Ask HN: Tools to find prescription drug availability
I'm looking for a medication for one of my kids and have called more than a half dozen pharmacies in the last 20 minutes trying to find if they stock a certain generic variant at a certain dosage. It's in short supply and so far, no luck...The pharmacists are consistent in their claim that they cannot check stock at other pharmacies in the same chain. I'm reaching out to the community to ask if anyone has knowledge of a tool, a script, etc. enabling one to find the nearest pharmacy that has stock. I'm not sure if it's technically feasible but there's an opportunity there, I suspect...
1 comments
If there is an opportunity, aside the pharmacy’s perpetual inventory, this could be inferred from PBM data, the wholesaler, an EDI trading partner like a 340B TPA or a DSCSA compliance vendor, or a manufacturer.
Assuming the patient isn’t locked into a pharmacy by their PBM, there might be incentive for the pharmacy to expose their inventory. Otherwise, the PBM or the manufacturer may have incentive to know or share that their beneficiaries or end users have access to drug. 503B compounding pharmacies and GPOs would have an incentive to know which drugs are difficult to purchase.
Market failures and special access programs notwithstanding, almost any drug can be delivered by the wholesaler to the pharmacy next day.
Assuming the patient isn’t locked into a pharmacy by their PBM, there might be incentive for the pharmacy to expose their inventory. Otherwise, the PBM or the manufacturer may have incentive to know or share that their beneficiaries or end users have access to drug. 503B compounding pharmacies and GPOs would have an incentive to know which drugs are difficult to purchase.
Market failures and special access programs notwithstanding, almost any drug can be delivered by the wholesaler to the pharmacy next day.