The government finalized controversial changes to the drug plan Monday, going ahead with the abolition of professional allowances which are rebates pharmacists receive from manufacturers on the cost of generic drugs purchased through Ontario’s Public Drug Program. It is estimated that the amount paid by manufacturers on these professional allowances adds up to $750 million a year.
Hand-in-hand with this policy move is a cap on the prices of generics at 25 per cent of the brand – a deeper discount than any other province has yet made, although the government has made some exceptions to this rule.
When the government announced its proposed changes in April there was considerable backlash from the pharmacy community which warned that some pharmacies would be forced out of business and services to customers would be severely curtailed.
A massive public relations campaign was launched to force the government to back down, but the finalized strategy only contains some relatively small changes.
“Despite the fact that Big Pharmacy opposed our changes with one of the most politically charged, American-style PR campaigns in this province’s history, I can tell you that our resolve has never wavered,” Health Minister Deb Matthews told a news conference Monday.
In addition to a $150 million fund to pay for additional professional services to patients, the government is offering pharmacists $75 million in transition fees. This amounts to $1 extra on each prescription to next April dropping steadily to zero by the start of the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Dispensing fees are also going up by a dollar to $8 for prescriptions filled through the public drug plan; pharmacies in small communities will get up to $12 a prescription depending on how far they are from another pharmacy.
There are no rules in place for how much pharmacies can charge private-paying customers for dispensing fees and these are slated to go up quickly to at least partially offset the revenue loss.
“Our ways to increase revenues are few and far between, and dispensing fees is one of them. We’ll probably see that rising over the next few months,” Dean Miller, chairman of the Ontario Pharmacists Association told Canadian Press.
More information at www.health.gov.on.ca/en/
