By David Lichtenstein
As of October 1, members of the Hawaii Employer-Union Trust Fund have been required to order all their maintenance medicine prescriptions by mail through InformedRx out of Illinois. So far, this new mandatory system has created dozens of problems for customers on Molokai, according to Kim Svetin of Molokai Drugs, who said her staff spends about eight hours a day on the phone with InformedRx trying to solve customer issues.
Approximately 600 or more current and former union workers and their families on Molokai and Lanai use the EUTF system. Svetin estimates this impacts about 10 percent of the people on Molokai. She asks that all customers using this system look at every bottle received to make sure the prescription is correct, especially since a customer came into Molokai Drugs with muscle relaxers after ordering cholesterol-lowering medicine.
Molokai Drugs has requested a delay in the implementation of this mandatory system until February 1. Svetin said that with this additional time she hopes that InformedRx can resolve issues involving customer paperwork, stocking adequate supplies, hours of operation and customer service. Apparently, the customer service line closes at 11 a.m. Hawaiian time.
One customer complained to the state that she was placed on hold for five hours with InformedRX. Typical hold times of 45 minutes have been reported, said Svetin, even for pharmacists calling InformedRx from Molokai Drugs.
Since the EUTF announced in July that the mandatory system would be put in place, Molokai Drugs has lobbied for an exemption. As the only pharmacy for Molokai and Lanai, Molokai Drugs has a close relationship with many of its customers and argued that this would place an undo burden on them, particularly the elderly. The EUTF board rejected this request for exemption about two weeks ago. The EUTF has not responded to the request to delay implementation of the system.
The Hawaii Board of Pharmacy has fielded numerous complaints on the mail order system. Leeann Teshima, executive officer for the Board Pharmacy, said that yesterday she referred over 20 such complaints to the Regulated Industry Complaints Office, or RICO. Since October 1, the state has received well over 20 complaints but fewer than 50, said Teshima.
Filed under: News
Our Men & Women is fighting for our freedom in the Middle East, So they say. What freedom do we have when the Government tells us where to buy our prescription drugs from?
Who is this company informed RX and why them. Why not dohow we use to do it. You go to your own pharmacy here in Hawaii.
Why pay for drugs from a company that EUTF picked for us.
What freedom???????
I too agree with Pat Cosma Sr. We pay all these money out just to get good medical coverages, not we have to buy our prescriptions thru the mail. Come on now… What happens if the prescriptions we purchased thru the mail, is not only being handled by the company that makes them. They could also be intercepted by others thru the mailing system, and messed with before getting to us. I would feel safer getting it here at our local pharmacy, and not pay for prescription from a company that EUTF picks for us. It’s true to what he says, “Where’s our freedom?”. This just doesn’t make any sense. What happens to those of us who needs these medicines to survive? Do we have to wait 5-10 days before receiving them? How safe are our prescriptions upon receiving them? Are these fresh drugs or old ones that were stored up in their warehouses. Come on all you Americans who has been paying for these expensive medical coverage just to help us get thru life. Whether you are young or old, each of us will need prescriptions that we need for the rest of our lives. Should we all wait for it to be mailed in to us, or be able to get it from our local pharmacies. The government likes running our systems, but do they have the right to run our lives???????????