09/21/2026
Please read! Always call us and check before transferring your prescriptions to a large pharmacy chain because your insurance insists “you have to”. It should always be your decision where you get your prescriptions and who you support!!
Well…we made it to Friday. But not without one more PBM fight. 😡
Today, we received a call from a certain chain pharmacy down the road requesting the transfer of a patient’s entire prescription profile.
I immediately called the patient because I was concerned that we had done something wrong or that she was unhappy with us.
She was not.
She told me her insurance company called and said she could no longer use Byrd-Watson because we are an independent pharmacy—and that she had to transfer everything to that chain pharmacy.
What they told her was a complete lie.
We are in network with her insurance, and her prescriptions have $0 copays. There was absolutely no reason she had to leave.
And here’s where the story gets especially fun 🙄: We make less than $2 TOTAL on all EIGHT of her prescriptions combined. $1.54 to be exact…for filling 8 prescriptions! That doesn’t include the bottles, labels, staff time or any of the other costs involved in filling prescriptions. 😠
Yet I still spent 20 minutes on the phone fighting to keep this patient—not because those prescriptions are profitable, but because she chose us, she trusts us, and she’s OUR patient!!
Today’s battle wasn’t about financial gain, it was about principle—and protecting our patients right to choose the pharmacy that she already knows and trusts!
So please—if your insurance company ever tells you that you must switch pharmacies, check with us first. Let us verify it before you transfer anything. You probably have more choice than they want you to believe!
As always…THANK YOU for your continued support of local, independent pharmacy! You’re the reason we’re here, and you’re the reason we keep on fighting! 💚
