Paying Patients for Prescriptions is Unprofessional, Unethical, and Unsafe. The practice must end. Vol 38 No 3 - June/July/August 2013 | Sep. 11, 2013 Loyalty Points

Last December, the College received over 14,000 emails from the public overwhelmingly opposed to ending the practice of providing a kickback to customers in exchange for their prescriptions. After careful consideration, the College still firmly believes that paying patients for prescriptions is unprofessional, unethical, and unsafe. The College is dedicated to ending this practice.

The College is dedicated to enacting bylaw changes that enhance the quality of patient care and lead to better health outcomes. The Board, which consists of government appointed members, community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists and a pharmacy technician, is unanimously opposed and committed to banning loyalty programs on prescription purchases and pharmacy professional services.

We believe that it is unprofessional to be paying for prescriptions as it undermines the credibility and integrity of the profession. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians giving out cash, redeemable points, and gifts in exchange for a prescription brings down the credibility of the profession. Patients do not expect to receive payments for other health services they receive, and drug therapy should not be the exception to that rule.

Providing payment to patients is contrary to the College’s Code of Ethics. It is included in the Code because it is, quite simply, unethical to encourage drug use and stockpiling of drugs by providing a kickback to a patient for doing so.
 
This practice is unsafe as patients may delay a prescription fill until a loyalty point bonus day, risking the health of the patient or his or her family. We know that promoting multiple transfers of prescriptions is an unsafe practice that interrupts a patient’s care and this cannot be condoned by the College or any pharmacy professional.

As a regulatory College responsible for protecting public health and upholding the ethics of the profession, the College is of the belief that a ban is the only way to ensure that these practices are put to an end. While community pharmacies are indeed businesses, we do not believe that pharmacy professionals should be put in the position where they are being asked to incentivize consumer behaviours that may be completely contrary to the best health interest of the patient. For the College and for any health professional, patients must come first.