Fuck you, 
Dear Karen S. Lynch, David Joyner, and all of CVS Caremark,
On behalf of the general public, we'd just like to say, "Fuck You!" for your evil and corrupt business practices. Your leadership ought to be ashamed of themselves and the burden they place on society. You may think you're helping, but please know that we absolutely despise you.
Sure, prescription drugs are expensive, and we can't blame you for wanting to turn a profit in America. This isn't even about money! It's about your shit service, complete lack of transparency, and utter incompetence.
Need some ideas? glad you asked!
- Stop Making Pre-authorizations a Reason for Suicide: This is a Kafkaesque nightmare seemingly intended to wear down patients and doctors. Make the process transparent and easy to understand and track. Create a web portal where I can see the status of the authorization request and all related material and correspondence from my doctor and Caremark. Show the policy language the request is being evaluated against so I can be an informed patient.
- Your Mail Order Service is Garbage -- Switching to Mail Order Should be Easy AF: Make it trivial to transfer prescriptions from other pharmacies into your 90-day mail order service. Somehow you make medications delivered to my door inconvenient. Have you been to a doctor? The first question they ask is always, "Is your pharmacy still ___." Don't make me waste my time explaining: "Well, if it's something I need quickly or will take for less than 3 months then send it here. But, if it's something I might need for more than 3 months, can wait 7 days to receive, and is on this random list, then send it to Caremark." They know what insurance I have, make it automatically shift to mail order if it makes sense. You're the administrator, administer! And, please, if you're requiring me to do something to change where a medication is filled, at least be transparent about how much money this is saving everyone.
- Your Logistics System is Hot Garbage: If you're out of stock on a medication, don't just cancel the order or put it on hold. Send me a text with options and let me choose based on how much I have left. Is there a queue of people waiting, and if so, how long do you think I'll have to wait? Is there a generic or alternative dose available via mail order or retail store near me? Stop wasting my time and my doctor's time sending in new scripts because your logistics are shit.
- Communicate in a Timely Manner: Stop sending me paper mail. You might be the only company without a paperless option in 2024. Somehow your letters take 7-10 business days to arrive. When I have to wait over a week to get a response, it's impossible to have a timely and informed conversation with my doctor about alternatives.
- Care About Customer Surveys or Stop Pretending: Why should I fill out a survey on my experience when the score will only affect the hapless customer service rep who was powerless to do anything. Make the survey results public, include them in your annual report to shareholders and adjust your executive compensation according to patient satisfaction.
- End Step Therapy for Cost Control: There are already bills circulating calling for this to be illegal. Why not lead the way and start phasing it out now? At the very least, make clear and transparent guidelines easily available to patients and doctors that describes the trade-offs between medications. If patient and doctor can have that conversation before the prescription has even been written you won't have to go through the trouble of denying the initial request -- it's a win-win. Finally, if a patient is already on a drug that is working don't make them switch down to lower steps just because they changed insurance plans.
Dear Patients Fed Up with this Bullshit,
None of the suggestions above are really that transformational. If CVS cared about patients they would do it. Unfortunately, they don't and it's unlikely they will do anything. So, more drastic action is necessary:
Flood their Executive Leadership with Complaints via Email and Social Media
Contact Your Lawmakers
So many bills having to do with Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Even the guy indicted on curruption introduced a bill to curb their power. There are more at the state level too. Contact your elected officials
Get Help and Fight
Their strategy is to wear us down -- don't let them win! Be a thorn in their side until they change. In the worst case you'll waste their time, in the best case your particular issue may be resolved.
- Contact your state's insurance commissioner: Many states have an office that can help with insurnace claims, handle complaints, and can either help you understand your rights or actively help you resolve your issue.
- Report the issue as fraud to the FTC
- Get help from the US Department of Labor
