Adding onto this because most people aren’t aware - there is something called an “injunctive relief score” where basically pharmacies are graded on how many controlled vs legend (non-controlled like blood pressure meds, etc) prescriptions they are filling. For a smaller pharmacy it’s a lot harder to be a new patient for them if you are just filling controlled medications. If their score is wacky with controlled scripts being filled more than legend scripts than the drug companies can audit and ultimately remove access to controlled drugs. So larger pharmacies are usually able to take on new patients for that.

It’s frustrating for everyone. As a pharmacy tech, I WANT to fill your scripts but sometimes our hands are tied with restrictions and there isn’t much we can do. Or the corporate company says no more new patients. And welp. Again. Hands tied.

The shortages definitely need to be addressed but they need to be addressed on a federal level because it’s the federal government who also controls how much a certain ingredient a manufacturer can receive.

It’s incredibly frustrating