Pharmacy paid addict kickback for prescription
source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/09/07/bc-prescription-for-profit.html
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Some pharmacists in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside routinely pay cash to drug addicts for filling their prescriptions, a CBC hidden-camera investigation has found.
The practice was revealed after several doctors complained that pharmacies were giving $10 a week or more to clients for each prescription filled if the drugs were dispensed daily. The daily prescription entitles the pharmacist to a daily dispensing fee, rather than a single fee for a long-term prescription
In the drug-ravaged neighbourhood, $10 cash buys a "rock" of crack cocaine.
"All of a sudden we had a lot more [illegal-drug] dealers hanging around our clinic," said Dr. Helen Weiss of the Vancouver Native Health Clinic (VNHC) on East Hastings Street. "The cash deal is available to everyone who goes to certain pharmacies."
"Now you have patients being very demanding and trying to be very directive as to what they should get in terms of their prescriptions," said Dr. David Tu. "There is a lot of frustration amongst the doctors."
The more prescriptions a pharmacy fills for customers covered by PharmaCare — the provincial agency that uses taxpayers' money to help eligible British Columbia residents cover the cost of eligible prescription drugs — the more money it can charge.
Most of the addicts in the Downtown Eastside are covered by the plan.
The province pays pharmacies $8.60 each time they dispense a drug, even if it's just a single pill handed out daily. On top of that, the pharmacies get an additional $7.70 per daily dose for dispensing methadone and supervising the patient as they drink it.
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The practice was revealed after several doctors complained that pharmacies were giving $10 a week or more to clients for each prescription filled if the drugs were dispensed daily. The daily prescription entitles the pharmacist to a daily dispensing fee, rather than a single fee for a long-term prescription
In the drug-ravaged neighbourhood, $10 cash buys a "rock" of crack cocaine.
"All of a sudden we had a lot more [illegal-drug] dealers hanging around our clinic," said Dr. Helen Weiss of the Vancouver Native Health Clinic (VNHC) on East Hastings Street. "The cash deal is available to everyone who goes to certain pharmacies."
"Now you have patients being very demanding and trying to be very directive as to what they should get in terms of their prescriptions," said Dr. David Tu. "There is a lot of frustration amongst the doctors."
The more prescriptions a pharmacy fills for customers covered by PharmaCare — the provincial agency that uses taxpayers' money to help eligible British Columbia residents cover the cost of eligible prescription drugs — the more money it can charge.
Most of the addicts in the Downtown Eastside are covered by the plan.
The province pays pharmacies $8.60 each time they dispense a drug, even if it's just a single pill handed out daily. On top of that, the pharmacies get an additional $7.70 per daily dose for dispensing methadone and supervising the patient as they drink it.
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