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National Coordinating Office | May 04, 2011
Province further expanding range of clinical services it will pay pharmacists to provide at no charge to Ontarians.
Written by Vicki Wood on May 4, 2011 for CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca
The latest phase of Ontario’s promised $150 million investment in pharmacy services was revealed today (May 4).
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Deb Matthews announced that the province is further expanding the range of clinical services that it will pay pharmacists to provide at no charge to Ontarians.
As of April 1, pharmacists have received a $15 “pharmaceutical opinion” fee for clinical counselling at the time of dispensing an Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program prescription, including consults with prescribers on dosage, and advice given and measures taken to prevent adverse and/or allergic reactions.
And starting in August of this year, the province will pay pharmacists to provide free appointment-based services including chronic disease management education and support, device training and smoking cessation support. These services will be available to a broader base of Ontarians and not limited to ODB patients.
More than 800,000 MedsCheck consults have been done since the program was launched in April 2007, at the same time as generic allowances were made illegal and the price and markup for generic prescription drugs slashed. When Matthews announced the dramatic changes in drug pricing policy, she noted that the move was part of a provincial strategy to use savings generated through paying less for drug products to fund increased pharmacy services and and to expand the provincial drug plan formulary.
The MedsCheck medication review program was expanded the next year with MedsCheck follow-up, which allowed patients additional annual pharmacist medication reviews, and in 2010 MedsCheck was extended as a service for patients in long-term care homes as well as for the ill or elderly in their homes and for people with diabetes. As a measure of the program’s success, Matthews noted that in more than half of MedsCheck reviews, some change is made to the patient’s medication regime.
At the May 4 announcement, held at Augusta Central Pharmacy in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighbourhood, Matthews nodded to the pharmacists on duty, saying “For a long time, you have had clinical skills that we had not put to work optimally.” She also noted that much of the savings that the Ontario government has accrued by paying less for generic drugs has been pumped back into the healthcare system to add 176 new drugs to the formulary and to fund these paid pharmacy clinical services.
Dennis Darby, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association applauded today’s announcement, saying that, particularly with these new appointment-based services, “we can improve patient outcomes and help conserve healthcare resources.”
Added Michael Nashat, a pharmacist and member of the Ontario Pharmacy Council (the group advising the Ministry of Health regarding the practice of pharmacy as these changes are planned and implemented): “Ontario patients will benefit greatly as Ontario pharmacists are used more” for their skills in medication management.