JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
Feedback Fridays is a weekly forum that aims to connect the 502d Air Base Wing with members of the Joint Base San Antonio community. Questions are collected during commander’s calls, town hall meetings and throughout the week.
If you have a question or concern, please send an email to 502ABW.PA.official@us.af.mil com using the subject line “Feedback Fridays.”
Questions will be further researched and published as information becomes available.
Q: I have a concern about activating new prescriptions at the JBSA-Randolph Main Clinic pharmacy. They give you the number to call, 210-652-4127, and to press either Option 5 or 6.
When you press 5, an automated voice comes on the line and it eventually disconnects you from the call. When you select option 6, it will either be a busy signal or the phone will ring and then disconnect.
This is a very frustrating process. What is the point in calling to "activate" your prescriptions if you can never get a hold of anybody? Can this issue be addressed? Thank you.
A: Thank you for sharing your concerns with us through Feedback Friday. We appreciate your willingness to bring this to our attention.
You have voiced a concern that many others in our community are experiencing and we are happy to address it. The bottom line is that the phone system is not broken. It is working as intended, but there is not a queue for callers.
This worked fine before COVID-19, but when we wanted to discourage people from standing in line, we offered the option for patients to call to activate a prescription. Unfortunately, the phone system can only handle two callers and then the third call is disconnected
We have submitted a funding request for a phone system upgrade. The process just takes longer than any of us would like. In the meantime, patients may come in person to activate a script, but we know the lines are long, so we are also working on other technological solutions. Coming soon, there will be an option to scan a QR code to start the prescription activation process.
To answer another question that many people ask, "Why don't you just fill all the prescriptions that are ordered instead of me having to activate it?" You might be surprised to learn that a lot of people never pick up an ordered medication.
If the pharmacy were to fill everything that was ordered, we would run out of shelf space. You'd be waiting in line for us to fill scripts that no one planned to pick up.
JBSA is also quite complex. Prescriptions prescribed to one JBSA pharmacy may be filled at any other JBSA pharmacy. It's not possible for the pharmacy to know in advance which one a patient intends to use. A high percentage of our patients use multiple pharmacies depending on where they were seen or what is convenient at that time.
Thank you again for allowing us the opportunity to address your concern. It is our honor to provide care for you!