To our loyal CRAH pet parents:
This will serve to update you about our hospital’s online prescription policy. Beginning Monday, August 1st, we will no longer be faxing, emailing or verbally approving outside online prescription requests on behalf of clients.
If you wish to use an outside pharmacy, we will be happy to provide you with a written prescription.
Why the change?
We understand the desire to purchase your pet’s veterinary prescriptions from outside online pharmacies, such as Chewy, PetMeds, Allivet, etc, as well as from the local pharmacies, such as Costco, WalMart, Walgreens, etc. However, we are overwhelmed by the amount of written, faxed, and emailed prescriptions we receive, and it is impossible to keep up with all these requests. This has created a significant strain on our staff members’ time, and we can no longer interrupt our workflow to try to accommodate these requests.
We often encounter issues such as:
- Owners ordering the same prescription medications multiple times from different pharmacies (which we legally cannot authorize) and it is very difficult to track all these different orders;
- These online pharmacies are making mistakes with the prescriptions and then telling the owners that we are the cause of the problem.
This causes our employees to be on the phone (sometimes for over an hour) to get the problems resolved, takes employees away from their regular duties, ties up the phone lines, and creates poor work flow. This takes away from our ability to serve clients that are coming into the hospital for their scheduled appointments. We simply do not have the staff to continue coordinating outside prescription requests.
Instructions for Prescription Requests
You may request a written prescription by email only (via [email protected]), and you will need to allow at least 24 hours for the prescription to be ready for pick up at the hospital. We will not take any outside prescription requests over the phone. Once you pick up the requested prescription, you may submit this prescription to the pharmacy of your choice on your own. Please note that if you lose the prescription we will be unable to legally replace it.
Important Information About Medication Quality
Remember that Cricket Ridge Animal Hospital guarantees the quality and authenticity of the medications we dispense from our own pharmacy. If you fill your prescriptions with outside or online pharmacies we cannot guarantee the medication. We would like to remind you that we have our own online pharmacy that can deliver your pet’s medication and/or food right to your home! And, we even have auto ship.
Why Use Our Pharmacy?
By using our online pharmacy you are supporting this independent local business. CRAH is a private, woman-owned (non-corporate) veterinary hospital in your community. By ordering your medications from CRAH you will be helping us to continue to support your pets. Our available COVETRUS online pharmacy integrates with our hospital system, which will help expedite your requests, and this will automatically record in your pet’s medical record keeping the history accurate. The products are distributed directly from reputable manufacturers – and many have exclusive rebates! The prices are competitive with the major outside internet online pharmacies. If you need assistance with accessing our online COVETRUS pharmacy, please feel free to call our hospital and our friendly staff will help you get set up.
Thank you for your understanding of this issue, and for your continued loyalty and support of our small business.
Sincerely, Dr. Lori C. Bieber & Staff
