By Charles Lefebvre

Pharmacists rally against fee changes, say they’ll impact care

Apr 19, 2018 | 4:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Pharmacists took to the streets in Medicine Hat on Thursday to protest upcoming changes to their fees.

Approximately 20 people were present in downtown Medicine Hat on Thursday, speaking out against the fee schedule changes, which will take effect on May 17. Carrying signs which said “Gov’t! Lets work together,” and “Help Pharmacists Help Albertans,” the group marched through the streets, chanting “Patient Care First,” ending outside MLA Bob Wanner’s office.

“We’re concerned, we’re frustrated,” said Heber Costillo, a pharmacist from Bow Island who organized the rally. “It feels like we’re always the punching bag, and we want to be consulted as professionals, as people, to be part of the solutions to the strain on the health care system.”

Among the changes, dispensing fees for pharmacists will drop to $12.15 from $12.30. There is also a limit on the number of frequent dispensing fees. Daily dispensing fees will be capped to three per day per patient and monthly dispensing fees will be limited to two per drug every 28 days.

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In addition, the agreement also sees a risk sharing component come in place in 2019, which says at least 10 per cent of government funding to pharmacies will be withheld each quarter to be used to address budget shortfalls. If the expenditures are less than what’s budgeted, the hold back will be reduced to pharmacies.

The changes, the province says, puts Alberta in line with other provinces, such as British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

For example, dispensing fees are $10 per prescription in British Columbia, $11.40 in Saskatchewan, $30 in Manitoba and range from $8.83 to $13.25 in Ontario (there are different fees for urban and rural residents in the province).

“We know how important it is that we have a sustainable health care system that puts patients first,” said Health Minister Sarah Hoffman in a statement on Thursday. “We worked with the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association to look at all the tools available to help achieve $150 million in savings to the health budget while also recognizing the need to ensure Albertans continue to have pharmacy services they can depend on. This new funding agreement not only achieves savings to the health care budget; it also means more than 8,700 Albertans will save at least $100 a year on their prescriptions. ”

Hoffman says without the new fee schedule, funding for pharmacy compensation was scheduled to rise 12.4 per cent a year. The new agreement sees the funding rise only 4.3 per cent each year.

Castillo says he’s concerned the changes will have an impact on services pharmacists will be able to provide.

“When you’re restricting how much a person can access a pharmacist, we’re one of the most accessible professions to the public,” he said. “You’re capping that now.

At the rally, Corwin Herter, a patient of Costillo’s spoke about his experience with pharmacies, and how they’ve helped him.

“I look to him for advice on anything, pretty much anything I’m curious about,” he said. “I’m always asking ‘Is this right for me?’ ‘Is this wrong for me?’ and he goes through it very thoroughly with myself, talking about side effects, and find out out what’s best to take or not to take.”

Corwin adds he is worried about losing that relationship between patient and pharmacist when the changes go into effect.

“Now, more than ever, we need to speak up and voice ourselves and make sure that they don’t take this away from us, because this is incredibly important,” he said. “I hope that they continue to stick around and I really hope that people understand that.”

Castillo says he hopes the rallies will get the attention of the provincial government, and allows pharmacists and the province to renegotiate a deal.

“The main objective of these rallies is to demand, ask, whatever word you want to out, for this government to reengage our voice, the RxA (Alberta Pharmacists’ Association), to talk to us, and treat us fairly, and let us arrive to a solution together,” he said.

Rallies were also held in Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and Lethbridge.