Shoppers Drug Mart to screen for arthritis

Pharmacists want to top up revenue lost by government reforms

TORONTO Shoppers Drug Mart will now screen people for arthritis, the retailer announced in concert with government and health experts on Monday, another piece of its strategy to offer more medical services to Canadians and make up for falling revenue from generic drugs.

Canada’s biggest pharmacy retailer, set to be taken over by grocery giant Loblaw Cos., in a blockbuster $12.4-billion deal, has been lobbying governments in a joint effort with rival Rexall and the country’s pharmacists’ association to allow pharmacists to perform a broader range of duties.

As such, pharmacists are compensated by differing provincial governments for flu shots, prescription renewals or adaptations and chronic disease management, through programs such as blood pressure, diabetes and smokingcessation clinics.

“Additional services add additional revenue,” Domenic Pilla, Shoppers Drug Mart’s chief executive, said in an interview.

“But it is really about bringing more patients into our pharmacies. When we have an intimate relationship with a patient — something like a medication review, an inoculation or a flu shot — we find that those patients spend more money in our stores.

So not only do we get additional revenue because we provide a new service, but at the same time commercially for our business, those are valuable customers.”

The new arthritis screening protocol consists of a clinical questionnaire and self-exam online or in-store with a pharmacist.

Of the more than 4.6 million Canadians affected by arthritis, two out of three are women, the company said, but many people are unaware that they have the condition until it has set in substantially.

“It is about early detection,” Pilla said.

“There is a diagnosis in some cases, and we would refer to the patient to the physician for a more indepth diagnosis.”

The program is rolling out as drug retailers face competition from Amazon. ca in beauty and household products, and Canada’s provinces have been capping the prices of popular generic drugs amid soaring health care system costs.

In April regulations kicked in related to six of the most popular prescription drugs, allowing pharmacies to charge no more than 18 per cent of the price of the branded equivalent, down from a prior cap of 25 per cent to 40 per cent.

Three years ago provincial government drug reforms cut the socalled professional allowances that generic drugmakers gave to pharmacies annually, which Shoppers estimated would cost $750 million a year in revenue.