We asked Loblaw why Shoppers pharmacists perform so many MedsChecks if it doesn’t mandate quotas

Recent data obtained by the Toronto Star in an investigative piece about Ontario’s MedsCheck program outlined that pharmacists at Shoppers Drug Mart locations across the province performed more than 1.2 million MedsChecks between January 2023 and March 2024.According to the Star’s reporting, that amounts to approximately 60% of the medication reviews done through the program during that period—which raised a few questions since Shoppers pharmacies make up 13% of pharmacies in the province. So how does Shoppers’ parent company Loblaw Companies Ltd. account for this outsized proportion? In a written statement to Pharmacy Practice + Business, Loblaw public relations said: “Compared to other pharmacies, Shoppers provides more medication reviews because of our established infrastructure, which includes larger stores, central prescription filling capabilities that allow pharmacists more time for professional services, more pharmacists per location and higher weekly operating hours (78% of stores in Ontario operate for more than 84 hours a week) compared to the average community pharmacy, making us uniquely positioned to address this critical need. Simply put, there is an important need for this service, and we are delivering,” read part of the emailed statement. The statement also noted “concerns” were raised about the program “over a year ago,” and that since then the company has acted, “working with our pharmacy teams to ensure a more collaborative approach to care and have established our quality services framework for pharmacists and the Patient Care and Quality Committee—the first of its kind among pharmacy retailers in Canada—which brings together distinguished healthcare leaders as senior advisors, underscoring our dedication to excellence in healthcare.”The company added that medication reviews account for less than 20% of the professional services it provides in Ontario and that the data in the Star’s reporting represented “fewer than 5 medication reviews per day per location across the province over a 14-month period,” representing “a small fraction of the daily interactions with patients.”

We asked Loblaw why Shoppers pharmacists perform so many MedsChecks if it doesn’t mandate quotas

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