Canadian HR Strategy

08/CANADIAN HR STRATEGY drug where it will actually have clinical value?" he says. "It's looking at things like mandatory generics. The prices have come down where they are 18 to 20 per cent of the brand. The evidence suggests they are effectively equal." Legislation has certainly improved the use of generic drugs, says Alan Kyte, senior pharmacy consultant at Willis Towers Watson in Toronto. "Government intervention has reduced the price of generic drugs considerably... a generic drug was maybe 70 per cent the cost of a brand not so many years ago, maybe 10 years. Now it's 20 per cent the cost of a brand. So there's an 80 per cent savings there," he says. "Government has certainly stepped forward not only to en- courage the use of generics but also reduce the price through different reforms across the province. I think that's de nitely been a signi cant help." There's also the option of using nancial disincentives such as co-pay or co-insurance, so employees share some of the cost, says Kyte. "I'm a big believer in sharing some cost with employees. The reason I am is that I have seen far too often when it is 100 per cent covered, there is a complete disregard for need versus want." You want people to be thinking as if it's their own money for those day-to-day expenses, says Clarke. "At the same time, you want to make sure someone has the protection if something really catastrophic happens." For Thomson Reuters, it's been about moving to generics, formularies and prior authorization, says Barb Conway, vice- president of human resources and customer experience at Thomson Reuters Legal Canada in Toronto. There's a whole new world of funding chronic diseases, says Clarke. "That's not what stop-loss insurance was built for. You're try- ing to solve today's problems with an old solution, and every- one's feeling the tension from that." Usage in general has also gone up as a result of the aging population, says Goela. "We have an older population, not only aging in itself and the disease that comes with it, but they're also using more medi- cations. Where in the past, it might have been just diabetes, now it's diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. So, right there, we're treating three diseases, once again, in a population that's also aging. So more people, more drugs, more diseases." PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS? Evidence-based drug plans and formularies could be one po- tential solution, says Goela — although there's no silver bullet. "It's all incremental and additive solutions, so evidence- based... We talked about the 'Who's the right person for the right drug at the right time?' concept. So, are you taking the "WE TALK ABOUT, WHO'S THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE RIGHT DRUG AT THE RIGHT TIME?"

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