Local Pharmacist Needs to be Careful What He Dials Up
In the last couple of weeks, on the Sundays to be exact, I’ve received a phone call which appears to come from an 800#. As I do during the week, I let calls like that go to the answering machine. When one arrives on Sunday though, I get rather irritated along the lines of do those bloody telemarketers have no limits!!
The two calls I’ve received came from a pharmacist in Port Hope which is west of where I live. I’m not and never have been a customer of his. I definitely will NEVER now be a customer of his. It’s bad enough he’s calling on Sunday but it isn’t even about whatever mundane specials he happens to be running in an effort to expand his business.
In an article in Northumberland Today the pharmacist indicates the calls could continue indefinitely. I’ve sent him an email from his website to advise him in no uncertain terms to stop making those calls to my home. He will do his cause more harm than good doing so.
In his call he urges people to call the local MPPs office to protest the cuts. I called to leave a message urging the MPP to hold the line and support the cuts. I called again today to inquire if others did the same. The lady in his office said yes, often, but was diplomatic enough not to say which was the greater numbers.
The pharmacist’s calls are about the current political battle between the Government of Ontario and the pharmacists. The government is moving to eliminate the ‘professional allowances’ the pharmaceutical firms pay the pharmacies for carrying their product. The pharmacies are claiming this move will amount to cuts in frontline health care.
Nice try but a pharmacy is not a frontline health service. Frontline health is the doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics etc. Those are directly funded by public health dollars. Pharmacists receive some public health dollars particularly for those covered under social programs and for providing programs like MedCheck and for the ‘counselling’ you receive when you go into pick up a prescription.
A pharmacy is a private business which includes dispensing medications. It is the part of the business which dispenses medications which is done so under government regulation as to the amount of money can be charged the consumer. That same part also receives money directly from the government for delivering what amounts to customer service each time they ‘counsel’ a customer.
I had a doctor who was very thorough when prescribing medication to me in that she was careful to review with me what to expect on the medication, what the possible side-effects were and if it would impact any of the supplements I take. I expect that from my doctor.
I expect a pharmacist to fill the prescription and receive their payment. If I have questions and the pharmacist is able to answer them, that is a bonus. What I usually encountered was a pharmacist insisting on attempting to discuss my medication (often in front of others) over my objections. Turns out there was a reason for that, the pharmacist bills the government for doing this.
The professional allowances generic drug companies were paying to the pharmacies were supposed to help cover those costs which would have helped keep costs down for the government. What has happened is they have artificially inflated the costs of the drugs while the allowances were being used to boost the bottom line of these private businesses.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always considered customer service to be something that is done to build customer awareness and loyalty. It isn’t usually something which directly adds to the bottom line but overall helps it. For a pharmacist, apparently they consider it to be the bottom line.
For more information on the cuts and the disinformation from the pharmacists you can read here. In the interest of giving voice to both sides, you can read more about the pharmacist’s side of things here. Personally, I found that site heavily on the side of baffle’m with BS but your mileage may vary.
Ontario has one of the largest buying power of any jurisdiction in the world yet we pay considerably more than many jurisdictions. For example, a diabetes medication called Metformin costs 9.7cents in Ontario, 6.9cents in the US and 1.6cents in New Zealand per dose. There is no excuse for that wide of a gap, Ontario should be considerably lower and will be after the cuts are fully implemented.
Pharmacies need to rethink their business plans. You ever been in a pharmacy which only sells medications? I haven’t yet, to listen to the wailing going on, you’d think that was their only income stream.
They can either keep up their complaining or they can look for opportunities this presents. Those who find the opportunities will thrive, the others — well have you heard of the law of natural selection?
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