Pharmacies gearing up for a busy week

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The end of the year is almost here, and that means people are out getting ready for January 1.

But it’s not just shopping, and gift returns.

Many are hurrying to get those last minute prescriptions filled.

While most stores experience the holiday rush in the days leading up to Christmas, for pharmacies the week before New Year’s Day can be almost as hectic.

With that turn of the calendar comes the double whammy of deductible rollovers, and starting new insurance plans.

Local pharmacies are gearing up for what they say is one of the busiest times of the year.

Patients are flooding in to refill their prescriptions before the end of the year.

“You have a lot of people that have met their deductibles on insurance so it’s always a good idea if you can get something filled before December 31 come in and get it filled that way the deductible will apply in January versus the end of the year,” said pharmacy owner and pharmacist Chris Bonner.

And while deductibles are drawing people in, the change of insurance will soon slow some of them down.

“Some of the busiest and worst days in pharmacy are going to be the days after January 1 people’s insurances will change at the first of the year so if the insurance companies have not followed up sent out the correct insurance cards then the pharmacies won’t have those records,” said Bonner.

Pharmacies are also facing another challenge – a lack of doctors during the holidays.

“A lot of times it’s just the doctor’s offices themselves being closed. This morning, for example, I was trying to get a refill for a patient their doctor is out until January 2, so my hands are tied on that particular medication. Being a controlled substance there’s nothing we can do about that, now if that was a blood pressure medication, something routine, then certainly we can loan them enough legally in the state board will take care of things,” said Bonner.

To help make your trip to the pharmacy a little smoother often the best thing you can do is pick up your phone.

“Easiest thing to do is call. Then we can at least make sure that their medications are ready. Another thing this time of year is you’re having delivery issues because the delivery companies are not going to be running like they would throughout the rest of the year. So, if you call then at least we can make arrangements if we don’t have it then some pharmacies will let us borrow back in for between each other,” said Bonner.

Chris Bonner says another reason for the increase in business is the fact that Christmas fell at the beginning of the work week.

Mondays are normally the busiest day of the week, and since many offices were closed Monday AND Tuesday, that crams a week’s worth of business into three days.