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Originally Posted by pinkeye
So with the generic support and rebates ending next year ...how have pharmacies adapted to this projected decrease in revenue? i've heard multiple reports from regional mangers saying how low the wages in toronto are (ld in particular is 25/hour; safeway is 28/hour)...and sadly it seems to be going in that direction....like you said...clinical services won't cover the lost revenue...and if we hold clinics on acne or stuff like that...i don't feel anyone would be willing to pay for it. it's really difficult to see how we can preemptively do some damage control before the legislation is implemented.
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It's unclear what will happen to generic support at the moment. It all hinges on the wording of the legislation. Time will tell if there are ways to work around it or if the transition will be more gradual. But regardless, the best days are behind us now for the foreseeable future.
Wages for existing pharmacists seem to be holding as it's too demoralizing to cut across the board that way for now. New pharmacist wages are the ones that are being hit first. I believe the wage is sitting somewhere between $32-35/hr at the moment.
Next to go will probably be the # of hours of existing pharmacists before actual layoffs or decrease in wages occur.
The only other thing that pharmacies can do is to maximize earnings while it's still available from whatever clinical services are available and getting that generic money while it's still there. There are SO many factors working against pharmacy at the moment. Even among pharmacists, it is absolutely retarded when I hear that they "don't want to do a medication review for a patient because it's not worth $60 of the government money to do it" without even understanding where the hell this money is coming from. And yet these same pharmacists think they deserve their $38-40/hour. It's absolutely ridiculous and shows how little they understand what's going on in this profession and the landscape of the current economic situation with pharmacy.
I encourage all the pharmacists here that are part of BCPhA to actually listen to some of the member briefings from a few months ago. They are archived under Professional Resources\Bill 35. All 3 archived clips have mostly the same information, but the last briefing on May 2nd in Victoria is the best. It really sums up how pharmacy got to its current state and why negotiations fell apart. The attendance (online and in person) was pathetic for these and just goes to show what is wrong with our profession and how the majority of pharmacists are so misinformed and don't give a shit until it's too late and they're about to get axed.