Pharmacy Practice: Funding gap grows as Ont. Pharmacists wait for new deal

Written by Sonya Felix on November 23, 2009

Ontario’s Community Pharmacies (OCPh) is stepping up its public relations campaign calling for support of the province’s 3,000 community pharmacies while waiting for further negotiations with the ministry of health. A press release released today, Nov. 23, focuses on the chronic funding gap pharmacy faces and its growing reliance on indirect funding from manufacturers in order to continue to provide patient care and services.

As reported in the press release, the funding gap for a typical community pharmacy grew by 80% to more than $100,000 between 2002 and 2008. An independent study commissioned last year by the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association (OPA) and the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores (CACDS) showed that the actual cost to pharmacies to provide services for one prescription is $13.77, almost twice the $7.00 fee currently paid by the ODB. Over the past 20 years, the fee has increased by only 56 cents, said Dean Miller, OPA chair. “[The current] funding model doesn’t make a lot of sense, and it has to be fixed on an urgent basis.” The funding gap is compounded by the fact there is no government funding for most of the additional services pharmacies provide to patients such as patient education clinics, blood pressure monitoring, telephone counselling and prescription delivery to seniors’ homes.

Pharmacy has been negotiating with the Ontario Ministry of Health since the summer when it became clear that the government was considering a new level of drug system reform including reducing generic drug prices and pharmacy allowances. In August 2009, OCPh presented a proposal to the ministry with detailed data about the cost to operate and the ability of pharmacies to offer care and services. Under pharmacy’s proposed new compensation plan, the Ontario drug system would secure $1.6 billion while providing stable and predictable pharmacy funding and ensuring patient access to and quality of care. The government in turn called the proposal “interesting” and “useful.”

Since August, OCPh has met with the ministry four times with the expectation of getting into a detailed discussion on the government’s response to the proposal. The next meeting, to be held on November 23, was cancelled at the last minute because, according to the OCPh website, the government said they were not in a position to, or ready to present their plans to pharmacy. The next meeting is scheduled for December 8.

In the meantime, OCPh has called on the province’s pharmacists to let their provincial members of parliament know how cuts to indirect funding without replacing them with increases in direct funding (dispensing fees and payment for services) would have a severe impact on pharmacy’s sustainability. In an OCPh multicast launched on Nov. 19, Jeff May and Rita Winn explain why it is important to reach a positive agreement with government and how lack of funding could result in serious and unintended consequences such as staff lay offs, store insolvencies, and less healthcare access for patients.