The Los Angeles Times reports that “California pharmacies make an estimated 5 million errors every year, according to the state’s Board of Pharmacy.”
It is only an estimate, the Board of Pharmacy says, because “pharmacies are not required to report them.”
According to the story, “Most of the mistakes that California officials have discovered, according to citations issued by the board and reviewed by the Times, occurred at chain pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens, where a pharmacist may fill hundreds of prescriptions during a shift, while juggling other tasks such as giving vaccinations, calling doctors’ offices to confirm prescriptions and working the drive-through.”
The story says that “in a survey of California licensed pharmacists in 2021, 91% of those working at chain pharmacies said staffing wasn’t high enough to provide patients adequate care.
“Although the board requires pharmacies to document errors internally, inform patients about mistakes in certain cases and learn how to prevent them from occurring again, only 62% of chain pharmacists said stores were following those rules, according to the survey.”
The Times points out that “CVS and Walgreens declined to make executives available for interviews but sent statements saying that the errors were rare. Rite Aid did not respond to messages.”
KC’s View:
These are companies spending enormous sums of money to buy themselves a larger footprint in the healthcare industry. However, it would appear from this story that they’re only buying themselves into the business – they’re not earning a broader role in the healthcare continuum.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want to depend on these retail companies for healthcare if they can’t even get the prescription business – which is supposed to be a core competency – right.
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