Below story from the Telegram September 02-2011
Comments prompted legal action
Legal action seems only way to settle dispute: spokeswoman
The Council of Independent Community Pharmacy Owners (CICPO) is preparing to go to court to challenge the Newfoundland Pharmacy Act, with respect to a mandate given to the Pharmacists’ Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) to negotiate third-party contracts.The decision to take legal action came after comments Tuesday by Finance Minister Tom Marshall on VOCM Radio’s “Back Talk” program.
Marshall, who pointed out that he was speaking as “minister of the public service secretariat” which negotiates major contracts and labour agreements, said PANL is at the table with a committee called the government relations committee, which has a mandate from its board of directors to negotiate a contract on behalf of members “involved in the pharmacy retail business.”
The minister said there are three PANL members at the table, of which the chairman and another member are independent pharmacists. “They have advised me that they’re holding a seat available at the table for CICPO,” he added.
Marshall also said the negotiations formally began on Aug. 16 and, now that they’re underway, government will not be making any further public comments during the process.
Kelland-Dyer said the minister has made it quite clear that he either doesn’t understand this issue or he’s providing misleading information.
“We feel the only way to have this issue settled and resolved is to simply go to a court process,” she said. “The purpose behind it, obviously, is to now go to a technical process of dealing with what we’ve been attempting to talk to government about now for the past three years.”
CICPO’s position is that PANL is the professional body for pharmacists, but it shouldn’t represent independent pharmacies, which are corporations or legal entities, in negotiations regarding the province’s prescription drug program, which subsidizes the cost of medications for residents, based on financial needs assessments.
Kelland-Dyer said not all pharmacies in the province are owned by pharmacists. At least six of the 65 CICPO members are not pharmacists, she said. Some could be owned by doctors or other business people, she said. While the pharmacists they employ are PANL members, the owners are not.
“Frankly, all of our members, be they pharmacists or not, support advocacy for the profession. There’s no issue with that,” KellandDyer said, but the only trade bodies representing pharmacies are CICPO and the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores.
She said PANL was formed under the Pharmacy Act as a professional association, but has also been given an objective to “negotiate with third-party payers for prescription drug programs.” This is what CICPO has a problem with.
Private health insurance companies, like Medavie Blue Cross and Dejardins, negotiate directly with the business groups, Kelland-Dyer said, like CICPO or the chain drug stores association.
She said these insurance companies recognize that PANL is simply an association for the profession, similar to an employees’ professional organization and she can’t understand how that type of representation has crossed over into negotiating contracts for the actual corporations or legal entities.
“The way Tom Marshall talked about it the other day, he said we’re sitting down negotiating with pharmacists. Well, the government doesn’t pay a cheque to pharmacists, never did,” Kelland-Dyer said. “The only pharmacists they pay directly are the ones that work in the Health Sciences Complex or up in the government office. They’re employees of the government and they negotiate through the Association of Allied Health Professionals, so they don’t even negotiate with those pharmacists directly. The cheque that comes out would be to the corporation itself and the provider agreement is between each individual corporation and the government.”
The corporation signs a provider agreement to accept the provincial drug card as a method of payment, Kelland-Dyer said, and it agrees to a tariff and how it will be paid for its drugs and services.
She said there are about 660 pharmacists registered with PANL, about one-quarter of whom are employed by the government, working at places like hospitals, the prescription drug program or the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information. Other PANL members, she said, are pharmacists employed by Memorial University, who are also represented by the MUN Faculty Association, some are employees of the provincial pharmacy board and there are staff pharmacists working in the retail sector for chain or independent stores.
Even if you take a CICPO member who is a business owner and pharmacist, Kelland-Dyer said, while that person is registered with PANL, their corporation pays them a salary and it’s that corporation or legal entity that should negotiate any business deal with government.
Opposition Leader Kevin Aylward said Thursday a Liberal government would immediately engage in discussions and negotiations with all pharmacists and pharmacy groups, including CICPO. “We recognize that to achieve a contract with community pharmacies, negotiations from time to time may require separate discussions with pharmacy owners in unique areas of practice,” Aylward said.
She said PANL was formed under the Pharmacy Act as a professional association, but has also been given an objective to “negotiate with third-party payers for prescription drug programs.” This is what CICPO has a problem with.
Private health insurance companies, like Medavie Blue Cross and Dejardins, negotiate directly with the business groups, Kelland-Dyer said, like CICPO or the chain drug stores association.
She said these insurance companies recognize that PANL is simply an association for the profession, similar to an employees’ professional organization and she can’t understand how that type of representation has crossed over into negotiating contracts for the actual corporations or legal entities.
“The way Tom Marshall talked about it the other day, he said we’re sitting down negotiating with pharmacists. Well, the government doesn’t pay a cheque to pharmacists, never did,” Kelland-Dyer said. “The only pharmacists they pay directly are the ones that work in the Health Sciences Complex or up in the government office. They’re employees of the government and they negotiate through the Association of Allied Health Professionals, so they don’t even negotiate with those pharmacists directly. The cheque that comes out would be to the corporation itself and the provider agreement is between each individual corporation and the government.”
The corporation signs a provider agreement to accept the provincial drug card as a method of payment, Kelland-Dyer said, and it agrees to a tariff and how it will be paid for its drugs and services.
She said there are about 660 pharmacists registered with PANL, about one-quarter of whom are employed by the government, working at places like hospitals, the prescription drug program or the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information. Other PANL members, she said, are pharmacists employed by Memorial University, who are also represented by the MUN Faculty Association, some are employees of the provincial pharmacy board and there are staff pharmacists working in the retail sector for chain or independent stores.
Even if you take a CICPO member who is a business owner and pharmacist, Kelland-Dyer said, while that person is registered with PANL, their corporation pays them a salary and it’s that corporation or legal entity that should negotiate any business deal with government.
Opposition Leader Kevin Aylward said Thursday a Liberal government would immediately engage in discussions and negotiations with all pharmacists and pharmacy groups, including CICPO. “We recognize that to achieve a contract with community pharmacies, negotiations from time to time may require separate discussions with pharmacy owners in unique areas of practice,” Aylward said.
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