Sue's Blog featured two posts on the "secret committee" of government responsible for advising the Minister of Health regarding new listings of generics on our formulary.
Please read Press Here Part 1 and Press Here Part 2
Further to these posts - I would like to inform the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that we have lost almost 1 million dollars more from January - April of 2012.
Many of you are familiar with Plavix - a drug that helps to prevent future risks of heart attacks and strokes.
In Canada it is estimated that the introduction of the generic form of Plavix would save Canadians and provincial drug plans hundreds of millions a year.
The sales of Plavix are estimated to be 300 million a year - Newfoundland and Labrador's portion is 6.6 million.
The cost of Plavix versus the cost of the generic equivalent is about double.
The generic version was approved by Health Canada, December 2011 and was listed by several provinces by January 2012.
4 months will have passed before Newfoundland and Labrador gets the benefit of the new generic. That means that we will have spent $1,650,000 when we could have spent $822,500 if the generic was listed in a timely manner.
Why would people in Nova Scotia or Ontario get timely access when we do not?
Why are we wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care when we have people crying out for surgery to remove access skin - or waiting on cardiac surgeries?
Over the next few days I will list a dozen more examples of extreme waste in our system.
When will the Opposition parties demand answers?
When will the media ask questions?
What is going on in this secret committee? Will government release the minutes of their deliberations?
Remember now this is only one drug. Imagine what dollars have been and continue to be wasted.
The Auditor General needs to be called in. Investigation needed.
Showing posts with label nlpdp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nlpdp. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Loss of Millions $$$ from Health Care - Secret Committee
Do you want to witness wastage of our health care dollars?
An open request to the Auditor General: Please review the workings, processes, and results of the interchangeable drug review advisory committee.
This committee consists of individuals appointed by the Minister of Health and must comprise of 2 pharmacists, 2 physicians, the Deputy Minister, and other persons the Minister may wish to appoint.
When a drug comes off patent and generic equivalents are made available - this committee reviews submissions by generic drug companies to have their products listed on our formulary. These drugs which range between 50-60% of brand price have the potential to save tens of millions of dollars a year.
First you must understand that in order for a generic to be permitted for use in Canada - Health Canada reviews the scientific data and confirms that the generic is safe. Once that has occurred any pharmacy in Canada can purchase the drug and dispense it under various private insurance plans and cash paying customers. In fact these new generic equivalents are almost immediately available in our hospitals - and quite often are dispensed to a patient when in hospital - only to be unavailable at a retail pharmacy when they are released.
Newfoundland and Labrador is notoriously slow to list many of these generic equivalents as they become available. This money is wasted and over the years the tens of millions could be hundreds of millions. In some cases one month delay equals over $100,000 loss of health care dollars.
So how is it that other provinces in Canada are dispensing a generic equivalent under publicly funded drug cards and hospitals in our province are dispensing this same drug - but this "committee" has not cleared it for retail pharmacies - costing us tens of millions of dollars?
The review committee sits in private and the deliberations are secret. The minutes are not available to the public.
Will the media attempt to find the answers to this gross wastage of health care dollars? Will the Auditor General review this situation and report to the House of Assembly what is going on?
Will the Opposition parties step to the plate?
This is a serious and ongoing issue - that is being kept from public scrutiny.
An open request to the Auditor General: Please review the workings, processes, and results of the interchangeable drug review advisory committee.
This committee consists of individuals appointed by the Minister of Health and must comprise of 2 pharmacists, 2 physicians, the Deputy Minister, and other persons the Minister may wish to appoint.
When a drug comes off patent and generic equivalents are made available - this committee reviews submissions by generic drug companies to have their products listed on our formulary. These drugs which range between 50-60% of brand price have the potential to save tens of millions of dollars a year.
First you must understand that in order for a generic to be permitted for use in Canada - Health Canada reviews the scientific data and confirms that the generic is safe. Once that has occurred any pharmacy in Canada can purchase the drug and dispense it under various private insurance plans and cash paying customers. In fact these new generic equivalents are almost immediately available in our hospitals - and quite often are dispensed to a patient when in hospital - only to be unavailable at a retail pharmacy when they are released.
Newfoundland and Labrador is notoriously slow to list many of these generic equivalents as they become available. This money is wasted and over the years the tens of millions could be hundreds of millions. In some cases one month delay equals over $100,000 loss of health care dollars.
So how is it that other provinces in Canada are dispensing a generic equivalent under publicly funded drug cards and hospitals in our province are dispensing this same drug - but this "committee" has not cleared it for retail pharmacies - costing us tens of millions of dollars?
The review committee sits in private and the deliberations are secret. The minutes are not available to the public.
Will the media attempt to find the answers to this gross wastage of health care dollars? Will the Auditor General review this situation and report to the House of Assembly what is going on?
Will the Opposition parties step to the plate?
This is a serious and ongoing issue - that is being kept from public scrutiny.
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