the reasons CVS had for dumping cigarettes would apply if they also got rid of the homeopathic "medicines" they sell. There's a lot of medical advice on the CVS website and if you look up homeopathy there, you'll find an awful lot of evidence presented that the stuff doesn't work…but they still sell it.
I actually have a great suggestion for the CVS people on how to improve their business…
Yesterday, I spent a lot of time on the phone waiting on hold to talk to people who might be able to solve problems I have. About half that time was spent with Time-Warner's Tier 3 Tech Support where no one can solve my ongoing e-mail problems and now no one can solve a problem I'm having with my phones. The rest was spent waiting to talk to someone at my insurance company.
Briefly: I take this medicine which costs about $350 a month. That's without insurance. Since I have insurance, it costs me $25, which means it probably costs the company that makes it about two bucks for a month's supply. The CVS website told me the prescription was ready for renewal so I renewed it online, then later walked over to pick it up.
They told me it wasn't ready and wouldn't be because my insurance had rejected the claim. In my presence, the CVS Pharmacist phoned this insurance company to find out why…and I had a slight satisfaction that they kept her waiting on hold as long as I'm kept waiting on hold when I call CVS to speak to someone like her. She was finally told that I need a Prior Authorization for the prescription.
(I've never quite understood the premise of the Prior Authorization. My doctor says I need to take a certain medication. I go to the pharmacy and they check with the insurance company and they tell the pharmacy and then the pharmacy tells me I need a Prior Authorization so I go back to my doctor and he fills out a different form that says I need to take that medication and he faxes it in and then eventually, I get the same medication he wanted me to have in the first place and there's got to be an easier way to do that…easier for everyone.)
Anyway, in this case, I already had a Prior Authorization. I got it last month in order to get my August supply of this drug. The Pharmacist said I needed another, different Prior Authorization and gave me the number to call the insurance company to find out more.
It took me 45 minutes last night to connect with someone at my insurance company…and what she told me was that I didn't need any new Prior Authorization. The problem was that CVS had put through my automatic refill request a day early. For some reason, instead of responding that the request was about 12 hours premature, the insurance firm's computer kicked back a rejection and some nonsense about a new Prior Authorization.
So I waited until after Midnight, put through an online refill request, then went over to the pharmacy at 1:30 AM and got my pills for $25.
I don't think I've ever gotten this particular medicine in one trip to the pharmacy. I go there thinking to myself, "Well, let's see what the reason is this month that I'm going to have to make a bunch of phone calls and at least one more trip here." I'm about ready to switch to the insurance company's online mail order service on the grounds that I'm going to have to call them anyway each month about this.
This will cost CVS a lot of business…and not just because they'll lose whatever profit they make selling me my medication. They'll also lose the revenue from everything else I buy while I'm there. As in most drugstores, the pharmacy counter is in the back of the store and I can't seem to make it from the back to the front without spending at least forty bucks.