CANADIAN HR STRATEGY/09
It's also interesting that paramedical costs
are increasing, she says.
"So we're trying to balance that with 'How
is that then pushing down some of our drug
costs?' and really trying to analyze that and
get our arms around that. We're de nitely
seeing that trend."
Using pharmacy networks is another op-
tion, says Jonathan Fournier, health and ben-
e ts consultant at Mercer in Montreal — but
a potentially tricky one.
"To have success with a pharmacy network
is a combination of plan design modi cation
because you need to create an incentive to
all employees to go to a pharmacy included
in your network," he says.
And Canadian employers tend to resist re-
tail pharmacy networks, says Kyte.
"One of the main reasons is we're so
"THERE'S GEN-
ERAL EDUCA-
TION YOU WANT
EMPLOYEES TO
HAVE TO KEEP
COSTS UNDER
CONTROL."
FEATURE/roundtable
