Healthy Skepticism Library item: 8864

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Dyer AE.
PARCOST: the Ontario experience in selecting quality drugs
Drugs Health Care 1974; 1:(1):16-26

Abstract:

PARCOST (Prescriptions At Reasonable Cost), a program which promotes the use of drugs of the highest standards and results in decreased prescription cost, is described. The program is based on the PARCOST Comparative Drug Index, a publication which lists the costs of quality drug products used in Ontario. This index also promotes rational therapy by serving as a prescribing guide for physicians. The index is distributed semi-annually to physicians, pharmacists and dentists by the Ministry of Health. Specialists in medicine, pharmacy and pharmacology assess the quality of drugs manufactured in Canada and select those drugs which appear in the index. The Ministry of Health’s Drugs and Therapeutics Branch provides the administrative support and the drug testing facilities to these specialists. Quality assessment includes on-site examination of each manufacturer, analytical testing of actual production samples and detailed document evaluation for products. Evidence of satisfactory bioavailability is another requirement for listing of certain products. To assure continued maintenance of quality, 25 companies are on a stringent certification program. Products are grouped in therapeutic classes in the index and arranged in such a way to indicate 3 types in interchangeability (substitution): interchangeable by physicians, interchangeable by pharmacists and not interchangeable. The majority of community pharmacies participate in this voluntary program and have signed an agreement to charge no more for prescription drugs than the cost listed in the index plus a dispensing fee determined through negotiations between the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association and the Ministry of Health. The PARCOST program contributed to a saving of $5-8 million in prescription drug costs in 1972 while the administrative cost of the program was less than $1 million.