I am not a supporter of coupons as I feel they drastically add to the overall costs of the system as the patient, in many instances, does not see the true cost of the medication. Many times there is a generic alternative that would clinically provide the same benefit. I see this most often in dermatology as topical products come out under a new Brand Name with a slightly adjusted strength. Given the difference in cost of the medication, it is not necessarily cost effective to go with the Brand just because the doctors office has given the patient a coupon. Most patients will take the medication where the coupon has cut the price to $25 for example, when their normal copay would be $100. When that copay coupon is no longer active, they no longer want to get the product. They're willing to accept the generic at that point. This has resulted in a large dollar amount being applied to the overall system while they filled the Brand name with a coupon, when they would have been fine with a less expensive generic had they been responsible for their insurance copay. The pharmacy can also be stuck with a partial bottle of an expensive medication that they may or may not see another script for, resulting in drug expiration and a monetary loss.

I am not in support of pharmacy coupons.  Tranferring prescriptions multiple times (for the benefit of cashing in on a coupon offer) increases the risk of potential mistakes and reduces the opportunity to perform a meaningful drug utilization review. (ie. compliance and interactions. Overall, we are contributing to the misconception that the service we perform is nothing more than putting a label on a smaller consumer-safe package.

Allowing transfer coupons and programs that encourage transfers only promotes poly-pharmacy. This breeds potiental for serious medication errors. The purpose of a pharmacist is to asses if a medication is safe for a patient to take or not. Patients have been taking advanage of these programs by transfering multiple scripts to multiple pharmacies that offer transfer gift cards. I personally had a patient ask me to transfer three of her prescriptions, one of which was a new presciption never filled, to three different chain pharmacies. Those pharmacists have no way of knowing if those prescriptions should or should not be filled without doctor intervention. I am concerned in this economy where every dollar counts patients will continue to fill their prescriptions at mulitple pharmacies leading a serious errors.