Location: You want to make sure that the pharmacy is close to where you live or work. When you’re sick you don’t want to have to trek across town to get your medications. Pharmacy hours: Also you want to make sure that the pharmacy has decent hours of operation. You don’t need a 24 hour pharmacy, but you want to make sure that the pharmacy is at least open 8am to 7pm during the week. On the weekends hours are not as important considering doctor’s offices will not be open so you won’t be receiving new prescriptions.
Regular Prescription Insurance: You want to make sure that the pharmacy you choose accepts a lot of insurance plans, and most importantly, the insurance plan that you currently have. Insurance plans change regularly so if your pharmacy accepts most insurance plans you won’t have to worry about changing pharmacies if your insurance changes Medicare Part D: If you are a Medicare recipient you want to make sure that the pharmacy accepts ALL Medicare Part D plans. As a Medicare Part D patient, sometimes one plan becomes cheaper than another. You want to make sure that if you change plans you won’t have to change pharmacies. You can refer to http://www. medicare. gov for more information.
Shop Around: If you don’t have any prescription drug insurance, then you want to shop around for best price. Walmart recently released a list of generic drugs that they offer at $4 for a 30 day supply. Price Matching: Some pharmacies such as ShopKo pharmacy, are matching these prices, so you don’t necessarily have to go to Walmart to get these prices. If the prescription you are currently on does not have a generic or the generic isn’t on the $4 list, then you will want to call different pharmacies in your town to find the lowest price. You can also ask if the pharmacy will price match. This can be a plus if one pharmacy offers the lowest price on one of your prescriptions but not the lowest price on another. If that pharmacy will match the price of another pharmacy, then you won’t have to go to two different pharmacies.
