This from the Yahoo board, interesting story.
Frostman
<<Good evening:
I am a pharmacist at Cigna HealthCare. I recieved a phone call from one of our
physicians stating that a patient had failed on Viagra..."the patient recieved no
response"....and wanted to precribe Muse instead.
As I was on the phone, the pharmacy supervisor overheard our professional
conversation and blatantly interupted us by stating, "She can NOT prescribe Muse
or Caverject that is NOT approved for her to prescribe!!!" The supervisor stated
that the P&T Committee has not approved Muse or Caverject to be prescribed by
PCPs...Only a urologist can prescribe Muse or caverject.
As a pharmacist, I am confused with too many Cigna "grey-areas" of therapeutic
drugs and equivalents. I am also confused with the fact that any PCP can prescribe
Viagra, which has many more side-effects than a local-acting agent, yet NOT
allowed to prescribe Muse or Caverject for a patient????
Just because a pill can be taken by mouth..."it must be Okay?" Right? Let's have
anybody write for it? Wrong!!! Cigna, in addition to other healthcare groups, must
recognize that this is just the beginning of Viagra failures. We currently have one
urologist on staff. Yet, in our clinic every PCP has prescribed for Viagra. Too may
grey areas Cigna...too many grey areas. I do not believe that one urologist can
handle the volume of patients on Viagra nor failures on Viagra.
In the meantime I had to refuse our Viagra-failure patient the alternative, Muse. I am
very disturbed with Cigna. I am also upset that as professionals, a pharmacist and
the PCP, we had NO control over the the policies set by Cigna.
I read at the Vivus meeting today that they recommended patients to see a urologist
if they fail on Viagra. Yet, I am confused because the sales force will be marketing
Muse to PCPs. The ratio of PCP:Urologist is very high in the real world. Why can't
a PCP prescribe Muse or Caverject, Vivus and Cigna????
I love my work and my professional responsibility as a pharmacist....CignaRPh >>>
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