10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

It seems that doctors are prescribing a lot more medication than they used to. In 2007 pharmacists filled 3.8 billion prescriptions, up from 3.3 billion in 2002. Click through our gallery to see SmartMoney's 10 things your pharmacist won't tell you.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

1. "I'm overworked and stressed out . . ."

It seems that doctors are prescribing a lot more medication than they used to. In 2007 pharmacists filled 3.8 billion prescriptions, up from 3.3 billion in 2002. Michael Negrete, CEO of the Pharmacy Foundation of California, says that some physicians may actually be prescribing drugs unnecessarily, say for the flu. "It's easier and quicker than explaining to a patient why they don't need an antibiotic," Negrete says.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

2. ". . . .which means I'm more error-prone."

At first it was a bit of a mystery: When Daniel Hawkins of Danville, Calif., took the penicillin he was prescribed, he became violently ill. But days later it was discovered that he had mistakenly been given Zoloft, an antidepressant. It may sound like an isolated incident, but it happens all the time. In California alone, there were 433 complaints of prescription error filed with the state Pharmacy Board in 2007. Those inside the pharmacy industry blame such mix-ups on long hours, tough working conditions, and a shortage of qualified personnel.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

3. "I don't understand all my merchandise."

With so many people taking an interest in alternative medicine these days, most pharmacies sell profitable herbal remedies right at the prescription counter. This setup encourages customers to make impulsive herbal purchases while picking up their prescriptions. But many pharmacists are woefully uninformed about the complications that can develop when various drugs get taken in tandem. Even if your druggist sees you purchasing, say, the memory enhancer ginkgo biloba as you pick up a prescription for the blood thinner Coumadin, studies have shown that he may fail to recognize that the two taken together increase your risk of internal bleeding and stroke.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

4. "My drug-swapping could make you sick."

Pharmacists will sometimes switch up a patient's medication from one manufacturer's make to another without ever asking permission. And most of the time, it's fine. But there are times when this practice can be dangerous, particularly in the case of epilepsy patients and some people on thyroid or heart medication.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

5. "Frankly, your private records aren't all that private."

While the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), first enacted by Congress in 1996, has helped to better protect patients' privacy over the years by ushering in a host of confidentiality laws, there are still some ways that information about your health and medication history can get disseminated without your knowledge. For example, drug companies are still paying pharmacists to access customers' personal information for consumer marketing so that they can send out refill reminders or information about a new drug brand to patients.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

6. "I can be pretty sneaky sometimes."

It's certainly not true of all pharmacists, but some have been known to resort to underhanded tricks in order to beef up their profit margins. Jim Sheehan, an associate U.S. attorney based in Philadelphia, experienced this firsthand when he was on vacation in Florida and came down with strep throat. A local pharmacist there inspected Sheehan's prescription for antibiotics from a nearby urgent-care center and offered the following choice: Pay cash for the medicine and get it immediately, or run it through Sheehan's insurance company and wait half an hour since he was from out of state.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

7. "Paying out-of-pocket? The price of your prescription just went up."

The pharmacy business should be all about uniformity. Go from drugstore to drugstore, and your prescription should have the same name, dosage, and instructions for use. But that's not always the case when it comes to the cost of medication: A recent comparison of pharmacies found little consistency in the price of prescriptions. Why? There are differences in the cost of doing business -- rents vary, as do other fixed expenses.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

8. "This medication is stale."

Most people don't think that underworld crime figures can come between them and their Celebrex. Well, they haven't heard of Anthony "Tony Ripe" Civella. In 1991 Civella was convicted of buying $1 million worth of discounted drugs that were supposed to go to nursing homes -- where large quantities of medication are purchased at bulk prices and used quickly -- but instead found their way to retail pharmacies (at a tidy profit for Tony Ripe). The problem is called "drug diversion." In a typical case, crooked druggists buy diverted medication at reduced prices and in quantities far bigger than they're legally allowed to handle; by the time the last of the shipment reaches consumers, the pills are long out of date.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You

9. "I don't just sell drugs. I make them."

Say your five-year-old needs a medication that comes only in pill form. If you think he'll do better with a liquid, you can ask your pharmacist to make the conversion himself -- right there at the store. It's called "compounding" -- a traditional practice in which pharmacies combine, mix, or alter ingredients to create unique medications that meet specific needs of a patient -- and when done right, it's perfectly safe. But some pharmacists compound drugs that already exist -- such as injectable morphine or hormonereplacement- therapy meds, for example -- because it's cheaper.

10 Things Your Pharmacist Wont Tell You