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R5x · 11-11-2012, 09:38 AM

Yeah that's an example of bad med reviews done in the community. I agree that the quality of them should be improved from the ones I've seen as well, but I don't think it's a bad initiative at all. We're finally getting a chance to get paid for something other than dispensing. It's a good first step and it'll take time for the quality to improve. I'm pretty sure it's here to stay and will be refined over time. I just feel it's about time we get paid to "talk" to patients about their medications. How often do we counsel otcs for 10 mins or something and the patient goes elsewhere that's cheaper? The $10 fee right now does not even cover the cost of dispensing a medication from Pharmacare own joint study (cost is closer to $14).

Good points brought up about adaptation fee schedule changes that would be reasonable. Unfortunately pharmacare doesn't see it that way. In fact for existing adaptations they are paying $9.60 I believe, because they say it was something negotiated before the agreement to increase the fee to the current $10.

Injections are paid at $10. I don't think they'd pay more for us to do injections because that is how much they pay physicians as well. Injections is probably one area that pharmacy's role will gradually expand in and completely overtake the physicians. It's just way more convenient to go to a pharmacy to get them done than to wait at a doctor's office.

The problem with pharmacy is there are only so many revenue streams available: dispensing fees (which we do not get paid enough for to cover the cost of dispensing), injections ($10 does not actually cover the cost of training and supplies unless you do a very large volume yearly), adaptations, med reviews, and generic support. Generic support is by far the only way to sustain pharmacies in the current model. To get rid of it and then reallocate only a small % of it to fund these clinical services is a joke and will not work. I hope they have something better coming or service levels will drop and every little thing will need to come out of pocket from patients. To be honest, it's time patients DO pay for some things we do. Calling doctors for stupid mistakes, or refill requests, answering otc questions, answering questions from patients that did not even get meds from you are all done for free at the moment and they are all time consuming tasks within our work flow. It just annoys the hell out of me that pharmacists have been trained to believe their skills are worth nothing.
Posted via RS Mobile

11-11-2012, 09:38 AM	#75
R5x Everyone wants a piece of R S... Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 353 Thanked 53 Times in 41 Posts Failed 0 Times in 0 Posts	Yeah that's an example of bad med reviews done in the community. I agree that the quality of them should be improved from the ones I've seen as well, but I don't think it's a bad initiative at all. We're finally getting a chance to get paid for something other than dispensing. It's a good first step and it'll take time for the quality to improve. I'm pretty sure it's here to stay and will be refined over time. I just feel it's about time we get paid to "talk" to patients about their medications. How often do we counsel otcs for 10 mins or something and the patient goes elsewhere that's cheaper? The $10 fee right now does not even cover the cost of dispensing a medication from Pharmacare own joint study (cost is closer to $14). Good points brought up about adaptation fee schedule changes that would be reasonable. Unfortunately pharmacare doesn't see it that way. In fact for existing adaptations they are paying $9.60 I believe, because they say it was something negotiated before the agreement to increase the fee to the current $10. Injections are paid at $10. I don't think they'd pay more for us to do injections because that is how much they pay physicians as well. Injections is probably one area that pharmacy's role will gradually expand in and completely overtake the physicians. It's just way more convenient to go to a pharmacy to get them done than to wait at a doctor's office. The problem with pharmacy is there are only so many revenue streams available: dispensing fees (which we do not get paid enough for to cover the cost of dispensing), injections ($10 does not actually cover the cost of training and supplies unless you do a very large volume yearly), adaptations, med reviews, and generic support. Generic support is by far the only way to sustain pharmacies in the current model. To get rid of it and then reallocate only a small % of it to fund these clinical services is a joke and will not work. I hope they have something better coming or service levels will drop and every little thing will need to come out of pocket from patients. To be honest, it's time patients DO pay for some things we do. Calling doctors for stupid mistakes, or refill requests, answering otc questions, answering questions from patients that did not even get meds from you are all done for free at the moment and they are all time consuming tasks within our work flow. It just annoys the hell out of me that pharmacists have been trained to believe their skills are worth nothing. Posted via RS Mobile Last edited by R5x; 11-11-2012 at 10:48 AM.