Information for Pharmacists and Medical Suppliers

Quick Index

• Agreements between the Ministry of Health and BC Pharmacies
• BC Services Card Information
• Drug Supply Issues
• Benefit Information—Drugs and Medical Supplies
• Drug coverage decisions
• Prescription drugs and vaccines
• Non-drug products and medical supplies
• Vaccine Resources for Pharmacists
• PharmaCare Policies, Procedures and Guides
• General policies
• Specific policies
• PharmaNet Access
• PharmaCare Publications and Reports
• Publications
• Reports
• Studies and Reviews

Agreements between the Ministry of Health and BC Pharmacies

• PharmaCare Enrolment Agreement (PDF 299K) and Cover Letter (PDF 49K)
• Pharmacy Services Agreement (PDF 594K)—Terminated April 1, 2012. For reference. See the Ministry’s February 29, 2012, news release for details.
• Interim Agreement (PDF 516K)—signed December 18, 2008. For reference.

BC Services Card

• Information for Pharmacies - January 2013

Drug Supply Issues

• Current Drug Supply Issues

Benefit Information—Drugs and Medical Supplies

Drug coverage decisions

• Drug Coverage & Drug Coverage Decisions—provides information about:

• whetherPharmaCare covers a specific drug
• how drug coverage decisions are made
• how you can provide input into those decisions
• why and when a coverage decision was made
• how manufacturers can request that a drug be considered for PharmaCare coverage

Prescription drugs and vaccines

• Common Brand/Generic Drug Names—Cross-Reference
• Correct Quantities for PharmaCare Claims (PDF 381K)
• Low Cost Alternative (LCA) and Reference Drug Program (RDP) data files—current listing and reimbursement information for generic drugs covered under the LCA and RDP programs
• PharmaCare Drug Data File—comprehensive and up-to-date drug data that mirrors the drug data information in PharmaCare’s Formulary Search.
• Drug data file interpretation document (PDF 152K)
• Special Authority Drugs—includes Limited Coverage Drug Program, Reference Drug Program, No‑Charge Psychiatric Medication Plan and Alzheimer's Drug Therapy Initiative. Also, see our Special Authority Information Sheet for patients (PDF 226K).
• Trial Prescription Program Drugs
• PharmaCare Drug and Product Lists
• No-Charge Psychiatric Medication Plan Formulary
• Palliative Care Drug Plan Formulary (PDF 385K)
• Compounded prescription products
• Product Identification Numbers (PINs)
• Compound Costing Worksheet (PDF 955K)
• Methadone PINs and Reimbursement Information
• Publicly funded vaccines (PDF 132K)
• Eligible smoking cessation products (PDF 228K)

Non-drug products and medical supplies

• Product Identification Numbers (PINs)
• Nicotine replacement therapy products (PDF 228K)
• Cystic Fibrosis formulary of digestive enzymes and nutritional supplements
• Diabetes
• Blood glucose test strips
• Diabetes supplies
• Insulin pumps
• Insulin pump supplies
• Miscellaneous products
• Ostomy supplies
• Prosthetic and orthotic products, including mastectomy and ocular products and allowable repairs and adjustments  

Vaccine Resources for Pharmacists

• Vaccine Resources — Provides all necessary information on the vaccines that authorized pharmacists can administer.

PharmaCare Policies, Procedures, Guides and Forms

General policies

• PharmaCare Policy Manual 2012

Specific policies

• B.C. Smoking Cessation Program:
• Information for pharmacists
• Quick Reference Sheet for pharmacists (PDF 106K)
• Eligible smoking cessation products (PDF 228K)
• Patient information sheet (PDF 202K)
• Frequency of Dispensing:
• Authorization form (PDF 543K)
• Product exemptions (PDF 73K)
• Inducements:
• Policy statement (PharmaCare Newsletter 10-014) (PDF 1.9M)
• Patient information sheet (PDF 183K)
• Low Cost Alternative / Reference Drug Program
• Current listing and reimbursement information—includes downloadable files
• Medication Review Services:
• Policies, Procedures and Guidelines for Pharmacists (PDF 198K)—includes links to document templates for medication reviews conducted by pharmacists
• Clinical Services Committee glossary of terms (PDF 315K) for medication review services
• Medication Review Service—online training module
• Medication Review Services—frequently asked questions (PDF 198K)
• Prosthetic and Orthotic Program:
• General statement of program policy (PDF 101K)
• Detailed policy and procedural requirements (PDF 663K)
• Information sheet—quick facts for health professionals (PDF 156K)
• Applications for Financial Assistance:
• Orthotic benefits (HLTH 5400)—form (PDF 652K) and instructions (PDF 412K)
• Orthotic benefits (HLTH 5401)—invoice (PDF 535K) and instructions (PDF 238K)
• Prosthetic benefits (HLTH 5402)—form (PDF 597K) and instructions (PDF 332K)
• Prosthetic benefits (HLTH 5403)—invoice (PDF 536K) and instructions (PDF 175K)
• Prosthetic benefits: Non-Limb (HLTH 5404)—form (PDF 530K) and instructions (PDF 250K)
• Reduced Mark-Up of High-Cost Drugs:
• Affected products (PDF 167K)
• Reimbursement of Non-Returnable High-Cost Injectable Drugs:
• Eligible injectable drugs (PDF 415K)
• Rural Incentive Program:
• Application form (PDF 522K)

PharmaNet Access

• About PharmaNet
• Pharmacy and Medical Supplier Access to PharmaNet—overview of access types
• Ensuring Timely PharmaNet Connections (PDF 176K)—for pharmacies
• Data Access Registration, Service and Support Information for:
• Emergency Department Access to PharmaNet (EDAP)
• Hospital Access to PharmaNet (HAP)
• Medical Device Distributor access to PharmaNet (MDD)
• Medical Practice Access to PharmaNet (MPAP)

PharmaCare Publications and Reports

Publications

• PharmaCare Newsletters—Get all the news on PharmaCare policies, drug coverage, audit issues, etc. 
• PharmaNet Bulletins—News and procedures related to PharmaNet, the province-wide prescription claim processing network that links community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and other health care providers to a central set of databases at the Ministry of Health.
• Newsletter/Bulletin Notification Service—Receive an e-mail whenever a PharmaCare Newsletter or PharmaNet Bulletin is published.
• See our Patient Information section for information sheets on Fair PharmaCare, the Prosthetics and Orthotics Program, the BC Palliative Care Benefits Program and other topics.

Reports

• PharmaCare Trends 2010/11 (PDF 552K)
• PharmaCare Trends 2009/10 (PDF 773K)
• PharmaCare Trends 2007/08 (PDF 590K)
• Pharmaceutical Services Division Annual Performance Report 2006 (PDF 2.0M)
• PharmaCare Annual Performance Report 2005 (PDF 1.5M)

Studies and Reviews

• Evaluation Reports of the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia (www.core.ubc.ca):
• An Overview of Pharmacy Adaptation Services in British Columbia (PDF 423K)
• Pharmacy Adaptation in BC: The Physicians Perspective (PDF 531K)
• Report of the Pharmaceutical Task Force—April 2008 (PDF 3.9M)
• Activity-Based Costing Study Report—January 2007 (PDF 1.6M)