A great deal has been made about the Drug System Renewal Forum in Ontario that got underway in the summer, and the recently announced changes in Alberta. There is hope in Ontario that the provincial government will extend the same lower drug prices it has secured within its public programs to all Ontarians regardless of coverage. The hype out of Alberta is that they have announced that new lower prices on generic drugs will apply across the board, and not just to the public sector. The limitation in Wild Rose Country is that the announced reduction of generic drug prices to 45% of the brand price will only apply to new generics entering the market. There is no word on what will happen with existing generic drug prices. On the brand drug side, the Alberta government has announced changes will be occurring, but have provided no details as to what they will be. So it is difficult to determine what the impact will be for private plan sponsors.

In Ontario, the picture is even more abstract, and the situation was certainly not assisted with the Minister of Health getting run out of office with the eHealth scandal. The one thing that was clear from the meetings this summer is that any changes to drug pricing outside of the public sector is far from certain.

The problem is that many stakeholders within the provision of drug plan benefits in the private sector seem content to sit back and let their respective provincial governments swoop in and solve some of the challenges that exist in containing plan costs. In our view, that's like expecting the teacher to do your homework for you.

Any student that wants to get ahead is going to make him/herself responsible for their own education. Students looking to distinguish themselves will go well past the minimum, and take the initiative to move forward on their own - regardless of what the rest of the class is doing. Plan sponsors who choose to wait and see how provincial governments across the country will assist in cost containment are losing out on opportunities to contain plan costs immediately and in the near-term.

At the same time, something we in the private sector have yet to embrace universally is the idea that if we go above and beyond the minimum standards, and take the initiative to innovate and take charge of our own cost containment responsibilities - to be leaders and not followers of the government policies de jour - then just maybe the teacher will have more time for us when we do come across homework questions we need help with.

IN THIS ISSUE...

Potential "Indication Creep" for Pradax® NOC Watch An Update on What's Happening in Ontario & Alberta