Monitoring BC Government’s Reform of Drug Policy
Better Pharmacare Coalition unveils performance-measurement tracking tool to chart progress towards implementation of Pharmaceutical Task Force Recommendations.
Introduction
The Better Pharmacare Coalition understands there are no easy answers or quick fixes to the challenges facing us in the health care system. For the BC PharmaCare program to best serve BC residents requires physicians to be able to prescribe the right medicine, at the right time, to their patients. To achieve this, the current drug policy can be improved so that patients have timely access to prescription medications best suited to their medical condition.
That is why the Better Pharmacare Coalition has consistently supported the recommendations of the BC Government’s Pharmaceutical Task Force. We want what patients across BC need and what the Pharmaceutical Task Force ultimately calls for in its recommendations: “to create a more streamlined and transparent drug review process while delivering the best patient outcomes and the best value for British Columbians.”
Just as important, at this time of cost pressures on the BC healthcare system, the Pharmaceutical Task Force has made concrete and achievable recommendations to reform the province’s drug review processes to ensure Government gets the best possible value for taxpayers’ dollars.
To chart the progress Government is making towards the successful implementation of the Pharmaceutical Task Force recommendations, the Better Pharmacare Coalition has developed a performance-measurement tracking tool that focuses on four key areas for British Columbians: stakeholder participation, improve drug review, accountability/transparency and therapeutic options.
During the most recent provincial election, the Better Pharmacare Coalition received the BC Liberal Party’s commitment, if elected to serve as the next Government in BC, to ensure the full implementation of the Pharmaceutical Task Force Report recommendations. Successful implementation of these recommendations would increase access to new medicines and technologies, provide greater choice for patients and physicians, resulting in a more transparent drug review process with public participation and better healthcare outcomes for all British Columbians.
We are encouraged by the commitment the Government has shown towards completing the implementation of the recommendations from the Pharmaceutical Task Force report.
BC voters have given the BC Government a new mandate. Now is the time for the Government to make improving the BC drug policy a top priority.
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