The Official Medtipster Blog

The idea of saving money is the sole reason why people go to different stores for different items, if they know ahead of time they can spend less to get the same item. Why would prescriptions be any different, I suppose?

We at Medtipster.com encourage you to use our database to find the pharmacy with your specific prescription available on a pharmacy’s $4 generic program close to your home. If you’re taking several medications, this could mean you have several different pharmacy visits every month or every three months. It seems like it makes sense, but then again, does it have to be this way?

Pharmacies want your business. They want to keep you as a customer. Many offer gift cards and incentives to get you in there once, with every intention of keeping you. Next time you have a prescription, you’re already in the database, the pharmacy technician is familiar with your prescription history, and the hassle of a new pharmacy is obsolete. So, why wouldn’t they do what they have to do to keep you?

Price matching is something we hear all the time. This takes me back to my original question, why would prescriptions be any different, I suppose? They are not. Ask your pharmacy technician to match the price being offered at the next pharmacy! It can’t hurt to ask, and all they can say is, “no.”

Find your generics on Medtipster.com first then make a note of where the other generics are available on a generics program. Print the list, or go directly to the competing pharmacy and ask for a print out of the generic’s cost. Take that to the pharmacy of your choice and simply say, “I want to keep all of my prescriptions here, can you match the price of this competing pharmacy’s generic equivalent?”

Switch it up and save! Save time, gas money, and frustration.

Source: MSN Money http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1349052

Tylar Masters

SEO = Save Every Opportunity

‘Tis the season. Retailers everywhere are throwing their best pick up lines at every potential customer. But there’s usually a catch, or some other motivation, to lure you into the store to ultimately spend more money. Wouldn’t it be great to really get something for free? Wouldn’t it be great if there really were no obligation?

How many opportunities do you really have to save a lot of money? I follow companies such as Spirit Airlines and Dell on Twitter, just in case the one day I’m ready to set sail on a last minute vacation or finally decide it’s the day to buy that new laptop, I have them telling me how to save big money. I like that.

So, let’s face it, whether research, coupons, specials, sales, auctions, using the internet to save money is what I’m announcing as the new SEO, “save every opportunity.”

Hello Medtipster.com.

Medtipster tells you where the lowest prescriptions are available in your neighborhood. Totally free. In fact, right now, if you live in Michigan, visit www.medtipster.com/free and you could win your prescription. No obligations (we pinky promise).

Follow us on Twitter now! www.twitter.com/medtipster.

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
www.medtipster.com

Tylar Masters

How to get the most out of your doctor’s appointment

We all know the drill… you show up for your doctor’s appointment, you wait X amount of minutes for the nurse to call your name, weigh in (always the fun part, I know), then step in to a room where you’re instructed to sit on an oversized paper gum wrapper and wait. Twenty minutes later, the doctor steps in to ask you about your symptoms, and in many cases, the doctor seems as though they are in a hurry. If you want to make sure you get the most from your doctor during that time, be sure you’re asking the right questions!

Make a list of items you want to discuss, brief your doctor on these items so the two of you can determine which items need to be addressed right away and which items can wait until your next appointment. Keeping a journal or notebook dedicated to health concerns, prescription questions, diet, exercise, etc. is a good idea.

Never be afraid to talk to your doctor about what’s really going on. As my own mother (who is a nurse) once told me, there really isn’t much a doctor hasn’t seen or experienced with another patient. If you’re not sure why your doctor is asking you a specific question, ask! Your doctor is there to help you, no matter how busy they seem to be.

Talk to the nurse at the nurse station before you go into your examination room. Just as the doctors are there to help you, so are their nurses. In many cases, the nurses can answer questions you have about your health. If for any reason they cannot answer a question for you, they will simply tell you that you will need to ask the doctor. Once you leave the examination room, feel free to ask any follow up questions with the nurse. Many times, the nurse will check with the doctor about your question before you leave to clear up any outstanding issues you thought of after leaving the examination room.

Remember that getting the most from your doctor’s time is all about communication. It’s also important to be honest when communicating with your doctor! Doctors go through all those years of education and hard work because they are passionate about healing and helping, YOU!

For more information and a specific list of common questions for your doctor, visit the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) website’s “Questions Are the Answer Series” at www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer/.

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
web address: www.medtipster.com

Pharmacies cancel seasonal flu shots due to the demand for H1N1 vaccine.

When I saw this picture, I immediately thought, “wow, how frustrating for the people who showed up to get a flu shot only to read this sign in disappointment.” Then I sat down to begin blogging about it, and had nothing but writer’s block, or so I thought.

Nope, I don’t have writer’s block. This picture is worth a thousand words!

I have a continuous search running on my twitter tweetdeck for H1N1 and every minute of every day, at least one new tweet mentions H1N1. Everyone is seriously concerned about swine flu! What is most important is preventing it and treating it by knowing when and where the vaccine is available, and where to go for treatment if you have symptoms.

And I just want to shout it from the rooftops! Medtipster.com has this information available! It’s there, I promise! You won’t have to drive around looking and hoping to find the flu shot somewhere. We know what pharmacies have the seasonal flu shot AND the H1N1 vaccine. We know supplies are limited, we know the country is in a panic, we know the frustration people are feeling. Medtipster.com was designed to help!

Medtipster.com is the trusted source for the latest information this flu season! Share this with your friends, your family, your co-workers, your dog walker, even your enemies, whom perhaps would be happy to give you their swine flu!

Avoid the inconvenience, the apologies, and most of all, the headache. Stay informed with www.medtipster.com.

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
email: tmasters@medtipster.com
web address: www.medtipster.com

Tylar Masters

The actual number of confirmed cases of swine flu could be nearly 140 times greater than originally reported.

The swine flu has everyone talking, and everyone concerned in one way or another. It’s a topic we hear about daily in the news. The shortage of the H1N1 vaccine has sent millions into a panic, especially those with young children or caretakers of elders, who are at the highest risk.

The number of laboratory confirmed cases from April 2009 to July 2009 is approximately 44,000 in the United States alone. But what if that number is completely inaccurate? How would that effect the supply of the H1N1 vaccine now that flu season is here and we’ve entered into the “fall swing” of the swine flu? Answer: Tremendously.

The truth is that the estimate could be off just a little. Like 5,656,000, but who’s counting? Well, every single concerned American for one! According to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard School of Public Health, the actual number of infected individuals in the United States is between 1.8 million and 5.7 million. That’s up to 140 times greater than the earlier reported 44,000 infected Americans.

The CDC and Harvard suggest that “health systems and infrastructure may be unprepared in the short-term if plans are based on a number of confirmed cases.” That being said, knowing the true number of confirmed cases seems like a high priority.

Resources: Bloomberg, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard School of Public Health

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
email: tmasters@medtipster.com
web address: www.medtipster.com

Tylar Masters

We’ve all asked that famous Halloween question, “trick or treat?” What we expect is some foil wrapped deliciousness, some sort of taste explosion in our mouths, not a $32.00 deduction from our bank account (otherwise known as “trick” in my opinion!)

I visited my doctor the week before Halloween back in 2007 because I had a terrible cough, sore throat, chest congestion and a fever. The doctor told me I had bronchitis, and wrote a prescription. On my way out, I grabbed a mini-snickers from the plastic orange pumpkin, thank goodness, because that was the only real “treat” I got out of the deal.

I told my doctor I didn’t have prescription insurance. He advised that he could call in my prescription to the pharmacy that was directly across the street from his practice and they would have the drug available for just $4.00. I was so relieved to hear this news! I drove over to the pharmacy, waited about 25 minutes for my order to be filled, while managing to steer clear of the temptation of wandering around the store buying several things I really didn’t need.

The pharmacist called my name, and I went to the counter to pay for my prescription. “Your total is $36.00,” she said. I replied, “oh, umm, I’m sure there’s a mix up, you see, my doctor told me this would be just $4.00 here.” You know, because doctors are always right, right? “No, this is the generic and it’s $36.00,” she repeated that price as if I was automatically supposed to know my total. I had no clue, and apparently neither did my doctor, that this particular pharmacy had no such drug at that price, nor any others for that matter.

You see, each pharmacy really does have its own list of generic prescriptions available on the $4.00 program. But who knows that? I sure didn’t. And my doctor clearly did not. I didn’t know there was even a way to know which pharmacies carried which drugs on their $4.00 programs. It can be very confusing to the average consumer, which is why Medtipster.com exists.

Stick with David Copperfield for your tricks and Medtipster.com for your treats!

Just for fun, the origination of Halloween’s famous question: http://tinyurl.com/yhe77e8

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
email: tmasters@medtipster.com
web address: www.medtipster.com

Tylar Masters

“Come on down!” Those are awfully familiar words to any “Price is Right” guru. Ever notice how the items being bid on are all brand names? It’s part of “branding,” and it works well if you’re targeting a fan of the CBS hit television show, even post-Bob Barker!

There’s a time and a place for brand names. I choose Kraft Macaroni and Cheese over the store brand, it’s my personal preference. Why? In my opinion, Kraft has a better product, and the difference is definitely noticeable. (Yes, it is the cheesiest!) I could save about $25 a year by choosing the store brand, which adds up to about $1,250 over my lifetime.

Now, this is crazy. The average person has one prescription per month, and the cost of the brand name prescription, on average, is $100.00. Let’s say from age 45 to age 68, a person spends this amount per month on the same brand name prescription. That’s $27,600! What? $27,600! Sorry, it was just SO worth repeating!

Now, let’s take this same person and factor in medtipster.com, where the same prescription is available in a generic form (which is an exact replica of the brand name) for only $4.00 per month. Now we’re talking! That’s just $1,104.00 over 23 years. While I’m sure you can do the math, basically the difference is, well, a new Honda Civic Hybrid, or two Kia Rios!

So you see, we’re not talking mac’n cheese any more. While “The Price is Right” for some purchases, it’s better to “come on down” on prescription drug spending.

Tylar Masters
Manager of Marketing and Communications
Medtipster, LLC.
email: tmasters@medtipster.com
web address: www.medtipster.com