Impact of Canadian Drug Policies on Economic, Clinical, and Humanistic Outcomes: A Systematic Review

Pharmaceuticals are among the most commonly used and important healthcare treatments in Canada. Third party healthcare payers, such as provincial departments of health and private insurers such as Blue Cross and Green Shield, use a variety of tools and techniques to balance the access, cost and quality of medications. Collectively, these tools and techniques are known as drug policies and they include things such as formulary restrictions, prior authorization forms and patient co-payments and deductibles. While there have been some evaluations of these policies in recent years, there has never been a summary of all of these studies in Canada. This present project will compile such a summary and determine the impact of the policies on economic, clinical and humanistic (quality of life, satisfaction, etc.) outcomes.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Neil MacKinnon

Student:

Alena Morrison

Partner:

Pfizer Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

Sector:

Pharmaceuticals

University:

Dalhousie University