An evaluation of brand name-name drug prices between canadian-based internet pharmacies and major u.s. drug chain pharmacies. – pubmed – ncbi

An evaluation of brand name-name drug prices between canadian-based internet pharmacies and major u.s. drug chain pharmacies. - pubmed - ncbi are less costly in

BACKGROUND:

Many Americans happen to be purchasing their medications online Canadian pharmacies. Even though it is generally perceived that medications are less costly in Canada compared to the U . s . States, little studies have been completed to evaluate this difference.

OBJECTIVE:

To check the costs of retail brand-name medications between Canadian Internet pharmacies and major U.S. drug chain pharmacies with internet prices.

DESIGN:

Mix-sectional study.

SETTING:

12 Canadian Internet pharmacies and three major online U.S. drug chain pharmacies.

MEASUREMENTS:

The authors calculated the per unit and annual savings (in U.S. dollars) to have an American if they would purchase the 44 brand-name medications most generally purchased online from Canadian Internet pharmacies rather of from your online U.S. drug chain pharmacy.

RESULTS:

Americans can help to save an average of roughly 24% per unit of drug when they purchase their medications from Canadian Internet pharmacies rather of from major online U.S. drug chain pharmacies. Forty-among the 44 brand-name medications examined were less costly in Canada. The medications providing the largest mean yearly savings were Zyprexa (olanzapine) (Eli Lilly, Indiana, Indiana) (1159 dollars), Actos (pioglitazone) (Eli Lilly, Indiana, Indiana) (852 dollars), and Nexium (esomeprazole) (AstraZeneca, Wilmington, Delaware) (772 dollars). Only 3 medications, all within the erection dysfunction category, were more costly in Canada.

LIMITATIONS:

Potential savings can vary due to temporal fluctuations in drug prices.

CONCLUSIONS:

Brand-name medications are frequently substantially less costly when purchased in Canadian Internet pharmacies rather of from major online U.S. drug chain pharmacies.

Resourse: https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

Pharmacy mistakes: What happens when drug stores mix up meds (CBC Marketplace)


Video COMMENTS:

King Damon: The pharmacy I work at deals with on average people I serve in day (phone/entry/cash) 200 to 600 people. Then there's rush hours. A lot of people can't even wait.\n\nWe tell them 15mins which is fair. They then come back in 3mins and complain that it's just pills and shouldn't take so long. \n\nThey want us to just hand them pills. Also we actually have corrected doctors cuz what they gave could harm the patient.\n\nSo really this is unfair and just for shock and awe

Chris Burke: I'm sorry, but when it comes to prescription pills, I believe it's first and foremost the prescribing doctors responsibility to know what's happening with your other meds, not the pharmacists.. Pharmacists just fill the doctors Rx.. On the incidents with over the counter meds, yes, the pharmacy should be doing their due diligence 

Fred Lewis: There are 2 aspects which came to mind watching this documentary.\n\n1) The report failed to indicate the physicians responsibility in prescribing such medications. He is also aware, in most cases, of the history and present circumstances of his/her patient and should not be prescribing medications which could interfere with others. Nor should medications be prescribed without similar verbal precautions as would be offered by the pharmacist.\n\n2) The patient should also be responsible for asking questions about side-effects and possible interference with other meds.\n\nTake control of your you own life!!!

Amanda Nguyen: Although some of these oversights are disappointing, some people neglect to see the overlapping facts. Nationwide, over 450M prescriptions were dispensed in 2014 and if approx. 50,000 errors were made, less than 1% of the amount of dispensed drugs from 2014 were mistakes. \n\nBut I completely agree with the unidentified pharmacist when he mentioned about the increase in pressure trying to meet certain expectations (corporational or meeting customers needs). Pharmacies typically fill hundreds of prescriptions each day. It's important to understand that filling your prescriptions takes time and has to be filled in proper processes to avoid the risk of error before releasing the medication to the patient, as well as the fact of how pharmacists/staff fill the prescription in priority of sequence. Which it is an important reason why we shouldn't try to put pressure on the pharmacy staff to finishing your prescription or getting to your consultation at a faster rate, this just causes more chances of mistakes being made.\n\nIt is up to us as the patient to be as well informed about what we are being treated for and what exactly we are being prescribed for what purpose and to verify with your pharmacist if there is a chance of interaction with your other medication (both over and behind the counter medications).

Jeff Midland: I think there are perfectly fine standards of practices in place and most of all pharmacists know and understand that. I think the source of problems are not the regulations or standards. After watching this I felt really sorry for the patients who suffered from the errors but I also felt sorry for the CPA's rep who was answering questions from CBC. I am not sure if this clip is the whole length coverage or not. People will understand why these errors happen if they sit in the busy pharmacy for a few hours and watch how the pharmacy staff run around like maniac to provide services for patients who rush the staff and harass them to get their meds quick and get out like picking up hamburgers. If anyone wants to complain about pharmacy services, please learn more about the reality of the pharmacy operations and then do so. But the bottom line is there are no excuses acceptable when patients are harmed.   

Angeloublue32: This could have been done with any part of healthcare and the results would be the same. Asking staff to do too much with too little staff to drive the companies bottom line to the detriment of patients. It is a good idea to research and read information about the medications you are taking yourself. This is the same story in America also.

Cathleen Wiseman: I think another issue that the general population doesn't understand is that the customer's coming into the pharmacy don't want to wait, they get very annoyed if you tell them more than a 20 minute wait time because most of them are sick and cranky. They say things like "don't you just put it in a bottle and put a label on it" everyone is in such a hurry… It's the checks that take the most time. People need to understand this and be patient.

Andrew Formosa: Please excuse the abruptness of my unadulterated expression of frustration…\nI work 9.5 hours a day 5 days a week. I get zero breaks in that time – not one. .. Then after i close, i work for another 2 hours every day for a total of 12 hours. I pay myself for half of them. Im the owner and manager… why you ask, would I do this to myself?… frankly, i cant afford to pay for anyone to fill in for me .. i cant even aford to pay myself – and when i try to take even 5 minutes to use the washroom, i have all my staff, 3 telephones, emails, 2 people in the store waiting patiently for my attention, and a stack of reports, faxes, papers and notes, counts, reconciliations, and stupid prescriptions to file in numerical order (becasue by date isnt good enough for the college)… I do 60 a day.. Imagine doing 200 per pharmacist. \n\nDuring my time off, i spend 50% of it working at home or in the store on days closed. Planning, reading, studying, reviewing the books, correspondance, solving managerial issues and yup, vaccuming and sweaping the pharmacy floors… again, i cant afford to pay someone to do it for me.\n\nThats what it takes for me to keep med errors zero. \n\nThanks BC. For paying THE BUSINESS less than Cab fare per prescription. How then can one give enough time to the patient? How do I manage to do it?? The patient infront of me is always my priority. I do it with personal Sacrifice.\n\n People matter. My relief pharmacist – I IMPLORE her to take her breaks, but shes in the same situation as I, and cant even get to the door to take a break…  Her sandwich takes her 3 hours to eat, and I go all day with little more than a boost or ensure on most days. When my technitians get out for lunch, its even harder to sit down.\n\nWHY? because we cant afford to pay for anyone else to help us. 5 years ago maybe, now.. nope. Government cutbacks flying under the radar. Theres a country full of mad pharmacists putting their souls into patient care.\n\nPharmacies arent rich. They're broke. and pharmacists EARN their pay TWICE over. I wish we could double or quadruple the number of pharmacists and give each one a raise of 50%. But the government doesnt have to money or care to fix the problem. Theres simply too much to do all the time – its paralyzing at times.\n\nMed reviews.. flu shots.. thats all Extra work for less funding. I do them to keep job satisfaction up – to spend the time with the patient instead of with paper.. but when i do, i have to stay even later after closing, to catch up.\n\nshow me an industry where the cost of service and materials is KEPT constant and not permitted to increase by law. oh yeah, pharmacy. So how many drug shortages are there? Hmmm.. seems theres not enough money to be made producing them in the first place.\n\nam i alone?? \n\njust one of thousands across this country… hey america? how are doing down there? Same problem? not far off… but the pay is certainly better.\n\nMed errors are a consequence of the environment, the economy, and the circumstances in which too many Doctors, Specialists, Nurses, Paramedics and Pharmacists are required to work. 

cody lajeunesse: A lot of the customers frequenting these pharmacies are to blame as well. Putting unrealistic expectations on pharmacy staff and then bitching when your precious time is taken away so we can assure accuracy when dispensing is ridiculous. Especially when they become shocked that errors are made. Do the math! Also stop bitching that you are not getting your prescription fast enough. 

chernobleman: If Retail would back the fuck out of the pharmacy, and if Healthcare would step up, there would be far less errors!  It's a pharmacy, not a fucking fast-food restaurant!

Lilian: Cmon, be realistic. She received the instructions from her doctor, why the heck the pharmacist has to go into "research mode" just to prove the doctor right. Imagine staying in long lines because every pharmacist has to go through your medical records…

M Wareham: We rely on media to inform us when we're uninformed. But what happens when the media is biased?\n\nThe reporter needs to start visiting Doctor's offices and see just why these Pharmacies are being overrun with so many errors in the first place. Hokey "journalism" if ever I've seen it.

SoJayTay: I've had drug interactions due to the fact that doctors and pharmacists don't warn you about interactions. WHY IS MY DOCTOR PRESCRIBING ME MEDICINE THAT INTERACTS WITH MY OTHER MEDICINES!? this is a problem in the US too

AlbaWind MacTavish-Blair: The doctor should have checked her chart and been the FIRST line of defense. I have worked in Pharmacies and know it is hard to catch everything. I have been to so many drs myself and they rarely check my chart and I have to remind them over and over what I am allergic to. It is ludicrious!

Lindsay Ruhland: An incident like this breaks my heart as I work in a pharmacy as a technician. At my pharmacy we take every precaution we can think of where it goes through our pharmacist twice one on the way to the filling station and once on its way back to be sold. We have scanners that match ndc numbers to the medication prescribed and if any red flags appear the prescription is "capped" so when it reaches the register to be sold and when it is scanned it lets that technician know that the patient needs to speak with the pharmacist and can not be sold until the pharmacist speaks with the patient and types in what the patient told them. Not all pharmacies are too busy for their patients. The only thing I ask of our patients is please learn patience. We care about you as a person but we also care about every other patient not just you. Understand that taking care of the best interests of every patient takes time. So please don't be rude and holler and cause a scene when it takes us 30 minutes to fill your prescription and have it ready when we told you 20 minutes. Those ten minutes could have been used to save someone's life.