During the Healthy Outcomes conference in June, participants discussed ways to better understand the impact of drug plan offerings on employee health. Four groups of conference participants — moderated by Joe Farago, executive director of health-care innovation at Innovative Medicines Canada; Kirsten Garces, senior manager for value and access at Amgen Canada Inc.; Carmen Hogan, […]
While flexible benefits plans are a clear trend among Canadian employers, the range of choices can be daunting for employees. So how much choice is too much? That was a question Pitney Bowes Inc. considered when it redesigned its benefits plan in 2015. As part of the changes, the company trimmed its menu of mix-and-match […]
Ontario is joining Alberta and New Brunswick in making abortion pill Mifegymiso available at no cost to the public. The abortion pill first became available in Canada in January 2017 at a cost of about $300. This spring, the common drug review recommended public drug coverage for Mifegymiso. “We continue to make important progress helping women across […]
The Reformulary Group has introduced an early warning system that aims to help plan administrators and employers monitor and prepare for new-high cost drugs. The system evaluates new high-cost prescription drugs entering the marketplace and forecasts the expected impact of those drugs to insurance carriers, third-party administrators and employers. Read: Public drug plans’ medication spending […]
The City of Toronto’s auditor general is raising yet more concerns about benefits fraud after discovering employees may have shopped around for doctors to get prescriptions for excessive amounts of erectile dysfunction drugs. In an update this month to her October 2016 report on potentially excessive and unusual drug claims by employees to the city’s […]
While the majority of employees continue to be satisfied with their health benefits plan, the extent to which they find it meets their needs has declined over the years, according to the 2017 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. The latest survey, released today, found 53 per cent of plan members reported their health benefits plan meets […]
Both plan sponsors and plan members are expressing an interest in personalized medicine that offers a targeted approach to prescribing based on patients’ genetic makeup, according to the 2017 Sanofi Canada health-care survey. These tests are becoming more accessible and more affordable, said Paula Allen, vice-president of research and integrative solutions at Morneau Shepell Ltd. […]
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board spent 33 per cent less on prescription drugs in 2015 than it did in 2010. The board has claimed the $34-million difference was due to lower drug prices and fewer claims entering the system. But a Toronto legal clinic is arguing the cost savings actually stem from reduced services to injured […]
A year ago, the Association of Ontario Midwives Benefits Trust received its highest drug claim ever at $55,000 for a 12-week treatment of Harvoni, which treats hepatitis C. The plan deliberated whether it would fund the drug but it ultimately decided not to. “It was a very difficult decision,” says Nicole Mellin, executive director at […]
The benefits industry often talks about the need for organizations to change the design of their drug plans, but how many of them are actually doing it? A professor at the University of British Columbia shed some light on the trends during the opening session at Benefits Canada’s Face to Face in Drug Plan Management […]