article from Col. Dan

http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,175280,00.html?wh=benefits
'Discontent' with MTF Pharmacies
Tom Philpott | September 12, 2008
Readers of Tom Philpott's Military Update column sound off.

Base Pharmacies Losing 'Discontented' Beneficiaries

Reference the column an TRICARE drug costs, I would like you to pass on to Rear Adm. [Thomas] McGinnis, TRICARE pharmacy chief, something he may be unaware of.

He continues to urge beneficiaries to use base pharmacies to save themselves and the government money. However, base pharmacies, at least the one I'm familiar with, continue to make it much less convenient to use their service than to go to WalMart, CVS or other commercial pharmacies.

I've been retired for more than 12 years and have given up using base facilities except the pharmacy. As I have a TRICARE supplement that covers prescription costs, it would be much easier for me to get them filled downtown than on base. I continue to use the base pharmacy, however, because after more than 28 years of active duty, I feel I earned it and don't wish to give it up.

I work on base with many other retirees but I am the only one among them who regularly uses the base pharmacy. When I ask the others why, they tell me it's too much of a pain in the a** to fill prescriptions on base and much easier to go downtown. I have to agree. I also use downtown pharmacies when they tell me on base that they don't carry the medication or they recommend I go to an adjacent base and try there.

I don't have a couple of spare work hours, however, so I normally stop by a commercial pharmacy on the way home or I get it on the weekend. I don't need to go into more detail about how they make it inconvenient to use the base pharmacy because I don't think this is an isolated instance.

ALLEN MAKSYMUK
USAF-Ret.
Navarre, Fla.


We invited Rear Adm. McGinnis to respond:

Thank you for the comment on how it has become inconvenient to use your base pharmacy. You are correct that you are not an isolated case of discontent.

Currently, Military Treatment Facility (MTF) pharmacies are facing a number of challenges in providing timely, beneficiary-orientated pharmaceutical care. Many factors influence waiting time and drug availability such as available staffing, the size of the MTF and physician mix all play a role.

Also, missions of the retail and the MTF pharmacies have differed greatly. The MTF pharmacy mission was to support the patients and physicians associated with a particular MTF. As a result, its drug formulary was limited compared to that of a retail pharmacy whose goal is to meet the needs of all the patients and physicians in the local community.

The makeup of the MTF formulary is heavily influenced by the types of drugs needed to support primary and specialty care provided by each MTF. Larger MTFs provide a broader range of specialties and, as a result, the formulary is more extensive than at a smaller facility.

Also, each MTF pharmacy has been impacted to some degree by war-time deployments of personnel while the job market demand for pharmacists has increased and the pressure on salaries of MTF pharmacist positions, in some locales, has made vacant positions difficult to fill.

The bottom line is that we are losing customer focus on the front lines. As you have pointed out, it is beginning to cost us our most dedicated pharmacy supporters. We have begun to address many of these issues that have materialized rapidly over the last few years. One effort, for example, is to replace lost manpower with increased use of technology. But we still have more work to do before we will win you and other retirees back to the MTF pharmacy.

THOMAS McGINNIS
Rear Admiral, USPHS
Chief, TRICARE Pharmaceutical Operations
Falls Church, Va.


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