The New Corner Druggist?
Filling a prescription for medication has come a long way since I worked at the local drugstore in high school. People in our neighborhood came to that store because they knew and trusted the pharmacists, who were also the owners. They knew the customers’ medical history and preferences and would list possible side effects or interactions with other drugs. And they delivered for free.
Over the last year or so, there’s been a proliferation of online drugstores and pharmacies. From Bubba’s Online to Drugstore.com, there are prescription sites offering everything from prescription refills to condoms to shampoo. The boom in online pharmacies is following a pattern similar to what happened with online bookstores. After some small companies paved the way, much larger, established firms followed suit. (Consider Amazon.com and how it prompted the Borders and Barnes & Noble book chains to go online.)
But why go online for your prescriptions and sundries? Is it faster? Less expensive? Well, not necessarily. In fact, the best reason for ordering or refilling a prescription in cyberspace may be convenience. You don’t need to drive to the local drugstore (which is particularly appealing to those who are homebound) or wait in line while the pharmacist fills your prescription. Online pharmacists are available around the clock to answer your questions. And because their inventories are generally much larger than those of a local drugstore, they are more likely to have what you need. But if you’re filling a new prescription, it could take as many as 10 days to receive your medication.
What about pricing? Depending on what type of product you order and the form of delivery you choose, shipping charges can run anywhere from free to about $14 for one-day service.
There are two popular online drugstores that you may want to check out: Drugstore.com (https://www.drugstore.com) and PlanetRx (https://www.planetrx.com). These sites have braved complex state-by-state licensing regulations and seem to meet the new wave of stringent criteria emerging from medical and pharmacy groups. And they passed my inspection for being easy to use, reasonably priced and informative.
The look and feel of Drugstore.com and PlanetRx are similar: bright and consumer-friendly. Both offer health and beauty products in addition to prescription drugs, including an array of vitamins, herbs and nutrition products. They do take insurance, but not all plans.
Both sites have established safeguards for the actual prescription-filling process. PlanetRx won’t fill your prescription unless they have an original copy of it by mail, or, if you fax a copy, they will call your doctor to confirm. Drugstore.com prefers that your doctor fax the prescription to them, but will also accept prescriptions from you and then call the doctor to confirm. Of course, all of this can add to the time it takes to get a prescription filled.
One feature of PlanetRx that I appreciated was a “drug interaction checker.” When you type in the names of two or more drugs, this feature tells you if the drugs may have unsafe interactions or cause adverse reactions if taken at the same time. (Of course, you should always let your pharmacist and doctor know about any drugs you are taking so they can advise you on drug interactions.)
I also like the “My Planet” feature. It gives me one easy-to-remember place I can go to change my profile, track my orders and submit questions to their pharmacists. They provide phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Drugstore.com was equally impressive. Registering for this site was easier than many of the hundreds of sites I’ve visited. In fact, navigating the entire site is effortless and pleasurable. For example, when you first sign on, the site asks you to select one of four options: Do you want to transfer from another pharmacy, mail in your prescription, have your doctor contact the site or ask the site staff to contact your doctor?
Big drugstore chains like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Long’s are now online, offering some, but not necessarily all, of these services. Rite Aid has partnered with Drugstore.com to allow you to refill your Rite Aid prescription online and pick it up at the closest store. Walgreens.com is accessible now but does not have the extra services or the array of health and beauty products of the others. Long’s.com only offers refills.
It will take time for online pharmacies to sort through insurance issues and shorten the time it takes for you to receive your prescription. But imagine a day in the not-too-distant future when your doctor can write a prescription from a hand-held computer and transmit it directly to an online pharmacy for filling. For now, however, online pharmacies and drugstores can be a convenient way to order nonemergency prescriptions and get answers from a pharmacist at 2 a.m.--all from the comfort of your home.
* Marla Bolotsky is managing editor and director of online information for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. She can be reached by e-mail at marla.bolotsky@latimes.com.
* Cathy K. Purcell contributed to this article.
* Your Health Online runs every other Monday in Health.
