N.S. falls short in response to higher pharmacy fees

I thank you for recent coverage of the general displeasure voiced by Nova Scotians towards the Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia, following the lead of its national body, for unilaterally changing prescription refills from a 90-day to a 30-day supply for medications treating a chronic condition.

While the stated reason, that it was to prevent shortages and limit hoarding, may have been valid, the blanket solution used seemed to benefit mostly the pharmacists themselves, who were suddenly enjoying dispensing fee revenue three times what it had been previously, and who did not differentiate between medications where there truly was a shortage and those in ample supply. Perversely, it also led to an increased number of trips by citizens to pharmacies at a time where we were supposed to be staying home as much as possible.

On April 23, the province of New Brunswick took decisive action by eliminating the practice in that province, and reverting back to the usual 90-day supply rules. In taking this decision, they indicated that the COVID-19 crisis did not lead to new shortages as was feared, making the change unnecessary. They also indicated that they would establish a group in that province to monitor any shortages of specific drugs that may occur. and allow only the supply of those items to be limited, to manage such issues in a targeted manner. This is fine leadership and I congratulate Premier Higgs.

Sadly, here in Nova Scotia we have seen a weak response by our government in taking measures to stop the financial impact of this move by pharmacies. While those on pharmacare and social assistance are supposed to receive some belated relief, that leaves many other groups of citizens, for whom the change is a financial hardship, unprotected.

If New Brunswick is not experiencing undue shortages, then I expect the same is true here. Surely it is time for the province of Nova Scotia to withdraw its approval of these moves by PANS and either do what New Brunswick did, or limit the total dispensing fees charged by pharmacies to no more than what was collected previously when a 90-day supply was provided.

Whatever the intention of the move initially, what has happened over the last number of weeks has at least the appearance of profiteering in the time of crisis by pharmacies, with government’s implicit approval, a very bad look indeed.