Ontario’s insulin biosimilar change and how to get through it easily

There's a delicate balance between quality and quantity work. This balance applies to new changes in biosimilar insulin coverage in Ontario.

Check out a summary of Ontario’s biosimilar insulin coverage changes and a template you can use to fax prescribers here. 

In a world obsessed with growth and metrics, we are often measured by how much instead if how well. We are encouraged to skim the surface of many tasks instead of going miles deep in fewer of them. 

In most jobs, we know that our most meaningful contributions come from performing high quality effort, but this is inversely correlated with moving higher quantity. 

Where does this leave the pharmacist?

The short answer is: between a rock and a hard place. Patients are getting older and their regimens are becoming more and more complex. While we are being given enhanced clinical responsibility, we are still handcuffed to the drug distribution stream of our work, and with compressing margins, the volume will only need to increase to maintain its sustainability. 

Until pharmacists completely release themselves of actual dispensing, they will always battle the tug-of-war between quantity work (dispensing) and quality work (clinical duties). 

Case Study: Ontario Insulin Biosimilar Conversion

Starting March 31st, 2023, Ontario's provincial drug plan, Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB), will encourage the transition from the costlier brand name insulin products to their less expensive, clinical equivalent versions, called biosimilars. 

Here the pharmacist is being recognized as clinical medication expert and compensated $15 to make the change by confirming the paperwork with the patient’s prescriber, educating the patient about the change and keeping updated records on all of it. 

Pharmacists need to carve time out of their quantity work for a quality project. This project happens to save the government tons of money, making healthcare more sustainable for everyone. In order to continue to run successful and sustainable businesses while offering quality patient care, the pharmacist will need to master the balance of quality and quantity by being efficient in systems and personnel. In other words, understanding all the changes in how we get paid and optimizing those pathways while keeping them aligned with patient care and giving our staff purposeful work is who tomorrow’s pharmacist will be. 

The master pharmacist of the future will have to be even more dialed-in on efficient workflow for higher volume drug distribution, systems development on clinical tasks that get them paid, and deep patient relationships in order to proactively manage it all. 

What work is tugging you in opposite directions?

How can you optimize either one to find balance?

Check out a summary of Ontario’s biosimilar insulin coverage changes and a template you can use to fax prescribers here. 

The future is waiting....