Double Whammy: Is Your Pharmacy Swapping-out Your Medicine for a Higher Price One?

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

CVS Caremark mails a substitute thyroid drug, charging a customer a higher price and refusing to allow a return.

Susan Segal normally spends about $30 for a three-month supply of a thyroid medication from CVS Caremark's mail-order pharmacy.

Recently, though, CVS sent her a different thyroid drug, which cost $23 more — a 77% increase.

Segal, 56, called to complain. A CVS service rep told the Irvine resident that the pharmacy wasn't trying to pull a fast one.

The rep explained that Segal's usual med, Levoxyl, couldn't be obtained, so CVS called her doctor and received permission to send her a similar drug, Synthroid, instead.

It's not unheard of for pharmacies to swap out one drug for another if there's a shortage. The idea is to ensure that the patient doesn't go cold turkey.

In Segal's case, the manufacturer of Levoxyl, King Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Pfizer, announced in March that it was recalling the drug because of "complaints from pharmacists and patients of an uncharacteristic odor." It said Levoxyl might not be available again until next year.

Had Segal bought her meds at a drugstore, she would have learned about the Levoxyl shortage at the point of sale and could have declined a more expensive substitute.

But, like many people, she buys her meds online. CVS informed Segal of the switch by letter. Problem was, the letter was included with the new medication, not sent in advance of the mail-order shipment.

Segal asked whether she could return the Synthroid for a refund. No, the CVS rep replied. Once a drug is shipped, it can't be returned.

Segal asked whether she at least could be charged the lower price she would have paid for Levoxyl. Again, no. All sales are final.

"I was furious," Segal told me. "They had time to call my doctor about this before sending out the drug, but not me?"

So what would she have done had she known she couldn't get her Levoxyl?

"I would have asked for my prescription back so I could try and find it at another pharmacy," Segal replied. "Maybe someone else would have had it."

Seems reasonable.

"And if that didn't work," Segal continued, "I would have asked my doctor if there was another drug, or a generic, I could have taken that would have been cheaper than Synthroid."

Another reasonable move.

"But I was never given the chance," Segal said. "And when I said this to CVS, they were unapologetic."

She makes fair points. A drug shortage isn't the fault of a drugstore. But the patient should have certain rights in this circumstance, and one such right should be the ability to make an informed decision about what drug to buy as an alternative.

Read More.... http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20130723,0,2670678.column

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