Although a compensation model was supposed to be announced by the Alberta government at the beginning of the summer, a letter from Minister of Health and Wellness, Gene Zwozdesky, to pharmacies informed them that more work had to be done before an announcement could be made.

That letter, sent out at the end of June, was the last information local pharmacy owner, Taria Gouw, has received since initiating work to encourage the government to rethink the implementation of Alberta Pharmaceutical Strategy - Phase 2.

The schedule that dictates what pharmacies can charge for prescription drugs has not been significantly increased in more than a decade and that revenue doesn’t cover the cost of running a pharmacy. Like other small and independent pharmacies, Apple Drugs depends on the allowances it receives from generic drug companies in order to pay the bills. However, APS - Phase 2 will limit generic drug companies to charging 45% of the cost of a brand name drug where now they are allowed to charge up to 75%. This means they will no longer be able to pay an allowance to the drug stores that carry their wares.

Although eventually all pharmacies in Alberta will feel the pinch caused by this decrease, the first to suffer will be small and independent drug stores like Apple Drugs in Bow Island along with the 70 other drug stores like it which are the lone pharmacies in their communities. If pharmacies cannot survive this crisis, many small towns will lose another business and residents will be forced to travel into the nearest city to get prescriptions filled.

Gouw said the way drug stores earn money isn’t perfect and she agrees a change needs to be made, however since beginning this initiative, though the provincial government has promised it will put forward a new way for pharmacies to be compensated - with pharmacists receiving remuneration for the multitude of services they perform, the cuts have come yet that plan has not.

“My speculation is that some pharmacies will go under. With the continued inventory, debt load and staffing, how does any business maintain itself like this?” she asked.

A pilot project looking at an alternative way of funding pharmacy services ran for a year, however in his letter the Minister said and external evaluation showed more evidence was needed before anything could be implemented. Gouw said she has been informed the new date for a compensation model to be announced is April 1 next year.

“We have done everything they asked, met every deadline and cut. They have met none of theirs. There have been no meetings since mid-June, and now nothing is going to happen until April 1, so that’s another eight months of discussion. It will then be 18 months since the cuts have taken place.”

Gouw said her only option is to keep encouraging people to discuss the problem with their elected leaders and continue to write letters regarding the issue to the MLA and the Minister of Health.

“This is not going away,” she said. “They are talking the same talk, but no action has been taken. They are taking pharmacies very much for granted.”