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Ten questions to ask a lien pharmacy.
Ask us them too. We would rather lose the referral than have you find out at disbursement.
None of these questions is about pharmacology. Every one of them is about whether the balance behaves predictably at the end of a case — which is the only thing about a lien provider that reliably matters to a plaintiff firm. Copy them into an email and send them to whoever is asking for your referrals.
1. What is the price, per drug, in writing?
A good answer: a schedule, sent the same day, showing the usual and customary cash price — the same price a person walking in off the street pays.
A bad answer: “it depends,” or a price that exists only on lien bills.
Why it matters: California measures the reasonable value of a provider's services against the full range of fees that provider actually accepts, not against a chargemaster. A lien-specific markup hands a defense expert something to attack, and the attack lands on your client's damages rather than on the pharmacy's balance sheet.
2. Do you sell, factor or assign the receivable to anyone?
A good answer: no, the balance stays with the pharmacy from the first fill to the disbursement.
A bad answer: any version of “we work with a funding partner.”
Why it matters: where a provider lien has been sold, what the buyer paid for it becomes a live discovery question about what your client actually owes. You also lose the ability to negotiate with a person who has discretion — a factor that bought paper at a discount has every reason to hold out for face value.
3. Who decides a reduction, and how fast do I get a number?
A good answer: a named person with authority, in writing, within days.
A bad answer: “our settlement department reviews it.”
Why it matters: attorneys report spending a substantial share of their working time on lien reduction. The difference between a two-day answer and a six-week one is felt at exactly the moment when everything else on the file is already agreed.
4. What happens if the case is dropped or recovers nothing?
A good answer: the balance is reduced or written off, stated plainly, and available in writing before you refer anyone.
A bad answer: silence, or a promise that the charge disappears written into the contract itself.
Why it matters: both halves matter. You want the practical commitment — but you do not want the agreement to say the debt is contingent on winning, because a charge that exists only on a win is one the defense can argue was never incurred at all, which knocks it out of the recoverable specials.
5. Are you a licensed pharmacy, or a card network?
A good answer: a license number and a permitted address you can verify with the Board of Pharmacy.
A bad answer: a network size in the tens of thousands and no premises anywhere.
Why it matters: both models are legitimate, and a card genuinely wins when your client is far away and needs something today. But you should know which one you are dealing with, because a card program cannot deliver to a surgery center, cannot fill outside its formulary, and cannot make the dispensing decision itself.
6. Do you pay anyone for referrals?
A good answer: no, in any form, in either direction — including marketing stipends, per-patient arrangements and anything structured to look like something else.
A bad answer: an offer.
Why it matters: California Business and Professions Code section 650 makes it unlawful to offer or receive consideration for referring patients, and it is not limited to federally funded care. A lien built on a compensated referral is a lien worth attacking — and the attacking happens in a deposition, in your client's case.
7. Do you dispense compounded topical pain creams?
A good answer: not on a lien. Ordinary topicals — lidocaine patches, diclofenac gel — yes.
A bad answer: enthusiasm.
Why it matters: compounded transdermal creams have produced a decade of fraud prosecutions in California personal injury and workers' compensation. A bill full of them hands defense counsel a theme, and every adjuster in the state pattern-matches on it instantly.
8. What documentation do I get, and when?
A good answer: an itemized statement on every fill — drug, strength, quantity, date, prescriber, charge — a running balance any day you ask, and a final balance letter at settlement.
A bad answer: one lump-sum invoice when the case resolves.
Why it matters: this is where lien relationships actually fail. Nobody complains that the wrong drug was dispensed; they complain that the bill arrived late, in the wrong format, addressed to nobody, with a number that could not be reconciled.
9. Will you provide a records affidavit or a declaration?
A good answer: yes, on request, for the demand package or for trial.
A bad answer: confusion about what you are asking for.
Why it matters: a custodian's affidavit is what makes billing usable as evidence rather than merely persuasive. A provider who has never been asked has probably never had a case go the distance.
10. What do you need from my office, and how much work is it?
A good answer: one letter of protection, and the vendor chases the patient and the paperwork itself.
A bad answer: a vendor agreement, an onboarding call, a portal, or a minimum volume.
Why it matters: your case manager is the person who actually uses this. Anything that makes her chase records or re-explain a file is a cost you pay every month, invisibly, for as long as the relationship lasts.
Ask us the same ten.
Every answer above describes how we run this, and each one is on the site already — the reduction policy, the billing, the compliance positions and the comparison with card networks. Email and you get the paperwork behind them the same business day.