San Francisco General Outpatient Pharmacy Problems
Since the closing of a satellite pharmacy at San Francisco General Hospital, long lines and longer waits at the Outpatient Pharmacy of San Francisco General Hospital have alarmed staff, who fear that seriously ill patients will be too ill or become too frustrated to persevere for the hours it takes to pick up a medicine. Since the consolidation of the pharmacies, at least one patient collapsed while waiting and had to be admitted to the emergency room, which is also operating far beyond its design capacity. The crowding and delays in the outpatient lobby result from budget shuffling in response to a projected $30 million shortfall in the Department of Public Health's $802 million budget. Hospital administrators hope to save $1,000,000 by consolidating the hospital's outpatient pharmacies.Waits of four hours are now common, nor is it unusual for patients to leave and try again on another day. When this writer, hoping to avoid a long wait, arrived at the outpatient lobby shortly before the pharmacy opened on Easter Sunday, he found that all the chairs were taken and a small line of elderly and infirm outpatients had already formed. Several complained that this was their second attempt, and one woman said it was her third in as many days.
Officials are trying to inform Medi-Cal (Medicaid) patients that they can use any pharmacy they choose. Department of Public Health Director Mitch Katz, in his March 6th report to the Health Commission, said that half of the Medi-Cal patients now use neighborhood pharmacies.
In addition, officials hope to persuade people in high places that more money is needed. To that end, they are urging staff to document all patients who have suffered injury or required hospitalization because of the new pharmacy policy. This information, they hope, will convince budget officers that the cuts cost more money than they save.
In the meantime, the hospital hopes to raise some money from the patients themselves by requiring a "co-payment" of two dollars for each prescription. The policy, to judge by the Easter Sunday crowd, has frightened many patients, especially those with little income who must take life-saving medications. Several feared that even at $2 per script, they could no longer manage. None seemed aware that the payments can be waived in some instances. On the first day that the new policy was in effect, the pharmacy filled 1,200 prescriptions, according to director Katz, and took in $1,117.75. On an average day, the Pharmacy fills approximately 1,500 prescriptions.
Patients can help staff document the human and health effects of the new policies by calling (415) 206-4600.
