Let's explore tech renewal fees

We just finished with registration renewal in Ontario and, as you may have heard, the registration renewal fee for pharmacy technicians in Ontario has been increasing over the years and technicians aren’t very happy about the increases and the cost.OCP notified pharmacists and pharmacy technicians a few years ago that there would be a yearly increase going forward to keep up with inflation and when this was announced, I heard technicians expressing issue with this. In the last five years, the increase has been more than $100 (total), and I believe technicians in Ontario this year paid about $350 less than Part A pharmacists. This year, in the weeks leading up to registration renewal I saw petitions circulating on social media about the price of the technician renewal fee, and I think this is a very interesting topic of conversation.From what I gather, there are a few sources of contention with the fees: pharmacy technicians pay more than other healthcare professionals who have a greater scope of practice, the pay discrepancy between pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and paying more to meet inflation (which OCP has been transparent about).I think we all know why these would be sources of contention, but let’s talk about it anyway.As for other healthcare professionals, immediately I think of nurses. They do way more than I do with patients. They administer meds. They even prepare IVs to administer. Some of them even prescribe. They can share their therapeutic knowledge with patients. But you know what? They have strength in numbers. Nursing as a group is a powerful group. As pharmacy technicians, we are small in number compared to them.I see postings for pharmacists for $80 to $100 an hour. I see postings for technicians for $25 to $30 an hour. Sure, there are postings that offering more and less but regardless, there’s a pretty big discrepancy in pay compared to the fees. I know OCP has no control over what employers pay staff, too. (Pay is a whole other topic for us to explore—maybe next month!)Even bigger than the pay discrepancy (for me) is the increased fee to meet inflation. I interpret this as staff at OCP experiencing an increase in their pay to match inflation. Maybe that’s the wrong wording – I don’t think the annual increase is enough for all staff to have a raise that matches inflation (and maybe I wrong on that), but there must be at least some increase. I worked for OCP as a practice advisor and I loved that job. I learned so much, met so many people and it was fantastic. As an employee, I would love to have my pay increase with inflation. Let’s say that again: as an employee, I would love to have my pay increase with inflation. As a pharmacy technician, I am paying more every year for my annual fee because of inflation, but my pay as a technician doesn’t increase with inflation. I have worked for years, in both community and hospital, without any pay increase. Again, I know OCP doesn’t control what employers pay their staff, but all these things make it a pretty hard pill to swallow.As a technician, do I want to keep paying more for my annual renewal? Not particularly. Do I like that I paid almost $700 for my renewal this year? Not particularly. But I think it’s important to recognize and understand what these fees pay for. It has nothing to do with our scope of practice or where we practise (hospital vs community, high risk vs low risk, or location). I did a quick scan of fees across Canada (some fee structures are only accessible by logging into the regulatory College's website so I couldn’t access them). From the ones I was able to see it looks like pharmacy technicians in Ontario are paying less than in some jurisdictions and more than in others. The fees are essentially to keep the regulatory bodies open—and frankly, essential. As a self-regulated profession, there are expectations and requirements that must be met: the staff at OCP are the ones responsible for ensuring this. We want to remain self-regulated.All this to say, I see both sides of it, and I think there’s a bigger conversation to be had and perhaps more advocacy for better pay.

Let's explore tech renewal fees

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Wishing I had the same practice scope as techs in other provinces

Blog Author

SARAH-LYNN DUNLOP

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