E-DRUG: Influence of "open ownership" of retail pharmacies

E-DRUG: Influence of "open ownership" of retail pharmacies (2)
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Andy Gray:

In Canada we have moved from restricted ownership to open ownership
in most provinces. One province continues to maintain restricted
ownership and this may serve as a good study situation for you.
Two observations that I have made are that the restriction is easily
circumvented by franchise operations which give theoretical ownership
to the pharmacist but control to the corporation. The other is that
when corporations such as Safeway and other food giants enter the
field the decisions made tend to be less and less health oriented and
more and more business oriented. The fees for dispensing medication
are less but there is also less orientation to service, especially
for elderly and people with special needs (most people do not need
special services and the system works fine for them) and there is
less choice of nonprescription medication as only high turnover items
are stocked.
What tends to happen is that the market divides into a high volume,
low cost sector and a high service, higher cost sector. This enables
the needs of most people to be met IF the patients have information
as the the services and charges, and usually they don't.
As a pharmacist I find that the corporate system reduces pharmacists
to technicians and reduces their involvement in professional
activities.
Hope this helps.
John A. Bachynsky
Professor of Pharmacy Administration
University of Alberta
Email: John.Bachynsky@ualberta.ca

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