We Heard You About Corporate Pressures – Here’s What We’re Doing Next

In early 2024, we heard from thousands of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians about the business pressures being placed on them by pharmacy corporations. The feedback was overwhelming and concerning. It clearly showed that these pressures were impacting pharmacy professionals’ well-being and undermining their role as healthcare professionals.

In response, our first step was to declare that the College has zero tolerance for any business practices that affect pharmacy professionals’ ability to provide safe and competent care.

Since then, we have been taking meaningful actions to put this zero-tolerance position into practice. A list of strategies we are pursuing or considering is available in our Corporate Pressures Progress Update (June 2024). But here’s a quick summary of what we’re doing next:

Regulatory Programs

The College has several programs to ensure the safety and quality of pharmacy care. We accredit and inspect pharmacies, assess registrants to ensure they’re meeting the standards of the profession, and investigate complaints and concerns.

We are exploring how we can use these accreditation and assessment programs to look into pharmacy directors’ conduct and identify activities that may be infringing on pharmacists’ ability to meet professional standards. In addition, we are reviewing the role of our statutory committees in enforcing our zero-tolerance position.

Data and Information Sharing

We want our decisions to be informed and supported by evidence. Through surveys, town halls, a new hotline, social media monitoring, collaborating with other regulators and more, we plan to collect meaningful data and experiences to guide how we move forward. We are also exploring how we can share more information publicly about outcomes from our regulatory program activities by pharmacy type and ownership.

Legislation and Regulation

There are different laws and regulations that govern pharmacy practice, franchises, insurance companies, retail sales and employment standards. We will be examining these laws, including the pharmacist ownership exemption for pre-1954 corporations and the professional misconduct regulations. We will also be exploring our role with respect to pharmacy funding models, as we know that can have a critical influence on the delivery of patient care.

Policy

We are collaborating with other health system partners and jurisdictions to learn how similar issues have been addressed.

We are also exploring policy-based ways to reinforce pharmacy professionals’ autonomy in clinical care. This could include development of standards to keep professional autonomy in employment or operations contracts, consideration of staffing to service ratio requirements, restrictions on the use of the word “clinic” with pharmacy care delivery, and publishing performance data at the pharmacy or corporate level.

In addition, we are preparing a position statement regarding Preferred Provider Networks (PPNs) that will be shared with the Board in July.

Next Steps

As this work progresses and we continue to actively pursue these strategies, we will share further updates with you. We are thankful to all the registrants throughout the province who continue to share their perspectives, insights and concerns with us.

For more information about how we are addressing corporate pressures, including frequently asked questions, please visit the Quality First: Addressing Business Pressures on Pharmacy Practice webpage.