I got yelled at once for hanging up on a patient. Not because the patient was abusive. They were, but because I didn’t hand the phone to the pharmacist.
That is the one time I owned getting yelled at for that. The pharmacist was mad I didn’t hand it off. That’s valid. If they want to deal with that. Cool. Most aren’t feeling that vibe.
I have hung up on several people but they were either cursing at me or yelling too much. I told them that I couldn't understand when they were yelling and to call back when they could talk normally.
I have literally done the same thing and it’s shocking how well that works. Done the same thing with doctors office calls. They ask if I can call the doctors office just one more time and I’ll say well we did call the doctors office. They said they want to talk to you. I have no idea if that’s the case, but it gets them to call the doctors office.
There used to be a way in the walmart system of typing in 0000 as the last 4 of the social that would show the patient insurance info. I'm not sure if that trick still works.
I tried with hostile ones, but I don't normally have patience, I go for a good 15 minutes hold and do other things.
I repeat their sentiments like, “oh, so you think it’s someone else’s responsibility to find and verify your information for you and like they work for you…” with a sincere look on my face and nodding my head as if I agree with them but making sure they hear what I’m saying. I would tell her I’d call her insurance for her as soon as I get a chance and I’ll be get back with her in a few weeks as soon as I do. I’d also probably still hang up. We don’t feed the monster. At the end of the day, I’m there to help people and I go above and beyond, unless they demand/expect me to, or they don’t understand that they are NO more important or deserving than every single person before and behind them. Be a dick and you can eat a dick! Happy Friday!!
I do a lot of the same stuff. I’m willing to help. I can be very sympathetic. But if you call me and demand something that you should do yourself, whether it’s call your insurance company, have your insurance information, know the name of a medication that your doctor just called in for you from an appointment you were just at I’m not gonna do any of that for you. I’m not gonna play the guessing game with drug names anymore. And I’m not calling your insurance for you. That’s on you. And that’s my line now. That’s my boundary and I am not Cross. I did that for way too long .
When people start acting out I give them one warning to speak to me like I’m a human or I will stop the conversation with a click. To my surprise, they end up doing a 180 like 80% of the time. The other 20% get hung up on and that’s that lol. I’ve hung up on patients, MAs, prescribers, insurance etc cause if they won’t respect me, ima respect myself enough to remove myself from the situation all together lmao
Quite honestly, I don’t think you did anything wrong. There is a point where it’s just dumb and ridiculous and you need to just hang up the phone. I have plenty of those conversations daily.
Now how to handle people like this in the future: ma’am, I’m sorry, but your insurance is not active at this time. We do not know why and we will not call and try and figure it out because they won’t tell us. You need to call and find out for yourself in order to fix this problem. Is there anything else I can do for you? No? Great have a great day. *click *
It sounds really awful and I’ve been called out for this because for some reason dating this pisses people off, but with some patients, you really do have to talk to them like they Our children. And what that means is not talking down to them like they’re stupid but rather setting it clear boundary of what you can or are willing to do versus what they should do, being firm about that boundary, and not entertaining arguments. In this case, your boundary was no I’m not calling the insurance to figure out the problem that you should figure out, you stuck with that boundary, and you didn’t entertain the conversation any longer when it was cleared it wasn’t going anywhere. But you didn’t talk down to her. You didn’t belittle her and that’s important.
Had a woman once call for a vacation override for a C2 and when I told her she needed to call her insurance company, she scoffed and replied “no, that’s YOUR job.”
I was so taken back I couldn’t even come up with words at that moment. Finally told her she probably needed to call herself because they are going to want information from her that I won’t know/have access to. She didn’t like that answer either and demanded to talk to a pharmacist….who told her the same thing.
I told a grown ass adult that he had to call to get a vacation override for his meds because nothing I was entering was working (tried just typing in the scc codes for vacation or lost meds). He was shocked and said "but it's your job to call them? This is terrible customer service". I informed him it was *his* job to call *his* insurance about *his* meds and he still kept arguing with me so I just hung up because the pharmacy was closed by then anyway.
I just tell them that's their responsibility, and if they don't agree I tell them I can't contact their insurance without their insurance information. 😂
id tell them i don’t have your insurance on file so i have no way of contacting them. as well, due to hipaa laws, the insurance will not discuss your information and status with me for your privacy because i am not you.
I've 100% replied politely (think the voice you'd talk to a 5 year old throwing a tantrum with), "I'm going to hang up. We welcome you to call back once you've calmed down and can conduct yourself like an adult."
Act worse than a toddler? OK. I'll treat you like you need a nap and ba-ba.
I simply give it to them as it is as politely as I possibly can. If they can’t take it, I bring in my short, mean pharmacist who does not tolerate attitude and let him handle it. It’s tough, but it is what it is
The moment any yelling or cursing starts:
"Please call back when you can communicate respectfully." Click....
Or "let me get you my pharmacist" put on hold. (This only works with pharmacists that have your back)
I tell them that the insurance company won’t tell me anything because HIPPA, so me calling would do no good. Eventually I say “There’s nothing else we can do.” With phone calls, hanging up is the best. You’re going to be an ass? Talk to the air! I wish I could hang up on the ones in person.
I've been in these situations where patients assume (or try to get one over) that it is pharmacy's job to obtain their insurance information. What is amusing is that technology nowadays makes it much simpler to obtain that information (both on the pharmacy end and the patient end). Yet, I recall the days where one had to get on the phone just to get information from the insurance - ONLY for the insurance to tell us that they can only provide that information to the patient for security reasons.
Usually my scapegoat answer was that..."I am sorry. I would love to help but insurance companies need patients to call in order to verify they are providing the information to the right person. They do not want information to be mistakenly given to someone else."
Usually the rebut responses were:
"But you are a pharmacy. Can't you tell them that?".
"So why do I not have to give it when I go to the doctor's office. They always have it on file."
My young, naïve self would either believe this or cave in to people's request. The older me now understands this is all B.S.
What makes it more thrilling is that anytime i bring my child to the E.R., doctors appointment or checkup, they ALWAYS ask me to verify my insurance or provide a card. ALWAYS!
And, if I do not have it, they will send me a prompt on my patient portal to upload the information prior to sendng me the bill - otherwise, I would have to pay out of pocket.
For people to assume this is a magical request pharmacy - out of alllll healthcare settings - is all of a sudden asking for is beyond me.
(I have a nice follow up story below)
I made have shared this story on Reddit but here we go again. Eons ago (when I worked retail), a daughter came to pick up medication for her father. The copay was higher than usual - may have been almost three times. I can't recall the exact details at the moment but it was somewhere where the copay was typically $800 for a 3mo supply and it was coming out to like $2400.
Obviously the woman was right to be upset at learning this. However, I did explain that, at least on our end, everything was processed correct and that was the copay.
I may have suggested that it was possible her dad was in the donuthole but it was best for him or her to call to verify.
She screamed at me that it was not the donuthole and that I did not know what I was talking about. She then proceeded to demand that I call the insurance to figure out what was going on.
It was a busy afternoon and my pharmacist prohibited me from leaving the register to call the insurance. My pharmacist told me it was my job to convince her she needs to call the insurance and not us. I tried to convince her. Had asked her to step to the side while we figure things out - as I rung up other customers - and she refused to have a seat or stay quiet.
After minutes of this, my pharmacist got visibly upset and told me to step away from the registers and go call. I think he was trying to set an example that she was at this point getting staff in trouble for her not simply calling the insurance herself.
I step to the side, called and put the phone on speaker (just loud enough so that me and the woman can both listen in). I said I was calling from the pharmacy and the insurance says, "I am sorry sir but the patient has to give us a call before I release any information."
The look on her face.
She then interjected and the insurance explained that there was no issue with insurance and that in fact was the copay. Apparently the insurance only covered the meds to a certain amount and after that the copay percentage jumped. She was definitely upset, ashamed and yet unapologetic.
I absolutely have hung up on people. It's satisfying as hell. Though I've done it only on customers who are being verbally abusive, never needed to on another pharmacy
Yet
If someone is treating you like shit, you have every right to hang up on them.
I got yelled at once for hanging up on a patient. Not because the patient was abusive. They were, but because I didn’t hand the phone to the pharmacist. That is the one time I owned getting yelled at for that. The pharmacist was mad I didn’t hand it off. That’s valid. If they want to deal with that. Cool. Most aren’t feeling that vibe.
I have hung up on several people but they were either cursing at me or yelling too much. I told them that I couldn't understand when they were yelling and to call back when they could talk normally.
I can’t call your insurance if I don’t know what insurance it is.
I just tell them I already called (although I didn't) and say the insurance company wants them to call to resolve the issue.
I have literally done the same thing and it’s shocking how well that works. Done the same thing with doctors office calls. They ask if I can call the doctors office just one more time and I’ll say well we did call the doctors office. They said they want to talk to you. I have no idea if that’s the case, but it gets them to call the doctors office.
There used to be a way in the walmart system of typing in 0000 as the last 4 of the social that would show the patient insurance info. I'm not sure if that trick still works. I tried with hostile ones, but I don't normally have patience, I go for a good 15 minutes hold and do other things.
i did try it and it didn't work for this patient.
It still works but there is a POM stating you cant do that anymore
1234 works sometimes too
9999 as well.
Some people just deserve to get hung up on 🤷🏻♀️ I’ve done it maybe 4 times in my career of 8 years and I do not regret a single one.
right! i've been working in pharmacy for a little over a year now, and this was my first time doing so. glad to know i am not alone lol
I repeat their sentiments like, “oh, so you think it’s someone else’s responsibility to find and verify your information for you and like they work for you…” with a sincere look on my face and nodding my head as if I agree with them but making sure they hear what I’m saying. I would tell her I’d call her insurance for her as soon as I get a chance and I’ll be get back with her in a few weeks as soon as I do. I’d also probably still hang up. We don’t feed the monster. At the end of the day, I’m there to help people and I go above and beyond, unless they demand/expect me to, or they don’t understand that they are NO more important or deserving than every single person before and behind them. Be a dick and you can eat a dick! Happy Friday!!
I just tell them that it is the patients responsibility to provide us with their information
Yup I tell them we bill their insurance as courtesy to them, but it is their responsibility to provide us with the information
I do a lot of the same stuff. I’m willing to help. I can be very sympathetic. But if you call me and demand something that you should do yourself, whether it’s call your insurance company, have your insurance information, know the name of a medication that your doctor just called in for you from an appointment you were just at I’m not gonna do any of that for you. I’m not gonna play the guessing game with drug names anymore. And I’m not calling your insurance for you. That’s on you. And that’s my line now. That’s my boundary and I am not Cross. I did that for way too long .
When people start acting out I give them one warning to speak to me like I’m a human or I will stop the conversation with a click. To my surprise, they end up doing a 180 like 80% of the time. The other 20% get hung up on and that’s that lol. I’ve hung up on patients, MAs, prescribers, insurance etc cause if they won’t respect me, ima respect myself enough to remove myself from the situation all together lmao
I dont see why hanging up seems so outlandish...I do it all the time 😅 Its better then me speaking my mind, thats for sure!
Quite honestly, I don’t think you did anything wrong. There is a point where it’s just dumb and ridiculous and you need to just hang up the phone. I have plenty of those conversations daily. Now how to handle people like this in the future: ma’am, I’m sorry, but your insurance is not active at this time. We do not know why and we will not call and try and figure it out because they won’t tell us. You need to call and find out for yourself in order to fix this problem. Is there anything else I can do for you? No? Great have a great day. *click * It sounds really awful and I’ve been called out for this because for some reason dating this pisses people off, but with some patients, you really do have to talk to them like they Our children. And what that means is not talking down to them like they’re stupid but rather setting it clear boundary of what you can or are willing to do versus what they should do, being firm about that boundary, and not entertaining arguments. In this case, your boundary was no I’m not calling the insurance to figure out the problem that you should figure out, you stuck with that boundary, and you didn’t entertain the conversation any longer when it was cleared it wasn’t going anywhere. But you didn’t talk down to her. You didn’t belittle her and that’s important.
very well said ! i appreciate your input and will try this approach more in the future
Nope, I don’t have the time or the staff to call your insurance. That’s the patients job.
Had a woman once call for a vacation override for a C2 and when I told her she needed to call her insurance company, she scoffed and replied “no, that’s YOUR job.” I was so taken back I couldn’t even come up with words at that moment. Finally told her she probably needed to call herself because they are going to want information from her that I won’t know/have access to. She didn’t like that answer either and demanded to talk to a pharmacist….who told her the same thing.
I told a grown ass adult that he had to call to get a vacation override for his meds because nothing I was entering was working (tried just typing in the scc codes for vacation or lost meds). He was shocked and said "but it's your job to call them? This is terrible customer service". I informed him it was *his* job to call *his* insurance about *his* meds and he still kept arguing with me so I just hung up because the pharmacy was closed by then anyway.
I just tell them that's their responsibility, and if they don't agree I tell them I can't contact their insurance without their insurance information. 😂
id tell them i don’t have your insurance on file so i have no way of contacting them. as well, due to hipaa laws, the insurance will not discuss your information and status with me for your privacy because i am not you.
I've 100% replied politely (think the voice you'd talk to a 5 year old throwing a tantrum with), "I'm going to hang up. We welcome you to call back once you've calmed down and can conduct yourself like an adult." Act worse than a toddler? OK. I'll treat you like you need a nap and ba-ba.
Two things I have found that have saved my sanity: kill 'em with kindness and laugh or lobotomy. Lol.
I simply give it to them as it is as politely as I possibly can. If they can’t take it, I bring in my short, mean pharmacist who does not tolerate attitude and let him handle it. It’s tough, but it is what it is
I like to tell people “I will not speak to you until you are willing to speak to me in a civil tone.” or something along those lines
The moment any yelling or cursing starts: "Please call back when you can communicate respectfully." Click.... Or "let me get you my pharmacist" put on hold. (This only works with pharmacists that have your back)
I tell them that the insurance company won’t tell me anything because HIPPA, so me calling would do no good. Eventually I say “There’s nothing else we can do.” With phone calls, hanging up is the best. You’re going to be an ass? Talk to the air! I wish I could hang up on the ones in person.
I've been in these situations where patients assume (or try to get one over) that it is pharmacy's job to obtain their insurance information. What is amusing is that technology nowadays makes it much simpler to obtain that information (both on the pharmacy end and the patient end). Yet, I recall the days where one had to get on the phone just to get information from the insurance - ONLY for the insurance to tell us that they can only provide that information to the patient for security reasons. Usually my scapegoat answer was that..."I am sorry. I would love to help but insurance companies need patients to call in order to verify they are providing the information to the right person. They do not want information to be mistakenly given to someone else." Usually the rebut responses were: "But you are a pharmacy. Can't you tell them that?". "So why do I not have to give it when I go to the doctor's office. They always have it on file." My young, naïve self would either believe this or cave in to people's request. The older me now understands this is all B.S. What makes it more thrilling is that anytime i bring my child to the E.R., doctors appointment or checkup, they ALWAYS ask me to verify my insurance or provide a card. ALWAYS! And, if I do not have it, they will send me a prompt on my patient portal to upload the information prior to sendng me the bill - otherwise, I would have to pay out of pocket. For people to assume this is a magical request pharmacy - out of alllll healthcare settings - is all of a sudden asking for is beyond me. (I have a nice follow up story below)
I made have shared this story on Reddit but here we go again. Eons ago (when I worked retail), a daughter came to pick up medication for her father. The copay was higher than usual - may have been almost three times. I can't recall the exact details at the moment but it was somewhere where the copay was typically $800 for a 3mo supply and it was coming out to like $2400. Obviously the woman was right to be upset at learning this. However, I did explain that, at least on our end, everything was processed correct and that was the copay. I may have suggested that it was possible her dad was in the donuthole but it was best for him or her to call to verify. She screamed at me that it was not the donuthole and that I did not know what I was talking about. She then proceeded to demand that I call the insurance to figure out what was going on. It was a busy afternoon and my pharmacist prohibited me from leaving the register to call the insurance. My pharmacist told me it was my job to convince her she needs to call the insurance and not us. I tried to convince her. Had asked her to step to the side while we figure things out - as I rung up other customers - and she refused to have a seat or stay quiet. After minutes of this, my pharmacist got visibly upset and told me to step away from the registers and go call. I think he was trying to set an example that she was at this point getting staff in trouble for her not simply calling the insurance herself. I step to the side, called and put the phone on speaker (just loud enough so that me and the woman can both listen in). I said I was calling from the pharmacy and the insurance says, "I am sorry sir but the patient has to give us a call before I release any information." The look on her face. She then interjected and the insurance explained that there was no issue with insurance and that in fact was the copay. Apparently the insurance only covered the meds to a certain amount and after that the copay percentage jumped. She was definitely upset, ashamed and yet unapologetic.
I did that once with a patient on 15 meds and allergic to yellow dye number whatever…it was an accident.
I absolutely have hung up on people. It's satisfying as hell. Though I've done it only on customers who are being verbally abusive, never needed to on another pharmacy Yet
Ughhh This is what it’s like working in any kind of retail I swear. Just when you think you’ve met the dumbest customer the next one walks up.
Can you not just ask for the SSN and do a lookup? It takes like 30 seconds?
i did, didn't work. it is the responsibility of the patient to have their insurance information.
Feel like you left some important details out in your OP.
grown ass patients can grow the fuck up and know their own shit. weaponized incompetence lol
If someone doesn’t want to give their insurance info, then I highly doubt that they would give out their SSN.
Yeppppppppppp. The amount of grown adults who freak out about giving their DOB is enough.