A Pharmacist's Response to Ontario Funding Cuts

Ontario's government is trying to introduce cuts that will force many small, family-run independent stores to struggle to stay open, while services that were free up until now, including deliveries, compliance packaging, diabetic blood glucose monitoring and teaching, over-the-counter medication recommendations, phone calls requiring medical advice, clinic days, and prescription renewal requests to the doctor will either have to disappear or be associated with a charge in order to meet expenditures and be able to pay the wages of employees. Many pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy students and other employees of pharmacies will see their jobs start to disappear or have their hours reduced. The standard of health care in Ontario will drop as more and more patients will need to head to the emergency rooms and doctor's offices for incidents that could have been solved with a visit to the pharmacy. The government is attacking the profession of pharmacy itself, and all the small independent pharmacies that make up a large portion of this profession in Ontario. This will upset the intricate network between various health care practitioners who are trained to work together and deliver services within their scope of practice . Go to stopcuts.ca to find out more.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Pharmacy
• pharmacist
• Ontario cuts

[blingchachink93]

I am a senior and I am 100% behind the Ontario pharmacists. They provided valuable services to our community and funding cuts hurt us all. To Jimprn , please stop posting your ignorant comments here and understand the issue before you write.

[pharmapo]

@macpharm1 If you were a pharmacist, you would know what patient counseling includes and that over-the-counter recommendations, phone calls, and walk-in question unrelated to getting prescriptions filled are not yet reimbursed in any way. The fee doesn't even cover basic filling costs at the amount it's at. macpharm1 or jimprn, you made the same mistake and used "we" when you really should have used "they", and you gave your identity and intentions away. Sorry.

[Drregaleagle]

@0:11,

No, not really. I don't think my government has any limits at all when it comes to destroying society.

[moonlighting21]

Thank you so much, Laura for a such articulate and accurate speech which exactly expressed how I feel about the issues facing pharmacy in Ont. I am sure that your parents are very proud of you. May I have your permission to download it and have it play on a monitor in my pharmacy for my patients and customers to see? Anyone who had seen this please pass it on to as many people on your email list as possible. The view counts shoud be much higher than the current 4708 views.

[McDiggy]

This video is awesome.

I'm a Yank pharmacist that totally understands. Our government killed independent pharmacy by making dispensing something only major corporations can do by making it a loss leader segment. I was considering moving to Ontario because I love the open-access healthcare system and because I love Canadian culture. Now it looks like I'd just be moving from America to America.

[conkop200]

Brand companies provide kickbacks to our Liberal Government . That, only now we know. It's been skillfully hidden from the public. Since it's hidden, we call that a kickback.

Generics companies have been ALLOWED to pay to pharmacies a percentage of the revenue. The Government ALLOWED this model. The Gvt CONTROL and MONITOR how pharmacies spend that money. Since it's controlled, regulated, it's called Professional Allowance - allowed.

[conkop200]

Big Pharma = Brand Companies = patented drugs like Viagra, Flovent, Prevacid etc. Big Pharma decide on its own price. They represent 75% of all our expenses on drugs.

Generics are the companies making the "same'' drugs once the patent is expired. There is no more monopoly of the price. Generics must get approval from the Government in term of quality and pricing. Generics drugs represent 25% of our expenses on drugs.

If expense on drugs (cost only) is $100, Brand takes $75, Generics take $25

[88distortion]

@88distortion I mean $100,000 to $300,000 per year spent on paying the lease!! This is the end of the small independent stores. McGuinty doesn't want any small business to succeed.

[88distortion]

@Mikelikeshockey And when you know that the lease alone (not including operating costs, salaries for employees,etc) can be from 100,000 to 300,000 depending on store size and location, how can the government expect independent stores to survive this???

[Mikelikeshockey]

@macpharm1 No matter what anyone says - numbers don't lie. IF they cut that much out of a pharmacy they'll either have to close or charge more fees. What independent small business can survive someone banning $300,000 in revenue overnight? The government is just downloading healthcare to the public while looking good doing it under the cloak of "fighting big pharma". The NDP who despise BigPharma even say its BS what the Liberals are dishing.

[tumbiwalla]

@macpharm1

no one here needs your pity.

it's enjoyable watching some of the lowest life forms (you) on the planet try to pick fights without having a single argument that can hold water.

knowledge is power - get you some.