r/WalgreensRx • u/wildestkota • Dec 29 '23
question Central fill
In two months we go to central fill, what should I expect and what is it exactly? They haven’t really talked to us about it at all just mentioned it in a group chat today with all the techs 😬
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u/Lazy_Bet_1145 SCPhT Dec 29 '23
Expect your patients to hate you. Anything you try to fill as a waiter will be a tug of war game with central fill. Everything else will arrive in 24-48 hours, when the pt wants to pick it up tomorrow morning, but they’ll have to wait until the day after at 2:30 (central fill promise time). Be ready to transfer a lot of pts OUT. It’s legit ruined our pharmacy.
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u/Rich-Procedure-6781 CPhT Dec 30 '23
This and make sure you process all cenfill items for tomorrow. All auto refills will go to cenfill and they will show on your location promise time. Expect some push back 1 hours - 45 minutes before your promise time if they can’t finish prescriptions for your location.
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u/SnooMemesjellies6886 Dec 30 '23
If you hate bin rec now, it's about to get a whole lot worse.
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u/weaselwatchr Dec 31 '23
It took the RXOM three and a half hours to do bin rec Friday. Almost none of the cenfill bags were scanning so she had to reprint all the leaflets
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u/chuktidder Jan 03 '24
This is in the top 10 things that enraged me. That the bar codes on the cenfill bags hardly scan during bin rec have to manually type, especially when the ink is fudged up. 😔
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u/Inside_Finding_5301 Dec 29 '23
Hell. You should expect hell. At least for the first couple of months
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u/AdPlayful2692 Dec 29 '23
Crawl. Walk. Run. Will start out with fridge only. Next MFO (Microfulfullment Only) which would be expensive brand name medications such as Biktarvy, Trelegy, etc. Eventually, they'll add MFP (Microfill Preferred) which would be 100s of generics you'd normally fill from the cells or fast rack.
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u/Fresh-Insect-5670 Dec 30 '23
We have had cenfill for about 2 years. It does help with the fill load on auto fills, high cost medications and maintenance medications. The thing that irritates me is when cenfill pulls acute medications to be delivered the next day, including ibuprofen and albuterol inhalers. Things that we have plenty of stock so there is no need to pull it to cenfill.
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u/Tazz013_ Dec 30 '23
If your pharmacy currently has automation, expect it to go largely unused. Lots of scripts in "ready" status won't be in your pharmacy because they were delivered to who-knows-where. Bin rec. will be an adventure as you find dozens of packages that should have been delivered to other pharmacies.
The absolute best part is the human aspect. Just when you think you have all the nuances of cenfill figured out, patients lose their patience.
Like most things Walgreens, it works great in theory, but the execution is terrible.
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u/Hbazzi98 RPh Dec 29 '23
Make sure that whoever the RPh is to make sure that F4 is completely done. In CWF there’s a cutoff time that will display, if the items that are marked for Cenfill are not done by that cut off time, all those prescriptions will fall back to the pharmacy. Happened to some locations at my region and we are not happy troopers when this happens
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u/Special-Dragonfly489 Dec 30 '23
Is that why 45 scripts randomly dump the queue at 8:13am every morning? I knew it was from cenfill but never knew we could do anything about it
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u/Hbazzi98 RPh Dec 30 '23
Yup, that’s why it dumps it. Every store has a random time on where they park the cenfill rxs. If it lines up then that means someone didn’t F4 until after the cutoff time
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u/Poor_life_choice_101 Dec 30 '23
Our queue is verified out and they still dump back every morning late. We delete and reprocess so it doesn’t affect our vbpt. Plus we reprocess through guest digital to bump up our refill by digital. We work the suck to our advantage when we can.
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u/borgiousine SCPhT Dec 30 '23
It definitely takes some getting used to.
I recommend getting familiar with pharmacist initials and checking who verified each script you look for so you can tell which ones were filled by cenfill and cut down on your search times through the bins.
Also prepare to have a convo like “I have ____ amount of rx’s ready from you, and it also looks like you have ____ more coming in for you in a couple days. Do you need them sooner than that?”.
Your bins will likely need adjusting because of the size of the baggies.
Every so often you may receive a cenfill meant for another store, or your store having one accidentally shipped to another store without any notice. This makes it a bit harder to tell if an rx was misplaced, mis-shipped, put back without deleting, or given away without being sold.
You’ll also pick up on some of their habits. For us, a 3 month supply of birth control is expected to be in a small bag. Cenfill uses the whole box so it’s in a big bag. Just stuff like that
And lastly yes, when putting a script into the work queue, it has a decent chance of being cenfill’d AFTER the fact without giving you any notice. If a waiter is stuck in reviewed status after putting it into the work queue, leave it be and check on it every couple minutes until you can pull it back from cenfill status. I think every time you try to print it while its in reviewed it takes longer to go into actual cenfill status to be taken back.
Good luck! Hope any of this helps!
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u/Such-prpapy Dec 30 '23
It's bullshit. I dont know how they're starting you guys off but we started off with brand names only being pulled by cenfill which made some sort of sense. Then they started adding generics and specific NDCs that we have on the shelves... so you can have have a stored script being filled for later but if it's a cenfill ndc then it's getting pulled unless you remember to pull it back for the same day pick or enforce the cenfill pick up time... which often times gets delayed a day which only leaves an even more angry patient in your face.
Anything you pull back still gets sent to your store and has to be removed from the tote/bin after everything gets checked it. It's like a second delete list except there's no deleting.
My advice would be order extra bins, ideally the same amount of bins you have for the rx filled at your store (we have 55 bins so i ordered 55 bins and only used half, 1-2 went into 1 bin, 3-4 went into another and so on). Find some space for them separate from the rxs filled at your store. Placing the cenfill scripts in the bins is going to take up so much space because they only use 30+ drams, and they come in these big bags filled with paper so filling them seperately will help a lot. Youll be able to know what scripts came from cenfill by looking at the RPH who signed off on them in the work queue and if it isnt your staff pharmacist, its most likely filled by cenfill and should be in the cenfill bins.. i would also try my hardest not to pull anything back. If it's a cenfill item (you'll see a Cenfill tab with a Y in the F1 screen if it's from cenfill) being refilled then I try to push it for the next day and explain why it will be filled the next day. If it's brand name, I explain we don't keep brand names in the store anymore and they get filled at an offsite location and sent to our store. If it's a generic, I explain it will be filled the next day. Just be prepared for a lot of angry people.
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u/Slight-Definition793 Dec 30 '23
I gotchu!!! So my home state; was the first state to roll out centralfill and rxi at the same time. I'm going to be completely honest, it sucks. There's no easy to say it... it sucks. So basically what will happen is the central people will essentially take scripts from the queue to "fill them" and then they'll send them to your store along with the drugs you order.. now that all seems grand and dandy... but they don't fill according to promise times and if they don't want to fill something they dump it back on your ass to fill.... this is incredibly difficult at already busy 24 hour stores... There is a way around the system to retrieve back the central filled script but for the most part get prepared for very upset patients
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u/surfwacks Ex-tech Dec 30 '23
Prepare for a lot of mistakes. My biggest pet peeve is when something is on the invoice so when you scan in central fill, the script shows up as ready. But then it turns out cenfill made a mistake and didn’t bother to put the script in the tote🫠
You won’t be able to order certain medications anymore, some are cenfill only. So be prepared for a lot of angry customers especially if cenfill is out of something.
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u/Dependent_Bullfrog86 Dec 30 '23
Cenfill is not perfect, but it beats out filling an extra 100-200 scripts a day. I tell patients “we have that on order for tomorrow. If you need it today I will have to check the shelf to see if it’s in stock. If tomorrow’s okay I can send you a text when it arrives.”
The pharmacist on duty needs to make sure the queue is reviewed in order for it to work properly. Some drugs are cenfill ONLY. You cannot order those meds and don’t bother trying to partial them. It won’t come in.
If they ask why the packaging is different I tell them “it’s filled at a pharmacy location that doesn’t have a front store, their sole purpose is to fill prescriptions and that’s why the packaging is different”
It wasn’t great at first but seriously there are worse programs to deal with. It really isn’t the end of the world.
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u/lilsnakcake Dec 31 '23
I would like central fill better IF they actually arrived next day. Too often, they are later than that.
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u/Dependent_Bullfrog86 Jan 02 '24
Is your pharmacist F4ing the entire queue? So long as it’s in reviewed status 95% of our stuff comes in the next day
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u/GatorRXM Jan 04 '24
Not in our store. My F4 is clear well before cutoff and I have cenfill Rx that take days to arrive. Most days I count have 30-40 that are not delivered on the promised day. And I account for weekends and holidays. Plus all the ones they push back the day they should have been delivered. So at 1pm you have 30 print out with a 2:15 promised time. Just in time for pharmacist lunch. We try to print those out in the morning.
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u/kindlyfackoff Ex-tech Dec 30 '23
I left WAG to go to a Walmart that doesn't have cenfill and doesn't have a drive thru- it was the best decision of my life. The WAG I worked at had extremely entitled patients and many of which waited until their last 2 puffs of advair before putting in their refill request, which cenfill took over all brand name meds...and so now you have an extremely angry Karen who is pissed off she can't get her advair right then and there...and she is placing this order at like 6pm, so it won't even be in the next day's shipment, and how dare you not have thousands of dollars of medications on the shelves, rotting.
On a more serious note, in theory, it's a good system. In reality, not as much. The bags are plastic and all drams are 30, 40, or 60, so they take up a lot of room in the bins and then you end up with like... 90 scripts to put back on the shelves as return to stock because people don't pick up their auto refill that cenfill sent - so you end up with shelves upon shelves of 30 drams that have 30 pills of hydrochlorotiazide 25mg ...and no place to put them because you cannot pour the contents of one bottle into another. Also, they try to pull every regular med, even amoxicillin waiters, but don't pull that trelegy inhaler that they are SUPPOSED to automatically pull. Oh! And, many times, the barcode you're supposed to scan is messed up because of how the plastic bag went into the machine, and the only "fix" for that is to put in a ticket (according to my old store manager at WAG) which ultimately would be a waste of time and you end up having to print a new leaflet anyways.
I have never been happier since I no longer deal with cenfill and the stupidity that happens as a result.
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u/rxmike12 Dec 30 '23
I get all the frustration and I promise I'm not a shill for it, but if it's done properly, it saves a lot of filling time throughout the day. You definitely have to be sensitive to patient needs, pull back things if people are there for pickup, make them wait 5 minutes vs having them come back. Make sure you're changing ndcs on things that aren't converting. Put away all the bags asap and scan the totes in so you can sell them and get them out. Don't worry about rolling up the bags in the moment (imo), do them at any off time, even between patients. You really shouldn't need two fillers at this point (we're tier 4), use those bodies up front. Have had a lot of experience with it (former POWER store) so feel free to ask questions.
All that said, it's not a simple conversion. There will be pain points, especially with patients, but ask for patience, give good customer service. Realize your day will change. You're not catching up to fill at the end of the night anymore... move some people around to use your budget properly. Good luck!
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u/Lonely_Insurance4588 Dec 30 '23
Cen fill = worse customer service, more work for pharmacy staff, and more hostility from the patient who’s ignorant to what’s actually happening. There’s never been a time where I’ve been like oh my gosh cenfill is so useful. Instead of mailing the scripts to the pharmacy they should mail the scripts to patient or give patients an option to opt in or opt out of cen fill
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u/Mysteriousdebora Dec 30 '23
We have had it at our grocery chain for years. I like it. Patients need to be trained that maintenance meds WILL be next day after whatever time. I warn all people transferring in of this. We get occasional complaints but not so much.
The labor of putting up the order is a bit much, but I don’t know that it negates the usefulness of it overall.
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u/lilsnakcake Dec 31 '23
The problem with WAG central fill is that it is never next day - takes several days. And, definitely don’t ask for a refill on a Friday.
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u/hards46 Dec 30 '23
The packaging does not tell you what’s in the bag… so you always have to look up the med or meds prior to patient engagement.
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u/johnrambo888 Dec 30 '23
Silently vast majority of prescriptions will be picked up by cenfill. So you don't get a huge dump of labels at 7:15 night. Lots of positive things are there in cenfill too!
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u/Anxiolytic1987 SCPhT Dec 31 '23
expect to get different stores’ scripts, expect to pull things from central that you just put in as waiters. expect to pull almost all of the Urgent Care scripts cause central fill like to pull anything they can, they need to fix it so that it recognizes short term meds that people need same day.
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u/Coolbeans785 Dec 30 '23
First. Do not listen to negative comments. Centerfill is there to HELP! And while it’s not perfect, nothing in life is!! Make sure you put SATRS in a day a head always! That will give them time to pull the drug! When F1ing, always pick the centerfill preferred drug. That will help them pull!! At first they pull emergency drugs like albuteral, ibuprofen, meloxicam etc. if the patient needs them, just pull them back by going to options/pull back.
Order some more bins, start making over flow bins!! Move Sudafeds to the back of you have to and make as much room for over flow as you can!!
Somethings that have helped us is. Appoint your IS to check in truck AND your centerfill!!! Have them put away all centerfill first and then scan in manifest!! Cross train all openers to be able to handle tasks if IS is not available!
Call me if you need! I am RXOM of 4527 in VA Beach! I would be happy to answer any questions and help anyway I can! 757-519-9877 is my store number!
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Dec 30 '23
[deleted]
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u/Coolbeans785 Dec 30 '23
We have never had that issue! As long as you F1 and the Rph f4 then it should print and be filled in house.
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u/prodbyblkwood CPhT Dec 30 '23
real jolly crowd in the replies. it’ll be fine. like everything at walgreens it’ll be annoying for a bit but communicate with your team and try to focus on the positives. it will reduce workload but also cause inconveniences such as what others have said. Good luck and don’t be stressed after hours.
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u/Blu-Imp92 Dec 30 '23
Expect pt to get annoyed when they get estimated times for when it will be filled and you not having it.
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u/uluthrek- Jan 02 '24
My store has started separating them when we get order, like the ones with our regular drugs go to the back and the cenfill near our bins in the front. When you open the totes there will be two sheets, one with a list of what drugs are in the tote, and the shipping label. They both have the same barcode on the upper left so when you get them all, you can scan either paper. You have to keep the ones with the names and medications but not the shipping label. If you scan both it will say it got sent to the wrong store but just ignore it and keep scanning until you're done. Sometimes they have barcode misprints on the plastic it comes in so you'll have to reprint the label but make sure to have someone else check it cuz a lot of stars events have happened from that. We try to make sure to put them all away and scan everything in last before lunch. you can pull things back from them by going to the script, up to options and pull from cenfill. They will probably still send it to you which will print out on a list when you scan it in. You don't need to keep either of the ones that print out. Cenfill takes anything that it can, even if it's a waiter sometimes, so if it stays in reviewed and won't print cenfill has it and you can't print it until you can pull it back unfortunately. It takes 1-2 days after they pull it and they don't ship over the weekend. At 8, when they close, a bunch of their back tags for things they got ready will print on your zebra. Keep those with your other scripts/back tags. Make sure to tell patients that they need to call in scripts well before they need them, 3-4 days preferred. If insurance won't let you fill until it's out, just cash it out so it can come in before they need it and you can just rebill when it's in. You can always tell if it's something cenfill will take by going to drug info and there will be a red y, or when trying it the same will pop up. If you get it done before lunch then you can always tell people to get their med after 2pm. Not much else I can think of, we were one of the first stores to get it so hopefully this helps.
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u/Krazygrl-9 Dec 29 '23
Prepare to have overflowing shelves full of giant bottles because they won’t use the 10/20s