Pharmacists call about invoices

Hugo Duchaine

Friday, march 2, 2018 21:19

UPDATE
Friday, march 2, 2018 21:19

Look at this article

Pharmacists who have suffered a major setback in superior Court will appeal to avoid sending invoices with their fees to private insurers.

“The delivery of invoices to insurers and payers is certainly more compatible with the purpose of the act and can only be advantageous for the citizens,” said judge Daniel Dumais on February 26.

Since September, the invoices for the pharmacists should include the price of the drug, the amount paid to the distributor for the transport and the fees that they charge for service rendered, which may vary from one place to another.

But pharmacists refuse to transmit a copy of this bill to the private insurer, revealing that the total amount, without specifying their fees.

This is contrary to the law, ruled the judge Dumais.

The Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires was disappointed and disagreed with this conclusion by way of a press release. She refused to give an interview.

Competition

When the law was changed to require pharmacists to disclose the fees that they charged, the minister of Health, Gaétan Barrette, said it hoped that the measure would increase competition and that the insurance plans could offer customers the pharmacists who charge less.

“In fact, if the insurers, key players in the general scheme, get a copy of the invoices, they will be able to make lists of prices, comparators, and inform their clients “, also recognized Daniel Dumais, in his judgment.

“We realize that what appealed to [the pharmacists], it is not that the invoice can be sent to the insurer. It is, rather than the insurer can impose the choice of a pharmacy, less expensive, to its insured, ” he writes.

Pharmacist-owners have tried to convince the judge that their client was only person who comes to pick up a prescription, and not the insurer, even if he pays part of the costs, but it rejected this argument.

Consumers favored

The judge Dumais believes that the government does not encourage private insurers have changed the law, as alleged pharmacists, but rather the consumers.

“It aims to improve the system in place, to better control the cost and enhance the citizen,” he wrote in his judgment.

For patients who subscribe to the public plan, reimbursed by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec, the professional fees of pharmacists are set by the government at approximately $ 9. But, when the insurance scheme is private, these costs remained secrets.