Generic Pricing Decision Short-Changes Patient Care
January 18, 2013 (OTTAWA) – CPhA expressed disappointment that enhancements to patient care were not addressed in the announcement made earlier today by the Council of the Federation to lower the cost of six generic molecules across Canada; nor was there a commitment to invest some of the predicted savings into improved health care for Canadians.
The Council of the Federation announced that the price of six generic medications would be reduced to 18% of the brand name equivalent effective April 1, 2013 across all jurisdictions in Canada.
Over the past several months, CPhA, in partnership with other pharmacy organizations, has suggested to provincial and territorial governments that in the event of generic drug price reductions, some savings from lower generic prices should be reinvested in the health system to expand pharmacy-related services for the benefit of Canadian patients. Although lower generic prices will help to increase the accessibility of medications for patients, CPhA believes that a commitment to investment by provincial/territorial governments in new pharmacy services will lead to enhanced services and better patient outcomes. As pharmacy is provided with the opportunity to offer greater care to patients, additional upstream savings to the health care system overall will be realized.
As discussions to implement today’s announcement begin in earnest in individual provinces and territories, CPhA is calling on all governments to work with pharmacy to develop new pharmacy services that have the potential to create further savings to the health care system.
“Pharmacists have the potential to improve the health outcomes of Canadians by providing a range of services not currently covered by provincial and territorial health plans,” stated Paula MacNeil, President of CPhA.
“Today’s announcement by the Council of the Federation offers an opportunity for governments to make a strong commitment to improve patient care by investing in expanded services for pharmacists in a sustainable manner – we would encourage all jurisdictions to work with pharmacy in order to take advantage of this opportunity and reinvest some of the savings realized by lower generic drug prices into expanded pharmacy services.”
The Canadian Pharmacists Association was founded in 1907 and is the national professional voluntary association providing leadership to pharmacists in all areas of practice. Our members are active in community and hospital pharmacies, in long-term care facilities, home care, academia and industry.
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For more information, please contact:
Jeff Morrison,
Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs
Mobile: 613-291-9377 Email: jmorrison@pharmacists.ca