claRx Dermatology Blog

Paying for medication at a pharmacy is a more complicated process than what meets the eye. The cost varies due to the medication and whether the patient is insured or not along with how the insurance company covers the specific medication. To help simplify it, we have broken down what an insured patient may pay for  medication into a few categories, and also establish how an insurance company typically determines the price for the medication in the first place. 

Here at claRx Big Country Dermatology pharmacy, we work in a symbiotic relationship with the manufacturers that make many of the medications we dispense. We do this by participating in their rebate programs, which are designed to reduce the out of pocket cost to patients on specific medications. Manufacturer rebates are not available for all medications, and they do not help every patient. We believe it is our duty in the dermatology industry to do the most good for most people, which means, when these programs are available for a specific patient, we utilize them.

Self-pay pricing varies a great deal from pharmacy to pharmacy. It can be based on a huge number of different factors, from cost, to likeliness of driving future business, to expiration dating, to normally reimbursement rates of insurance companies. 

It is important to know that, in many cases, a patient can even be better off not using their insurance and instead use a self-pay program at a pharmacy. This is especially true in dermatology, where many medications are categorized as a cosmetic need and not an actual medical need.

This is why a patient needs to better understand the options that are available to them so that they know what pharmacy to go to for their medication.

Triple rosacea cream contains 3 active pharmaceutical ingredients: azelaic acid, which has antioxidant and anti-microbial properties, ivermectin, a topical anti-parasitic that decreases inflammation, and metronidazole, a topical antibiotic, with anti-inflammatory properties. Providers often prescribe these three medications together to reduce the inflammatory lesions and redness associated with rosacea. 

Dermatologists often prescribe the active ingredients that you find in our Triple Lightening cream to treat uneven skin tone and pigmentation caused by sun exposure or hormonal changes, or possibly to improve the appearance of acne scars. Our triple lightening cream consists of a steroid, which is either triamcinolone or hydrocortisone, hydroquinone, a bleaching agent, and tretinoin, which is a retinoid that helps bring skin cells to the surface.

In today’s pharmaceutical world, there are many commercial drugs available to treat all kinds of conditions. This leads to many patients wondering why they need a compounded medication if there are so many other commercially available and mass manufactured medications that could treat their condition?

The short answer to this question is, if the more commercially available medication is able to better treat their condition, then they should definitely use that medication. Most providers prescribe ten or 20 times more commercially made medications than compounded ones for this same reason. But what happens when there is no commercially available medication to treat their condition? This is when a patient should use a compounded medication.

Here at claRx Big Country Dermatology Pharmacy, we offer a variety of wart peel products. Our wart peels come in cream, ointment, and liquid formulations. Most wart peel products contain salicylic acid, which softens the skin cells and leads to peeling. They usually contain fluorouracil, which works by interfering with cell DNA, which leads to cellular death in the targeted area. Some of the wart peel ointments contain podophyllin, which interferes with cell division and the formation of new wart skin cells. 

A patient waiting a week for a medication change is unacceptable. We can make a positive impact here. 

Provider protocols are not new to the world of medicine. Physicians have been using them for years in hospitals in order to allow a more team centered approach between providers and pharmacists. This team approach gives patients better care and lower costs.

Simply defined, iPledge is a patient safety program for patients on or intending to take isotretinoin and it is designed to prevent harm from coming to unborn children of pregnant women, as well as other potential harmful side effects if not monitored by your provider. In technical terms, it is a REMS (Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy) program implemented through the FDA.