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Consultation on Proposed Fee Increases and Bylaw Amendments

Feedback deadline was: November 22, 2018
Summary

This consultation is now closed.

At its September 2018 meeting, Council approved the College’s operational budget for 2019, the first in the College’s new three-year strategic plan. The budget includes new spending required to continue to meet society’s expectation for the timely resolution of matters brought to the College’s attention while effectively influencing the emerging practice issues facing the profession from a regulatory perspective.

Meeting this challenge requires more resources. Accordingly, the College’s 2019 budget includes increases to fees in all categories of registrants and pharmacies. Fee increases to support the budget will take effect January 1, 2019; however, the required increase for registrant renewal fees will be phased in over two years.

Below is an example of what the fee changes will look like:

Type Adjusted Annual Fees $
Pharmacist 600 to 675 (2019)
675 to 750 (2020)
Pharmacy Technician 400 to 450 (2019)
450 to 500 (2020)
Community Pharmacy 940 to 1,175 (2019)
Hospital Pharmacy 3,500 to 4,375 (2019)
Registration Fee 300 to 375 (2019)

 

Please refer to 2019 fee schedule for further details.

In establishing the fees, Council acknowledged that registrant fees have not been increased in nine years due in part to the growth in registrants. Council also noted that, had registrant fees increased annually by cost of living (2.5%), they would have surpassed the amount being proposed for 2019. Further, Council noted that fees in Ontario will remain the lowest across the country when compared with other pharmacy colleges and at the lower end of other health profession fees in the province.

As per Section 94(2) of the Health Professions Procedural Code, the bylaw amendments that enable fee increases are being circulated to registrants prior to final Council approval. Along with the bylaw amendments to enable the fee increases, Council also proposed changes to bylaws related to the public register and other miscellaneous amendments. The bylaw amendments requiring circulation can be found below.

The College is posting these bylaw changes for open consultation for a period of 60 days, after which Council will receive a report on the input received through the consultation for consideration at the next Council meeting. To ensure that we have a complete and accurate record of all feedback submitted to the College on this matter and that this is done in a transparent manner, please review the resources on this page and submit your feedback online by clicking on the button at the bottom of this page.

Read The Feedback
240 COMMENTS
  • Other - POSTED November 23, 2018

    I am trying to understand the argument presented for these outrageous 25% fee increases, as some of this does not make sense. The model of ‘passing the costs on to the customer’  does not fit with our fee determination and collection strategies at the College. If the increased costs are coming from legal costs, then increase these costs to recover expenses directly from individuals involved in these situations and not penalize all members, organizations or hospitals with broad stroke fee increases. Perhaps the College and Council, need to really examine where and how we spend our money, and if appropriate change processes and expenditures to live within an appropriate fee scale for increases tied to COLA or inflation. For example why is there an almost $500K increase in personnel expenses, a $200K increase in operations costs, while seeing an increase in revenue from fees of almost $600K between 2016 and 2017. We are sitting with significant net assets, yet we are portrayed as ‘cash strapped’ , is it because we cannot seem to control expenses?. Something does not make sense. Why are spending money on implementing the AIMS system in Ontario when we could have used an existing national system (that could give us both provincial and national data ‘" CMIRPS/ ISMP). Most hospitals will now have to use three different systems to record and submit any incident data (soon to be four with Vanessa’s Law coming into force in fall 2019 for ADRs). The other issue with the 25% fee increase for hospitals is that it is for each hospital site. So if a hospital has multiple sites there is a 25% increase per site. The College and Council need to revisit and remedy the approach to fees for hospitals and perhaps adopt an approach of a ‘hospital organization" fee not a ‘per site’  fee; or introduce different levels of fees based on hospital size (4 x bed hospital vs a 1000 x bed hospital ‘" why do we have the same fee for both); or fees based on level of risk (IV sterile compounding, chemotherapy preparation sites, etc); lobby the MoHLTC to pay the College directly or increase hospital base budgets to cover these fees; and fee standardization between hospital pharmacy and community pharmacies eg. why are the fees different for a hospital that does IV sterile compounding and a community pharmacy that also does IV sterile compounding?. The college also needs to recognize that with implementation of the new standards, hospitals and the Ministry are incurring new additional costs. There does not seem to be a full impact analysis of the ‘downstream’  effect of these new rules, and they forget that hospitals do not have any mechanism to ‘pass on the added costs to our customers’ . So to say the least, I do not support this 25% fee increase, I do support a fee increase in line with inflation, and call for greater transparency on expenditures.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    While I understand cost of business may require fees to increase, the amount proposed is unreasonable. A 25% increase over two years is unfathomable, especially in light of salaries seemingly headed in the opposite direction. Perhaps alternative measures should be further reviewed such as reducing the frequency of hospital accreditation visits and/or adjusting disciplinary fines to cover the costs.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I do not approve of this increase. Not sure what our annual fee accomplishes, other than a cash grab to line undeserving pocket’s. Do not see OCP working to improve Technicians careers. We are underpaid and cannot afford an unnecessary increase.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    This is ridiculous the last thing I need is to pay more fees. My boss isn’t going to be able to sustain such increases and therefore my hours will be cut back which will result in a decreased level of patient care

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    In these days of fiscal restraints and ever decreasing revenue in pharmacies I do not agree with the fee increases.Compared to other professional we do not have the scope of practice therefore our fees should not be compared to them.This is going to be costly to pharmacy owners who may be paying for many pharmacist’s feed and increased accreditation fees.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    One wonders if the Council is aware of what its members are facing out in practice. It the makes the argument that a yearly, cost of living (2.5%), fee increase would have resulted in an even higher fee than proposed. The bulk of your members (those in community practice) have not seen such a raise in their pay in over 6 years. In fact, they are being fired when asking for a cost of living raise. Moreover, over the 9 years since the last fee increase, the number of colleges members has increased dramatically, as the Council aptly remarks. This has led to markedly diminished wages, factory-like working conditions and hence an overall highly diminished value of your product (ie. an Ontario pharmacist license). Therefore, given the income erosion of its members (at least 20% in cost of living alone), and the significantly lower inherent value of a license to the majority of its members, this member finds it appaling for the College to propose a 25% increase in cost; or any increase for that matter.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I think most pharmacy professionals would be receptive to the increase if they felt like it was going to benefit the profession. However, as I can see with most comments, the feeling is quite the opposite. I understand that the college’s mandate is to protect the public – however, pharmacists need the support to be able to hold up this mandate. With the failed changes to the Employment Standards, increased responsibilities and expectations, the environment under which a lot of us work is actually putting patient safety in jeopardy. If the college is supposed to protect the public, shouldn’t they also look for ways to improve working environment for its members? In the past when I’ve asked the college about practice issues, the generic response is usually to use my "professional judgment." I understand that not all issues are black and white, but it is frustrating when I look at the complaints section and see the college punishing its members for doing just that. If the College decides to go ahead with the proposed increase, despite all the comments opposing it, at least give the members more transparency as to what the fees will go towards

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    Hi, I do not support the fee increase. A 25% increase over the span of 2 years is an exorbitant amount. I think it would be more reasonable to spread it over 10 years. The new requirements for College to meet patient safety and concerns do not seem to justify this increase. I encourage the College to do its due diligence to find cost saving methods in other avenues rather than resort to fee increases of 25% as the automatic solution. As well, the College needs to be more transparent and accountable ie specific on its spending. I believe the fee increase will deter future potential registrants from practicing in Ontario, and will increase the cost of pharmacy services and products for patients, because ultimately, the cost will be passed on to patients/consumers. The fee increase is not in the best interest of the patients over the long term. Please reconsider this decision. Thank you.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    As a pharmacist in hospital practice I question the one tier registration fee approach that the college uses. Small hospitals have significantly lower budgets than their larger counterparts yet the same fee is paid. I suggest that the model needs to be reassessed.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    i believe before increasing the fees, you should ensure to improve the working conditions for pharmacists, more than 50% of pharmacies in Ontario are independently owned, and most of the pharmacists working their working as a relief even if they have been working for the place for years.. there should be a minimum hourly rate for pharmacists to be set, also it should be obligatory to get paid by payroll and have some rights ( sick days , work insurance … etc )

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I have always found the annual fee to be extremely high for the services provided. Whatwill this new increase provide? This new increase is far too much, Instead of increasing fees, I would favour OCP undergo a "lean initiative" to eliminate unnecessary expenses/administration/travel . Eg – moving OCP to less expensive location/city, decrease/eliminate unnecessary printing, using technology to decrease travel/meeting costs. I have undergone a multitude of lean initiatives at my site over the last decade, and a huge decrease over the past 3 decades wrt what events you can be financed to travel to versus using technology to decrease costs.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    the pay increase over a 2 year time frame is a drastic change…as others have written this change if needed at all should be over a longer period. I cannot justify paying 750$, as a I find no benefit from the college. Can the college state where the increase funds will be allocated towards?

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I am very concerned why public funded pharmacies (ie hospitals) are being over charged versus private businesses (community pharmacies). As a tax payer, we should be asking private businesses to share the burden OCP is experiencing. Let’s look at how unfair it is today with current fees and will continue to be unfair after the 25% proposed fee increase. Current Fees: · Hospital Pharmacy: $4,375 per year · Community Pharmacy: $940 per year # of Hospital sites: ~231 (as per OHA website) # of Community Pharmacies: ~4237 (as per NAPRA website and as of January 1, 2018) Total fees collected by OCP: ~$4,791,280 ($3500*231 + $940*4237). Based on the above, Hospital pharmacies represent 5% of total pharmacies but pay 17% of all fees collected. Option 1: Make all pharmacies pay equal amounts. New fee per pharmacy would be: ~$1072/year. (Dividing $4,791,280 by (231 +4237)) Essentially, we are asking PRIVATE businesses to pay an extra $130 so that PUBLIC SECTOR hospitals can save at minimum $2428 per site. Option 2: Why is a retail pharmacy doing compounding (ie Bayshore, Calea, Janssen, any Joe Blo’s local compounding pharmacy) only paying $940 per year while the hospital pharmacy doing the same compounding is paying $3500 per year. This makes absolutely NO SENSE. Instead, every pharmacy, hospital or community, should pay a base license fee and additional fees would be incurred based on high-risk services delivered (ie methadone, sterile compounding, etc). In Ontario there are supposedly 97 compounding retail pharmacies versus 129 hospital pharmacies involved in compounding. Yet, the 97 compounding pharmacies only pay $940. Maybe I’m making the math too simplistic, but in the end, OCP needs X dollars, and why can’t that be obtained from a more shared approach than having hospitals take on most of the cost.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I have to ask?,,,,,,what justifies the increase in fees? The fees are already substantially too high, especially for some retail Pharmacy Technicians, and hospital technicians have not had an increase in wage, still do the same job but now we have to pay roughly $50 dollars a month just to be able to work in this profession!! we have already been doing this job, nothing has changed, this increase is absolutely absurd, and I would like to know how this increase is justified?? how would the college like it if pharmacy technicians chose to look elsewhere for a career, one that doesn’t cost us money to be able to work our job.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    I feel that this increase should be distributed more towards the hospitals. A 25% increase would be financially restrictive for individual practitioners.

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    Very disproportionate to Pharmacist fees as well as other health care disciplines whose annual earnings are considerably more. Our wages still don’t reflect our regulated status but yet our fees continue to climb?

  • Other - POSTED November 21, 2018

    Pharmacy Technicians already pay a disproportional fee based on salary in comparison to Pharmacists. Overall as a group, we pay a disproportional fee in comparison to other Health Care Professionals. The College of Nurses charges their member $270 annually. All of Health Care is required to do more with less in such fiscally restrained times, the OCP should be no exception.

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    A 25% is a very dramatic increase, especially when the average salary for pharmacists in the province has dramatically declined over the last decade. It is very challenging to find consistent and permanent work in many parts of the province such as within most large city limits; therefore pharmacists are commuting further to work than before. This increase will increase the burden on many OCP members. An increase that is more gradual and in-line with inflation would be better such as a 5-10% increase.

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    I don’t see how a fee increase can be justified given how bad the job market is for community pharmacists at the moment. Wages are lower (not just in real terms) than they were 9 years ago almost across the board. Surely individual pharmacists, who are employees paid by the hour, shouldn’t be paying for the inspection of publicly run hospitals or privately run businesses? Where is the increase in efficiency or compensation to offset these cost; for example – I have to purchase mandatory insurance when I am also covered by my employer. This isn’t ‘double insurance’, in fact it is paying twice for one plan. Other provinces don’t have this requirement (Manitoba for example) I feel like a fee increase is just a cash grab.

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    Pharmacist registration fees is already very high with the current employment situation of most pharmacist. There is a decline in wages for pharmacist especially for new graduates so I don’t think increase in fees is favorable. The increase in license fees for hospital pharmacy registration is also a lot higher than community pharmacy. The college need to justify what the increase is for and why there is a wide gap between community and hospital registration fees.

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    I would like to see community pharmacy license fees increase more. this could allow for pharmacist and technician fees to increase less. Either way this will be a tough sell to the licensees when we have an oversupply of pharmacists. Effectively influencing emerging practice issues is important to me and something the OCP has done well, in my opinion.

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    What outcomes are the College going to measure after the increase in fees? What are the checks and balances to see if any increases in fees meets the needs of the public? Raising fees requires review of the EFFECTIVE use of the monies. It should always be part of the process or else the College is merely writing a blank cheque to itself to spend on the member’s / pharmacy’s annual dues (in which we have no choice to pay to remain employed / operating, respectively, in Ontario).

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    I believe fee increases should run at just below cost of inflation and be applied on an annual basis. This way, its not a large dramatic amount in one shot. There should also be an annual fiscal publication that is emailed showing the breakdown of where the money is spent for accountability purposes. In this fiscal report, there should also be an analysis of waste and redundancies being addressed. In general, transparency, accountability and slow steady increases are best. I would reject a 25% increase over 2 years. That seems like poor long term planning.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    I do not agree with the increase in fees for registration given there is a lack of direction in what the increase in fees will provide. While I appreciate the need for incremental increases the amounts proposed are an overall 25% increase over the next 2 years which in my opinion is quite substantial and unnecessary. Given the increase in membership from both technicians and pharmacists I find it quite hard to grasp the rationale for increased fees. I urge you to consider an incremental increase of 5-10% over the next 2 years with a defined plan as to where this money is going. Thanks!!

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    Adding financial pressures to Pharmacies and key staff alike will lead to worsening service and care in my mind as viability constraints will lead to bad practice environments and the increasing demands (documentation standards, documentation standards, continuing education standards, error reporting, etc) made mandatory makes everything almost impossible to juggle while staying afloat personally or for the business that is paying the individual. I feel like the environment is already bad with the cut of raises and pay, and the increased responsibilities with lessening of compensation (reduced fees, fee limits. etc). In what other job/carreer does one find themselves taking a pay cut and yet getting more responsibilities? I understand that there is more work to be done but have there been cuts made within the college similar to those of the professionals that are contributing to their salaries? Are we ready to push pharmacists, technicians out just because of financing? Are all these programs truly helping the patients if pharmacists and technicians burn out and pharmacies close as they are no longer viable? Has thought been given to sustainability? is there no room for compromise? if increase must happen a smaller increment at a time over more years would be more reasonable.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    I am against this increase in the registration renewal fee. It could have been acceptable if we heard that the hourly rate for the pharmacist is getting higher but it is unfortunate that it has been going down! and with increased living expenses and the cost of running a pharmacy business, it is unrealistic to ask pharmacists to pay more so they continue serving their communities.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    Considering that pharmacist wages are going down, I am not sure that the college argument regarding the cost of living (2.5%) is valid. Pharmacists have not been getting raises to cover their cost of living anyways, in fact many have been getting wage cuts. Fees should not be raised.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    Technician fees should not be increased we are still under appreciated not paid accordingly

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    Any increase of this excessive magnitude requires serious reflection on the "big picture." As such, here’s a 9-point list: 1) There seem to be a number of "repeat postings" (duplication) where exactly the same message is conveyed. That might be due to a glitch in the system, but it’s important to note and remove these because past minutes of OCP Council have made reference to the NUMBER of comments received as if to justify a for/against position in presenting the consultation results to Council. 2) Too many programs have been instituted by the OCP with a misleading basis being "patient protection" with huge costs (likely) incurred in doing so; but without breaking down the financial statements to account for these ventures, we don’t really know. Brakes need to be put on these ventures, NOW. 3) All the Standards for Compounding (NAPRA) were ALREADY IN PLACE via internationally-accepted USP standards for both sterile, non-sterile, and hazardous preparations. There was no need to create "our own" versions, clearly again incurring expense to the membership where it wasn’t necessary by going to non-Canadian consultants when a plethora of these already existed in Canada. The result has been a series of Standards that in many areas conflict with USP standards; one example is where the current sterile compounding standards refer to three classes of risk when in fact, the present revision under consultation with USP are changing these to only two categories. The OCP "Assessment Criteria" document for Sterile Preparations addresses two types (Hz/Non-Hz) and yet there is variance in certain areas between the two classes, yet they both are sterile preparations and this variance should not exist. (It doesn’t, if you abide by USP). What was the cost of duplication (again), when reference could simply have been made to the USP standards already in place and adopted by international pharmacy practice? 4) There is a large pool of "Part B" pharmacists who in fact, have specific levels of expertise that exceed the average Part A/technician skill sets. Yet, this category of member is not being used to best efficiency in Ontario, because of the two-part register. That’s just craziness and wasting of $$$. 5) OPA is often cited as being responsible for representing pharmacist views, yet they are a voluntary association and don’t hear from all pharmacists/members due to this fact; and they only circulate their actions to members of OPA. So a large portion of Ontario pharmacists/techs are not being represented (and even if they belong, don’t get their concerns addressed). OCP, on the other hand, is composed of all licensed pharmacy professionals, and could provide "practice awareness" by realizing the issues facing members (not pharmacies) since Council members are practising and also should be aware of these issues and be able to bring them to the table. That would be more "pre-emptive" rather than waiting for the press to get hold of a "story" and create the stories that make us (as well as the OCP) look bad. 6) ALL accredited premises should be required to pay/meet the same fees and standards; it’s a privilege of being "in the group." There should NOT be special rates afforded to hospital pharmacies over the community pharmacies (and vice versa). If the OCP pushed to be given the authority to regulate hospitals, then they should looked (first) at what that was going to involve, realistically, in terms of resources and time in order to "do it right thoroughly and efficiently" rather than "appear to do it." Stating "we visited X pharmacies" is one thing; visiting them and identifying issues below the surface is quite another (the "numbers" game to justify existence). 7) There is a continued "recession" of OCP staff in terms of interaction with the membership as a whole, when compared to what existed 15 years ago. Now, it’s "use your judgement" which is then criticized by a practice advisor when they attend the pharmacy. How do you not answer a specific practice question, only to later criticize the action taken absent a complaint? No-one at the OCP wants to make a decision any longer in order to consistently regulate the profession, so "Shades of Grey" hasn’t really helped after being instilled by previous management; they’ve only caused more confusion. The result can then be tracked downhill to increasing public events that then necessitate reactional undertakings by the OCP leading to an alleged justification in fee increases to pay for it all. ("An ounce of prevention would have been worth a pound of cure"). 8) OCP members should, to some extent, get substance for their "membership fees" or else they should not be charged. MEMBERS paying these fees are asked to elect MEMBERS to Council; yet, those elected members are then cautioned they are not there to represent those that elected them. This has to change. An election is to get people into positions to act on your behalf. Where else do elected officials not convey the electorate’s concerns to the governing body? The public, on the other hand, doesn’t elect to Council AT ALL and yet the entire focus is more and more leaning toward protection of the "unelecting public" with the electorate itself being ignored. If the only focus in every decision is "public interest" (even though one can point to many statutory provisions where there is no public application but only applies to the professional), then perhaps it’s time to have the PUBLIC elect the members to Council. 9) What happened to the "meet the members" regional meetings where there was a chance for members to put forward their concerns amongst a gathering of their peers? Certainly, given the response to this topic, such a meeting would be justified PRIOR to going through the mandatory consultation period and then just "ramming it through." (The fact that a $$ value has already been set means much discussion has occurred at the council level without any consultation of the membership before doing so; and now, it’s ready to go but "we have to consult the membership first"). In this case, the membership better be heard because there’s significant outcry that could have been heard FIRST and THEN taken to the council table for discussion. Please take all member submissions on this topic seriously, because "over-extending yourself/re-inventing the wheel" to appear to be doing what is necessary is not justification to gouge members to pay your costs. That’s what governments do, not healthcare professionals.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    That’s a very high increase in such a short period of time that’s non justifiable. I think that a sunshine list of OCP administrative and higher up staff need to have their wages made public.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    According to the fee comparator, by 2020 Pharmacy Technicians in Ontario will have close to the highest fees in the country. The Pharmacists will still be paying less fees than most Pharmacists in the rest of the country. Way to go after Pharmacy Technicians given that none of our pay went up after we went from Assistant to Technician. Was the comparator a ridiculous way to get member buy in. I fully disagree with increases to Technician fees to the tune of 25%. Try making some cuts to the college in order to keep fees down. Start with staff wages by having them be more in line with what the rest of us are making.

  • Other - POSTED November 5, 2018

    The fees for part A and part B Pharmacists should be the same fee. There are many Pharmacy Technicians being employed as assistants for minimum wage only and there is no part B for them. The fees for Pharmacy Technicians should be more affordable so the ones making minimum wage can afford registration.

  • Other - POSTED November 1, 2018

    What has OCP done for the pharmacists in the past? Their priority is patients which I totally understand. However, why don’t they try to make a better environment for the pharmacist to work? I check about 200 rxs everyday without any break or meals and sometimes it is impossible not to make a mistake in this setting as I am a human being. Average pharmacist wage goes down every year, still no break, more works to do every year (those corporate giants treat us like slaves)..and now OCP wants us to pay more?

  • Other - POSTED November 1, 2018

    In light of increasing costs to businesses, OCP may wish to consider opportunities to allow for pharmacy owners to save costs in areas under OCP control. For instance, you might enable fee-for-service for drug information services, rather than mandatory subscriptions. We rarely use our service, and it is difficult to justify the annual expense.

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    The proposed fee increase is 25%, obviously well above any measure of inflation. Additionally fee levels are not graduated, so a hospital pharmacy in a 30 bed hospital will pay the same as a hospital pharmacy in a 100 bed hospital – clearly with radically different budget capacities

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    A fee increase is not reasonable during this time as the wages of pharmacists are not increasing and are in decline. What is your rationale for such a high increase? The college should be aware that job prospects and wages are in decline and if not then what benefit do they provide members?

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    Is there any accountability for OCP? What have they achieved for pharmacists in Ontario in last ten years? And on top their poor financial management!! You are not a profit making organization! You are run by members fees. Our wages are going down so should yours. I wonder how much are their salaries. All the comments above are reflective of their performance. Wish anyone would read!

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    Just keep in mind that when the Discipline panel imposes "CE ‘corrective’ courses" (such as ethics training when the pharmacist in large part knew exactly what s/he was doing but went ahead anyways because the financial gain outweighed the perceived penalty), and a fine is ultimately imposed, that fine does NOT go back to the College. Only the costs of the proceedings can be applied that way; all FINES go to the Province of Ontario! Justify the costs of proceedings and make recovery orders, including for costs of the investigation and the proceeding (both are allowed by statute). After all, if you’re going to "cut deals" with the member to get a plea for a lesser penalty, you’re already cutting into potential remuneration in doing so, because "costs" become a platform for argument in reaching an Agreed Statement of Fact. One thing is certain though: when someone CONTESTS a matter, then recover the costs to the fullest extent possible. Don’t hide behind "historical allowances" because if you do, you can never increase the penalties, etc. There’s a reason you have to publish the decisions and part of those reasons include "general deterrence to the profession." Once you publish, and then others commit those offences afterwards (i.e., didn’t learn), you can make argument as to why the penalty as it may have been applied for similar actions in the past should be increased, because "they didn’t learn" through what was published as being unacceptable.

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    I agree with you. This is an unreasonable increase, especially when you view the stated "Summary" of why it is necessary. "society’s expectation for the timely resolution of matters brought to the College’s attention…" in large part goes to the public perception that the College is not doing its job in terms of public protection. Perhaps (in large part) it’s due to all the "programs" they’ve been heaving upon pharmacists that really don’t deal with the current issues of fraud, diversion, errors, etc. But that has been brought to the College’s attention over, and over, and over in the past years and yet they remain silent. (Evidence: professional blog columns addressing this topic). So perhaps, some of those internal "warm fuzzy feeling" issues should have the funding/resources/staffing focus redirected to those issues that are directly impacting upon the College’s current decision to raise fees by 25% over two years. That, alone, raises competency concerns regarding self-regulation — especially when council members are still a majority of practising pharmacists that should be directly aware themselves of the "public concern" issues facing this provincial regulatory body.

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    I don’t think there is a need for this fee hike. I have been working and there has been no salary increase for a community pharmacist like myself for the past 5 years! It’s the same hourly rate that I am getting now, same as 5 years ago. Everything in the meantime has gone up. Rent, gas, bills, everything! It is already getting difficult for a person like myself to afford, I don’t see how this fee hike will help the pharmacists? Please work on other fronts, this will make things further difficult for us. Please consider, thanks

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    As a RPhT in a hospital setting we have not been compensated for the registered title. RN and RT’s fees are considerably less than pharmacy and their education is much more than that of a pharmacy technician so why the increase???

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    I object to the fee increases. The fact that fees have not been increased in the past few years is not an adequate reason. If OCP has had budget surpluses, that means we have been overcharged in the past. It’s hard to believe that a college with this many members needs to charge so much. There are obviously efficiencies that can be targeted instead. Furthermore, OCP needs to be more transparent as to where these costs are going (that vague table is not nearly enough). Don’t be ridiculous.

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    Folks, I am in the finance industry and have read the financial statements and comments. I am submitting my comments as a public member. Clearly, OCP members who thought this is a good idea does not proper financial acumen or have the wrong lens on. Margins in pharmacies are between 20-25% now. You are actually proposing the following increases: 1) Pharmacists – $600 increase over 2 years 2) Techs – $400 increase over 2 years 3) Community pharmacy – $1400 by 2019 4) Hospital and registration – unknown You need to re-examine you financial expenses and administrative costs. I would argue that there has been financial mismanagement at the OCP. This is concerning and I would suggest that you engage the Auditor General for an objective review and make some organization changes immediately. Thank you.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    With wages trending downwards (against inflation), 20-25% increase in fees seem quite myopic. Livelihood prospects for the profession already look much bleaker than 10 to 20 years ago. And based on past interactions with the college, it is clear that the onus of self-regulation (in the philosophical sense of the word, technically the college licenses) still lie on the practitioners themselves. A 25% percent increase in fees is not going to miraculously overhaul the safeguards we self-impose as practitioners. Why are your stakeholders the one’s to pay when the system has underperformed, undetected for decades?

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    The proposed 25% increase in individual member fees (both for RPh and RPhT) over 2 years is ridiculous. The College has clearly not done enough to protect the public if it has received "a 100% increase in intake complaints and reports" from 2015 to 2018. And what has the ICRC done about these complaints? In 2017, 33% of decisions involved "no action". Please tell me why we are wasting time and resources in discipline hearings where the outcome is ultimately "no action"- can such cases not be dismissed sooner to reduce costs?

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    Thank you for collecting the feedback, as a hospital pharmacist I have a few concerns on this fee increase 1- I felt that a lot of the OCP initiatives tailor towards the community pharmacies like College’s mandatory Medication Safety Program 2- The hospital pharmacies fees structure need to be reviewed, as some of the very small hospital which only have a part time technician but still need to pay full fees. 3- I feel that OCP should include Malpractice insurance in the registration fee and perform a market analysis of pharmacist earning which is unfortunately a downward trend, so it will a added burden on the registrant. I noticed in FAQ there is a registrant fees comparison but there is no pharmacies, in particular hospital fee comparison chart. Thanks for reading

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    Ontario has a higher number of registered pharmacists and that is mathematically significant in terms of revenue raised from current fees. By comparison Nurses use the high numbers to keep fees down. Wages have been frozen for the past 6yrs or even more. Since the Technician model is not well developed in community pharmacies, raising the fees will impact the practitioners given they are not well remunerated in community pharmacy. With Pace now in place, the student/intern fees my need to be reviewed and perhaps split into 1st PACE attempt fees, then subsequent PACE attempts. There will be a point when fee increase is warranted but I don’t think this is the time and the proposed increase is

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I can assure you since having become registered my wages have not increased 2.5% yearly to match the cost of living. We are already making less money now due to paying registration fees and insurance than we did before we became registered. I think this increase over the next 2 years is outrageous. The college is already making thousands more dollars due to the fees being paid by pharmacy technicians.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I can appreciate that the renewal pharmacist fee has not increased in a few years however a more conservative increase should be considered especially since the rationale for increase has more to do with operating cost not value for members. Salaries and staffing should be reviewed. Many licensed pharmacists are expected to do more with the same resources.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I dont’t feel it is necessary to increase our fees as Pharmacists or Technicians. Can you please include what the benefits for members will be? I personally don’t feel that what the college does for us will change at all even though we will be paying more. The pharmacists wages are not going up either, in most jurisdictions they are going down. This just doesn’t feel like a fair trade for me. And on top of all this we still have to purphase insurance each year as well. The fact that this is being considered is extremely disappointing.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I don’t agree because retail pharmacies don’t pay as good so it would be unfair to increase every year. Retail pharmacies also differentiates between registered and assistant technicians as they would highly hire assistants because they would pay them less. So how is it possible for us to be able to pay this much ??

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I disagree on increasing the member’s fees, a 25% is too much given the fact that our profession isn’t paid well and the pharmacist market is saturated in Ontario. 5-10% is reasonable.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    Please don’t raise the fees. I can hardly afford them as high as they are now. The yearly rate is putting a lot of financial stress on me and my family.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    The rise in the fees is completely unreasonable. Our hourly wages are dropping on daily basis. Our organizations have already announced that they wont be reimbursing any fees. In this challenging time when we are not getting in rise in our pays, paying a lot of taxes and no help from any where and working crazy hours, sometimes no to little rest the 25 % fee hike is unreasonable

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    OCP fees should not be standardized, it should be reflective of the size of the hospital or complexity / variety of services offered. For example, fees for Accreditation Canada are based on the hospital budget and are adjusted accordingly. I believe that something similar should be in place for the OCP fee. Small rural hospitals should not be paying the same fee as a regional or tertiary hospital.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    Consider the following comparison to some of the other healthcare professionals’ salaries and their fees. These salaries are based on hospital hourly salaries. HCP Salary Fees (not including tax) Pharmacist 43-54 $600 Nurse (RN) 32-46 $200 Physiotherapist 35-44 $595 Social worker (MSW) 36-49 $300 Pharmacy technician 29.07-29.59 $400 As you can see, healthcare professionals with similar salaries (or in the case of pharmacy techs, higher salaries) are paying less than our own fees. Furthermore, the College of Nurses of Ontario has more than 160 000 members in its regulatory body and yet their fees are only $200. Perhaps this is an efficiency in work processes problem? Increasing our fees by 25% over two years (that’s an increase of $150 for pharmacists!) is NOT the solution to your problem!

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    Consider the following comparison to certain other allied health’s salaries and their regulatory fees. These salaries are based on typical hospital hourly salaries. HCP Salary Fee Pharmacist 42-54/hr $600 Nurse (RN) 32-46/hr $200 Nurse (RPN) 29-30/hr $200 Social worker 36-49/hr $300 Physiotherapist 35-44/hr $595 Other healthcare professionals of similar salaries to ours are paying a fraction of what we pay now (and will be paying with the fee increase). When you talk about operational costs, the CNO has more than 160 000 members and they all only pay $200. Perhaps there may be an efficiency issue in the work process that allows operational costs to be reduced instead? Hiking each member’s fees to $150 is not the solution to your problem!

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    Really, a 25% increase in fees? Are you people out of your minds? To begin with, we get absolutely nothing for the fees we pay. Secondly, your ridiculous standards have already cost this institution in excess of $50K and now you want to increase your fees on top of it. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT GIVING INSTITUTIONS MORE FUNDING TO COVER THESE COST INCREASES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is a lesson. This constant layering on of higher fees and more ridiculous legislation is exactly the reason why the public as a whole gets fed up with governments of the day and then vote for even crazier right wing governments who remove or rollback all environmental legislation, bring back coal, remove consumer protection legislation and place the balance of power in the hands of corporate entities.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I think 25%is way too much. I think our fees should be reflective of our economy. OCP staff wages nor rent should be increased by 25%. We should have slow more regular increases like inflation. Also, with what I call an excess of pharmacists these days the hourly rate is as low as I have ever seen $35per hour while the costs of getting an education are going up. That tells me that MORE pharmacists are paying for licensure while the staff numbers at OCP remain relatively the same. This influx of paying pharmacists should increase your profitability, especially when several positions are on volunteer basis. Increase rates as inflation does. A few dollars every year.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I think 25%is way too much. I think our fees should be reflective of our economy. OCP staff wages nor rent should be increased by 25%. We should have slow more regular increases like inflation. Also, with what I call an excess of pharmacists these days the hourly rate is as low as I have ever seen $35per hour while the costs of getting an education are going up. That tells me that MORE pharmacists are paying for licensure while the staff numbers at OCP remain relatively the same. This influx of paying pharmacists should increase your profitability, especially when several positions are on volunteer basis. Increase rates as inflation does. A few dollars every year.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I appreciate the situation that the college finds itself in with increasing costs associated with laborious projects and programs. I would believe that most individuals would find the rates of the increases significant. One question – Was there any consideration to the current regulation processes and an analysis of the current costs of the programs that have been put in place? Maybe there are innovative methods to provide the same level of oversight for public safety in a more cost effective manner. For example by stretching out the site visit period and supplementing it with a self report or a report on quality improvement goals that have been reached during the intervening time it would greatly reduce the costs to the college. Also if the costly process of inspections can be augmented with more cost effective strategies then the degree of fee increases would be mitigated. A 25% increase is significant but what is more striking is the discrepancy between hospital fees and community fees. As a taxpayer is seems disingenuous for a council comprised of mainly pharmacy business people to mandate that the taxpayer be asked to spend a higher amount for the same services, particularly given that the community pharmacies have the opportunity to generate a profit.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    In regards to "The proposed fee increase for an individual hospital pharmacy would be raised from $3,500 annually to $4,375", my main concern is the fairness to hospitals with satellite sites, and multiple full fees are charged. As in CAMH, Queen Site is where the main inpatient pharmacy located. The College Site is a satellite that receive medications and supplies from Queen Site and then distribute to the units in the building. The College Site pharmacy is not a performing all dispensing activities, no packaging, no compounding for example. But in this case, not only the College Site is paying the full fee, but now is also hit with the substantial fee increase. The bylaw should differentiate a full function hospital pharmacy vs a satellite pharmacy and the fee structure should change to reflect that i.e. a lower fee for satellite hospital pharmacy.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    Increasing the annual renewal fee by 25% based on cost of living calculations is not reasonable because front line pharmacist wages during that time has not increased by cost of living but has remained stagnant or decreased especially for newer pharmacists. OCP needs assess their processes and utilize current funds more effectively. There are more patient complaints to OCP in the past. I would suggest that OCP consult pharmacist members for possible reasons for increasing complaints. Pharmacists are becoming more and more overworked as big corporations want prescription counts to increase with the same or decreasing staff levels. Pharmacists are not entitled to a lunch break, and many times cannot go for a bathroom break. Pressure is also placed when considering to stay home because sick. These are poor work conditions that will no doubt increase stress and medication errors. OCP needs to look at the bigger picture of why there are more complaints and how to handle these cases more efficiently.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    While a slight raise in fees might be warranted, a 25% increase over two years is not justifiable. As others have mentioned, an increase 2.5% would be much more rational. I’d also like to suggest OCP consider fee exceptions when pharmacists/pharmacy technicians are on maternity/parental leave. And even perhaps to those just working casually. To pay $750+tax is unacceptable when you are taking 18 months off to care for a child or only work one shift a week.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I don’t agree in the 25% increase in 2 years! The justification that you had not increased fees in 9 years just don’t work. That was not very good long term planning on College’s management. I do agree an increase is needed but would suggest it needs to be done over a longer period of time with a smaller yearly increases.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    The proposed fee increase is not currently in line with other licensing bodies. I hold a MA state license and the renewal fee is $150 USD every 2 years, I also hold a NY state license and the renewal fee is $224 USD every 3 years. The current OCP renewal fee yearly is much higher and I do not feel with malpractice insurance in addition to this cost that it is would be reasonable to increase the fee by 25%. Also, provincially, the BC Board of Pharmacy has approved a fee schedule that will reduce licence fees for a majority of registrants. This is substantial for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and student registrants as they will see significant fee reductions. Annual pharmacist registration fees will now be set at a flat rate of $530 a year. Fees for pharmacy technicians will remain at 2/3 of the full pharmacist fee. Perhaps the most exciting part of the fee reduction proposal is that student fees will now be completely eliminated.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I do not think that fees should be increased, especially from my perspective as a pharmacy technician. Many technicians that work in community pharmacy do not have their licenses recognized as it is, and the majority are paid the same as assistants with no education (typically just above minimum wage). For such a large increase, what are we being offered in return? It feels like technicians are severely under-represented by OCP – we do the bulk of the technical and physical work and take on so much of the front-end stress of the business, and the college is not pushing for pharmacists and pharmacy managers to use us to our full scope. Where is the justification for charging an additional $100 a year when we already receive very little from the college?

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    You do not need to increase the fees for Pharmacy Technicians. Instead you should focus on finding ways to reduce spending in your budget.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    You do not need to increase the fees for Pharmacy Technicians. Instead you should focus on finding ways to reduce spending in your budget.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I feel that for pharmacy technicians I don’t see what a fee increase would be getting us in return. The amount of continuing education offered through OCP geared towards technicians is very minimum if at all so what is this increase giving us in return. Also we have been on a pay freeze for years and expect another on the way so increasing fees is just decreasing our pay even more. And unless OCP wants to fight for us to get wage increases we deserve for becoming registered in the first place I don’t see how this is helping us.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I do not agree with these proposed fee changes. Our rates have not increased at all in the last few years. Furthermore because of all the pharmacy changes in recent years most pharmacists including myself have seen a decline in our hourly wages. Increasing the fees just adds more strain to us and our families.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    This increase is not acceptable!! As a RPhT that works in both hospital and community pharmacies I know firsthand about the difference in compensation. There is minimal if any benefit for the community RPhT vs an assistant and this increase will likely result in a decline in membership of my community colleagues . An increase of 25% is outrageous and is completely out of line compared to the 0% and just over 1% pay increase I have seen over the past year. This increase is not acceptable!!

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    25% Increase seems excessive. If an increase in fees are needed, a more modest increase would be appropriate.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    The increase is too much and although I agree that we need to keep the quality standards high, I would still like to know if the college made an effort to raise the required funds through other sources, or bring some extra value for pharmacies/pharmacists, before resorting to this.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    I request the members of finance committee: 1. To look into the audited financial statements for last five years. Read line by line, all the expenses, and causes of increase or decrease. 2. Every year, each member of the college is taking approximately 4% reduction in wages. Due to wage freeze, there is no increment = 2 to 3% + inflation =2 to 3%. Total over 10 years = 40% reduction in wages (minimum). I recommend, and request to the finance committee to freeze salary and wages of all college employees, examine benefits paid to employees in detail and restructure. College is spending approximately $11 million on this category. 3. Investigate the assets and investment side of balance sheet. 4. Increase the internal efficiently first, in all areas, before asking members for more money. 5. Ontario has maximum number of registered pharmacist/technicians/pharmacies than in any other province. I assume therefore, it collects maximum revenue in the country. Showing a bar chart that, Ontario has lowest members fee among all other provinces, is misleading. Total revenue collected by each college should be shown, rather than only fees. 6. A pie chart or simple percentage of total revenue towards each expense would be an ideal way to start, and identify the major issue, reduce incremental costs year by year.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    Hi, it saddens me that the fee is going up. The article references the cost of living increase and that the fee increase is not quite equal to what it would have been if it had increased with the cost of living increase over the last 9 years. Well that is wonderful, but I and many of my colleagues have also not have cost of living increases in our wages. I find it hard to get by as it is with minimum wage having gone up, the cost of everything has gone up, and the 2.5% cost of living increase that I’m not getting does not keep up with that. Thank you for the opportunity to speak up for myself. I hope it does some good.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    Seriously? I think there needs to be some SERIOUS changes at OCP. I am licensed in the USA as well, and just so you can see how EXPENSIVE it is to be a licensed pharmacist in Ontario…..you are going to charge us $675 in 2019. The state I am licensed in charges….drum roll….$100 a YEAR!!! And the difference in the number of pharmacists is negligible. And, just in case you didn’t get the memo…. no one is becoming pharmacists anymore. When a technician makes $5 less per hour than a pharmacist, there is no way you are going to attract people to the profession. If you continue to raise already UNREASONABLE fees (seriously… can you get outside counsel to analyze your books? You should be swimming in money….) There is no need to raise ANY fees. OCP higher ups be forced out or fired once the number of pharmacists drops off in the next 2-5 years anyways. Why anger the pharmacists who are already in the profession? You should be enticing them to stay on as pharmacists and not jump ship to other careers You are losing some many people to retirement; small independents are not going to make it anymore with further cuts from ODB. Think about what you’re doing and don’t shoot yourself in the foot. As the old saying goes "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones"

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    With a surplus of 9 million dollars, it appears that the College is trying to build more cushion than needed at this time when many pharmacists are facing ever-increasing-demands in their work. Rather than increasing fees, perhaps the College can look at how to reduce costs. Are all the growing/new expenses facing the College necessary, and do they all help improve public/patient safety? If not, please consider diverting resources to make the most impact.

  • Other - POSTED October 11, 2018

    It is extremely disappointing to see that the fees for Hospital accreditation are increasing. We have held the position since the beginning that the fees are extremely high given that we are publicly funded entities and relative to other accredited services in hospitals such as lab. We were told that the high fees were due to cost recovery with the inspection process and site visits. With the introduction of new sterile compounding regulations, we are already being pressed in an environment that is extremely fiscally constrained. PPE requirements, quality assurance requirements are adding tens of thousands of dollars to our operational budget that we will have to absorb and that do not come with new dollars. In hospital, given our Public Funding model, we are constantly re-creating ourselves and finding new efficiencies to deliver better safer care with less money. It seems that OCP has an opportunity to do the same here rather than reaching out to the membership and organizations such as hospitals. Not only are we going down to a single advisor for site visits, but site visits are also getting shorter and shorter. We pay the full acreditation fee for each of our sites, the second of which is the Reactivation Care Center that does not even have a fully functioning Pharmacy. Further to that, our site visit at that second site lasted less than 2 hours. Yet we pay the fee of a full site. The dollars aren’t adding up and at the end of the day, the money is being asked to come from a capped purse. The majority of hospitals already have a very strong medication safety and quality governance and mandates and we are not seeing value for money with the cost of OCP oversight. We were glad to see that the site visits are becoming more efficient, however there is still work to do if the efficiency is not translating to a lowering of Hospital acreditation fees that we were told was under consideration. There also needs to be reconsideration of having to pay a full fee for our second sites that do not have functioning pharmacies such as the Reactivation Care Center as it is evident they do not even warrant using a full day of OCP site visit resources. How is there justification for charging the full fee? In summary, Hospital accreditation fees should not increase, as site visit resource allocation is decreasing and this cannot be a matter of cost recovery. Secondly, reconsideration should be given to charging of full fees for secondary sites such as the Reactivation Care Center. Lastly, the Ontario College of Pharmacists should consider utilizing some of the continuous process Improvement methodology that most hospitals are using to gain efficiencies within the budgets that we are constrained to .

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    TECHNICAINS ALREADY PAY MORE THAN WE SHOULD FOR WHAT WE GET IN RETURN. VERY FEW CE FOR TECHNICIANS

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    With all the cut backs in the pharmacy environment, I do feel the fees should not be increased. The Pharmacist wages are going down, so don’t understand why there is a need to increase fees?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    It is misleading to suggest that Pharmacists’ fees have not increased, as the number of registered pharmacists have steadily increased over the years – therefore the total amount collected has also increased. I am struggling to compete against big box retailers and their deep discounts. As a result of the competitive environment that renders the $2 copay uncollectible, the real-world dispensing fee from the majority of our customers (senior citizens) has increased from $6.47 to $6.83 over the last 28 years. If OCP wants to follow that rate of inflation, 5.5% total over 28 years, or about negative 60% with inflation, I’m sure there would be no objection.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I don’t feel that a 25% increase in fees is reasonable. Having been on maternity leave without pay and now only able to work part-time so that I may tend to my toddler and infant (under reduced wages that were implemented within this profession), I feel that the annual fee was already too high in the past. I also have to pay for my own fees, insurance and benefits, while being paid very little for the amount of education that I had to go through. Dental technicians and other professionals who have undergone 1/3 the amount of education are being paid more than us pharmacists.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The fees for pharmacists and technicians should not be increased. You should learn to do more with less like we all have to due to government cutbacks, which you have done nothing to try to aleviate

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The fee structure for Hospitals with multiple sites is ridiculous. We have one pharmacy for 4 sites yet have to pay the fee 4 times? How does that make sense? We only run one pharmacy, why am I being charged for 4?

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    I don’t feel the fee increase is justified for several reasons. The College has been doing a terrible job fulfilling their mandate of ensuring quality professionals only get licensed to provide care to the public. The increase in poor quality foreign trained pharmacists licensed to a near majority of practicing pharmacists is the fundamental cause which the College seems to willingly overlook perhaps to increase membership and revenue. The result is the practice of the business of Pharmacy and not the profession of Pharmacy and it’s associated high standards, trust, ethics and professionalism. It’s sad to see that our highly regarded profession has suffered such a decline that good Pharmacists have little respect for our many of our fellow colleagues. It has never been this bad and I am not saying that all foreign trained Pharmacists are bad nor are all Canadian trained graduates bad but you see so much more unethical and dishonest practice from foreign graduates from countries where ethics and professionalism are not part of the Pharmacy practice. A fee increase would also put undue hardship on well trained newer Canadian graduates who are not established and are struggling to find positions due to the flood of foreign substandard admissions to the practice pool. This is not fair and priority should be given to local Pharmacists who worked hard and earned their degrees to our standards and didn’t jump the queue in foreign countries to get their degrees. To penalized them further financially would not be right.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This is a very steep increase of our professional fees . There are an increasing number of pharmacists and pharmacies in Ontario . Surely the college, like any business, has to find efficiencies in their operations. How about the college help increase the pharmacy’s compensation from third party payers for our services . The college is quick to add policies and procedures to the activity of a pharmacy , which results in extra costs.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    i Don’t feel the increased fees should be applied as I do not feel there any explanation as to what increasing the fees will do for us. Pharmacy Technicians have not seen an increase in pay with licensing in most cases and to increase our fees is just putting more undue financial burden on us.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    A 25% increase over 2 years is unheard of! I understand cutbacks in the province to try to get more value. How is this money going to be spent, and why is the increase of this magnitude necessary? OCP’s assets are growing as it’s been a fairly good steward of capital, so what will this increase in membership fees achieve?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    It would have been better to raise 2.5% per year than to ask us to pay 25% phased in over two years…wages have either gone down or been frozen for the past few years….25% seems rather unreasonable

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Pharmacist OCP fees are high enough. I have not received a pay increase for 10 years. In fact, all the pharmacists at my store had to have their hours reduced, so in fact I am making less than I was 10 years ago. In fact, my benefits have decreased as well. As for other professionals, Physiotherapists are making more than I make and their fees are less according to the comparison graph. Perhaps, the college may look at cost cutting measures as we have had to cut costs at store level. Also, the college may consider higher penalties for those before the discipline committee. I am not in favor of a fee increase.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    It is understandable that the fiscal needs are increasing at the College with increasing demands. A 25% increase phased over two years is still substantial, considering pharmacists’ salaries have dropped siginificantly, no raises in several years and people are being phased out of their positions. Shrinking profitability huge factor as well impacting revenue in pharmacy. How about a 10% increase over two years ?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This is outrageous! Wages have not increased in decades, and have only gone down in some areas of the province. At the same time, the province has a surplus of trainees with a huge increase in graduates from the two schools of pharmacy. So the college of pharmacy has a larger "payer base". How is this justified? What will the higher fee provide? Unacceptable!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    If the fees increase, I’m not going to renew my membership and will likely change careers. It’s insult to injury. It’s ridiculous.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I do not agree with a fee increase… many technicians are in a wage freeze and are not receiving any pay increase… our fees are considerably higher compared to their professions and compared to pharmacist we pay close to their fees in comparison to their salaries

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Fees should not increase. This is a cash grab that pharmacy workers can’t afford, especially with our depressed wages. The reason there are more complaints is because of the way pharmacies are poorly staffed and workers are abused leading to poorer patient care and more mistakes. How about OCP actually do something about that? It’s not like it hasn’t been mentioned before. But, you’ll probably increase fees anyway and do nothing to address any of the underlying problems, so what is the point of this "consultation"? There is no point.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The explanation for this fee increase is empty and hollow. OCP collects fees from more pharmacists than any other province or territory. Economies of scale would dictate that fees should be lower relative to other colleges in the country. I am pretty sure there is a much more concrete reason that this fee increase is being instituted in such an acute manner. Annual budgets for mature organizations do not simply become unwieldly after a year. If this was simply to account for inflationary pressures then a year over year increase would be reasonable. This does not seem to be the case. The magnitude of the increase suggests a sudden large increase in expenditure that we are not being informed of. OCP lacks transparency with its members and this is as big a problem as being out of touch with the economic realties of pharmacy practice in the province.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    While asking for an increase, we will always asking for improvement in terms of what support the college provides, I disagree!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    As a hospital pharmacist, I feel that the OCP has expanded their role in hospital pharmacy inspections more as a make-work project to expand OCP payrolls. Any new issues/concerns with hospital pharmacies already had an alternate route to be dealt with via Hospital Accreditation. Increased fees are likely partially going to increased inspection costs with little to no benefit to public safety.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    There is a salary reduction for pharmacists and reduced employment opportunities, why are we increasing membership fee to make Pharmacy an even worse profession to consider for the future?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I strongly feel that increasing the fee is unacceptable and unreasonable. I understand the main purpose of OCP is to protect the public, but who will protect and represent the pharmacists? College already gets lot of funds from members through charging malpractice and unlawful acts from its members in thousands of dollars. I am against increase in the fee to 25% for no great cause.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    As an organization and governing body, you have done minimal in terms of providing value to any Ontarians. The OCP use to be respected by your own peers. If you took a real anonymous survey and have a courageous conversation with your peers (who do not work at the OCP), you will find a very negative and deeply concerning 360 feedback. You have become self-serving, biased, disgraceful, unprofessional, cronyistic, operated by people who are just their for a well paid job, and who have a very biased prejudice towards the profession and pharmacists. Ontario Premier and Ministry of Health needs to shut this place down, mass fire the people and rebuild this organization from the ground up so that it actually serves the people of the province. No. I disagree with any fee increase. You should actually get a fee decrease if we are truly measuring your performance and level of service.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    25% fee increase for the most trusted healthcare professionals?! How do you even justify that when the government has been cutting back reimbursement for years and crazy individuals are taxing your complaints department? Have you ever considered moving out of that relic of a building in downtown Toronto to cut down on operating costs? Seriously consider other measures!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Totally disagree! Pharmacist wages are going down , they work 60 to 70 hours a week to survive the debt and you do not have any empathy or even transparency why you need all these money , corporates eating us up and automating everything and you still claim public saftey and you do not even care how patient saftey is affected by the overwhelming environment pharmacists are working in , there is no transparency . You are so inviting for people to complain about the silliest things and you want us to pay while we barley meeting ends to pay school debt.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    The complaints intake process is inefficient and a huge waste of College resources! Instead, devote your energy into streamlining a better, more efficient process that screens out frivolous complaints! I’ve had to deal with complaints such as the pharmacist’s accent was hard to understand, yet the pharmacist passed all your English requirements, both written and verbal. Or maybe the pharmacist looked at someone the wrong way. Fortunately, these were tossed out, but such a waste of time and money! You do a big disservice to the public by entertaining ridiculous complaints. In the name of trying to be impartial, the public takes you for a ride!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    With no view of increase in hourly wages for community pharmacists and as a fresh graduate with loans to pay off, an increase to the fee would not be helpful at all. Also considering the percentage in which the fee is increasing is a large number which doesn’t coincide with inflation.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    With no view of increase in hourly wages for community pharmacists and as a fresh graduate with loans to pay off, an increase to the fee would not be helpful at all. Also considering the percentage in which the fee is increasing is a large number which doesn’t coincide with inflation.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Pharmacists are facing stagnating wages, increased expectations from their employers, OCP, and public and government. This fee increase is just going to add more stress to an already stressed out profession. Unless OCP will use the money to ensure that pharmacists working conditions are protected to ensure they can fulfill their obligations to the public, I do not support this increase.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I am not in favor of a two-year registration hike of 25%, regardless of the lack of increases over the past 9 years or in relation to the cost of registration for other professions. The fact is that such an increase is simply too great over too short a time period, especially amidst all of the ongoing pressures around pharmacy viability. Furthermore, I would argue that such a staggering increase would set a scary precedent, unless the college was planning another 9 year absence of increases. While I do believe that OCP implementing additional oversight of hospitals, med incidents and compounding standards is very important from a public standpoint, I also feel that ensuring pharmacy remains a viable is an equally important responsibility of OCP. Therefore, asking pharmacies to incur greater expenses to meet newly imposed standards while simultaneously asking for substantially higher registration fees, simply to me does not sound fair. if the college needs to expand its oversight at such a great cost, perhaps the public (i.e., government) could be asked to provide some of the necessary funds to support such an important public priority. I would support a less aggressive increase in registration fees to support the above.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I definitely do not agree with such a high increase in fee. We don’t get compensated enough as pharmacists and our wage has been all the low for a long time. If OCP is increasing their fees, what exactly will they do for us?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    We currently have to extensive amounts in fees, CE, insurance while also have significant cutback in reimbursements to our profession. Instead of putting more financial pressure on pharmacists/pharmacy technicians/pharmacies, the college should be advocating to bring in more revenue through advocating for our profession for more funding from the government.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Unreasonable, wages are going down and these increases will make things even worse

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I have been a practicing pharmacist for over 9 years. I make the same amount of money as I did 9 years ago. I suppose that is a whole matter on itself but I am deeply disappointed to hear of the fee increase when we already pay a significant price for annual fees.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I understand the fee has not increased in the past years however as a recent graduate, it does not make sense for us to pay an increasing fee when the pharmacist wages have actually been going down. Nobody is doing anything about these wages so I do not approve of this increase.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    From 2017 Annual Report Page 54 and 55 – Summary of Financial Statements .. 1. Total Revenue – $ 17,265,214 2. Expenses – Personnel – $11,647,379 Only Personnel expenses = 67.46 % of total revenue. It is self explanatory where the majority of $$$$$ going.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Oppose to the fee raise. Some wage offers I got as a new grad in GTA was as low as $32. Please justify the fee increase when the wage is actually going down. Plus I don’t see what the benefit is with the wage increase to members.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This is rediculous. If you’re citing that the fee increases are for discipline then increase the fines for disciplined pharmacies. Every staff member in a pharmacy (assistant, technician, staff pharmacist and owners) have had a price freeze over the last two years due to the cutbacks implemented to pharmacy over the past 5 years. If we’re not getting inflation we should not be expected to pay a 20% increase in licensing fees. More transparency and common sense are needed with the OCP counsel

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Pharmacist wages have not increased in over a decade. How can it possibly be fair that we are now expected to pay even more to be able to work in this province? If this increase does go through, I will have to search for work in another province that actually respects the work of its pharmacists.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I oppose the drastic increase in fee. The 25% increase is not in line with the current inflation rate and the declining prospect of the current practice.

  • Other - POSTED October 16, 2018

    Trying to look at this objectively, I can see why you want to increase the fees. I get it – tighter regulations on pharmacy (e.g. curtailing opioid diversion, billing scams, implementing the new NAPRA standards) all requires the OCP to do MORE but with the same amount of money which has 1) not kept pace with inflation and 2) not changed in years. On the other hand, the OCP really does not do a great job. Based on recent journalism (see recent Toronto Star article on pharmacists fuelling the opioid epidemic), it looks like OCP is completely reactionary (addresses problems once they arise) rather than preventative. Their research turned up that OCP oversight in conjunction with the NMS tracking system "haven’t caught a single drug dealing pharmacist in the last five years, a Toronto Star/Global News/Ryerson School of Journalism investigation has found. Instead, every pharmacist caught dealing drugs was, like Shaheen, done in by bad luck or good police work". So, I would first ask the OCP revamp their structure, remove their corporate bloat, take a good hard look at their policies and procedures, and then blow the whole thing up and restart from 0. They will have to, like every single industry out there, learn to DO MORE WITH LESS. Adopt new strategies like becoming a lean organization, access tools like Six Sigma to revamp their organization so that they can become more efficient. At most, the only reasonable fee increase given what they propose the new increases will cover, is simply the cost of inflation. There is no possible way to justify a 25% increase, given the OCP’s output. They are taking the easy way out (no review of processes, increasing the revenue to fund their work) rather than re-looking at processes to find efficiencies and streamlining. Having seen some of the OCP processes, I can confidently say they are bloated attempts to improve patient safety, and can definitely be streamlined to be more efficient. Most of the time, it feels like they are doing a job to say they did it.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    OCP has already been collecting significantly more money by increasing the number of schools in Ontario, increasing class sizes, and regulating Pharmacy Techs with little regard to the job deficit. Furthermore, Ontario is still accepting international Pharmacists to be registered, making the job market for locals even harder. No, an increase in professional fees is not justified.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Reading some of the comments and there seems to be some misinformation – OCP does not advocate for the pharmacist, tech, pharmacy. OCP advocates for the patients. Their mandate is to protect the public, they do not care about the impact this has on any one of us. They are too busy disciplining pharmacist who follow the rules and regulations on narcotics. They are also implementing the medication safety program – and paying the third party vendor who knows how much; I suspect way too much. Personally I think the fees are too high and would like to know what internal measures they are taking to cut or retain costs.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I believe that it would be unfair for the college to increase registration fees for pharmacists, especially given the fact that pharmacists are not being reimbursed adequately in a lot of community phatmacies. To ensure adequate patient care where pharmacists are not taking shortcuts or pharmacy owners are not in a pressure cooker environment where they may do illegal/unethical things to recoup costs of operation, OCP should be focused on working with government to ensure individual pharmacists are fairly treated (i.e. lunch breaks) and adequately payed (min:$40/hr) and that pharmacies are adequately reimbursed for dispensing. Expanded scope services in Ontario are limited and are not sufficient to recoup costs that were previously obtained from manufacturer rebates. In addition, current MedCheck forms are redundant, posing administrative hurdles to feasibility of the service in a fast-paced dispensing environment. In the past decade, we have seen increased media coverage of pharmacist errors and pharmacy-related crimes, and that is most likely due to financial and environmental pressures (from a system point of view). This is ultimately an unsafe environment for patients. In addition, expanded scope services are not being implemented in a way that enhances patient care, because there is a lack of a regulatory framework to ensure feasibilty (i.e. a dispensing pharmacist may make mistakes on a MedCheck if they are feeling rushed; maybe there should be a rule that at any point in time in a pharmacy, there should be both a dispensing and clinical pharmacist with rotation). All in all, these licensing fees are unjustified, especially considering decreased wages for pharmacists and the current lack of regulatory framework to ensure adequate reimbursement and safe pharmacy practice.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This fee increase is not justifiable on any ground due to the poor job prospects for pharmacists and decreasing pay as well As increased responsibilities over the past years without proper compensation. It’s time that OCP start supporting pharmacists like other colleges do instead of adding to the pressures that are currently in place. How can pharmacists stay motivated to deliver the best care when there are little to incentives?!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The increase is insane unless OCP mandates the same increase in wages for pharmacists and registered technicians whose salaries are only going down.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The college fees is already considered one of the most expensive amongst the other provinces/ states all over North America for pharmacist , pharmacist technician as well as the pharmacies . It’s too expensive and it’s even annually while others sometimes pay it once every 2-3 years and put more burden on us taking into consideration the ongoing increase in live expenses in Ontario and no increase whatsoever in our wages as pharmacists and techs , even the pharmacies are struggling nowadays . Put in mind to mandate on our behalf and protect the profession and our interests more, than keep increasing the fees !!!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    There has been a wage freeze for pharmacist for a decade, so I do not agree with this massive increase at all. The pressure on community pharmacists in retail is immense in the workplace, how has the college helped the average pharmacist to deserve a 25% increase?

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This magazine subscription is getting very expensive

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    The fees for pharmacy technician registration renewal should not be increased. Registered pharmacy technicians are still not payed as well as they deserve. Mahirity of the community pharmacies do not really differentiate between registered technicians and assistants in terms of payment. The increase in fee will be an additional burden, and possibly have people deciding not to return as a technician when the community pay between the two is similar.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    With the increase of fees comes the question: how will this affect the recruitment of new pharmacy technicians? Currently many pharmacies (specifically large chains) are even refusing to acknowledge us as regulated professionals–let alone provide us with a liveable wage. Increasing fees may ultimately turn off potential technicians in favour of assistant jobs. I also have concerns with the high fee for hospital pharmacies to operate. How does this help the public when the fees are ultimately being paid for by tax payers? Many hospitals have had to spend massive budgets to meet current requirements for accreditation and raising fees puts jobs and services at risk. This has been especially true for hospitals trying to meet 797 requirements.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Present fee is high. There is a reduction in pharmacist pay everywhere in ontario. Infact there should be reduction in college fee to help member as college has more practicing member then before. I think community pharmscy fee is law l. It should increase and pharmacist and technician fee should lower.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Please God NO! It has been getting tougher every year for Pharmacist what with the wage decrease, increasing cut backs and treatments we get from abusive patients day after day after day. I do not think that even 1 single pharmacist or technician would agree to this or any other amount of increase!

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    If the goal is to speed backlog of complaints, perhaps the majority of funding should come from punitive damages rather than law-abiding pharmacists. Increasing the amount of monetary penalties collected would add sufficient incentive to not violate laws and policies.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I am against this. I consider the fees high already.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I wholeheartedly disagree with the fee increases for licensed pharmacists and technicians. Fees for pharmacy professionals are way too high across the country and are not justified especially in Ontario where we STILL do not have independent prescribing authority, cannot order lab tests or even prescribe for minor ailments. The only addition to a pharmacists scope of practise that may require more oversight by OCP is injecting authority, which is something nurses can do (whom also have LOWER college fees). The College needs to find ways to cut costs first before increasing fees. Perhaps increase fees solely on pharmacies rather than individual practitioners. Also, as a new graduate majority of my classmates make so much less per hour than previous generations of pharmacists and still cannot find full time job. Respectfully, this decision to increase fees is unjust to the new generations of pharmacists. I hope that the College will seriously take into consideration our feedback.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    This drastic increase is very unreasonable, given that our fee is already so high. What will our increase in fee actually go to? Any type of increase must be justified by a detailed account exactly what extra services it will contribute to. Instead of fleecing your members, you should be looking for inefficiencies and redundancies within your system instead.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I understand that costs to do business increase with time. However, the College has not satisfied me, and apparently to a lot of people providing feedback, that these are justified based on 1) No mention of what cost cutting measures have already been tried to increase internal efficiency (this normally should be the first step) 2) Lack of specificity on what the increased fees will help do (for the portion that is on top of inflation-related increases) I am ok with fee increases if they’re justified and only as a last resort measure. As it stands today, I am against the fee increase.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    Absolutely rediculous. The fees as they are are too high to begin with. We also have to pay insurance. Which year over year increases. Someone needs to audit the books for this organization. Where is all this money going? This is so unfair.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I do not agree with this increase in fee. Not only is a 25% increase over 2 years ridiculously steep and unreasonable, it is not fair for the majority of pharmacist who practice professionally and fairly. We should not have to be penalized for the indescretion of a few bad pharmacist.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I also don’t agree with this 25% increase. Not only is this steep increase over 2 years ridiculous, it’s also not fair for the majority of pharmacist who practice responsibly and fairly. We should not be penalized for the indecretion of a few bad seeds.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I do not believe the fee increase is warranted. We are already paying a significant fee without any changes that are transparent. It is also not in line with current state of the economy.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I think the increase of fees is unjustifiable as these are higher fees than any other professional fees that I know of. As a Pharmacy Technician I was mandated to become registered to keep employment at my current job. We have not been fairly compensated for the expanded scope of practice and the fees we currently pay are more than enough for what we receive.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I strongly feel that increasing the fee is unacceptable and unreasonable. I understand the main purpose of OCP is to protect the public, but who will protect and represent the pharmacists? It also makes me very sad to wonder whether this feedback will actually be taken into consideration before making any final decisions. I don’t want to reiterate all the points, as many of the colleagues have already voiced their opinion. However, I really do hope someone thoroughly reads our feedback and understand our concerns.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    As a casual pharmacist, a potential increase in fees leads me to consider whether or not to continue to practice pharmacy. Unless the increase provides direct benefits to members, I am strongly opposed to this change.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I am also against increasing the fees for registration. Even with our current $600 fee, I have no idea what the college does with that money as I don’t feel like I receive any benefit as an individual. There are lots of new grads who aren’t able to find full time work and they get paid less than what many more experienced pharmacists made as interns. Paying back student loans, liability insurance and the annual registration fee is already enough of a financial burden for those who have recently graduated.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I don’t think a fee increase is justified. I do not agree with this.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    I practice in Ontario but was trained in the USA and licensed in Massachusetts. I keep my license in Massachusetts because it is ONLY $150 every OTHER year. Why do fees have to be so high here? Why do they have to go up even more? When comparing to other colleges for HCPs in Ontario, note that Pharmacists make significantly less than Physicians and Dental Surgeons. Pharmacists in Ontario are making LESS than they did 5 years ago, pharmacies are facing the large financial constraints with ODB clawback, 3/365, OHIP+ has eroded margins, and minimum wage has increased staffing costs. This is the absolute wrong time to increase fees. Please find efficiencies and leverage technology to find savings instead of dumping this on us. We cannot afford it.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    Pharmacists have one of the highest registration fees as healthcare professionals already. In addition, pharmacist and pharmacy technician wages are decreasing on an annual basis. I do not agree with this increase in fees.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    Increased fees should be used for more auditing to catch billing frauds and OCP should raise fees to 5-10k/year to control supply of pharmacists . #supplyanddemand

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    Please no…I work part time making 25$ an hour through RPI and I absolutely cannot afford extra expenses, please reconsider…

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    This fee increase is unreasonable with concurrent cuts to the health care system at the same time. We need to make the system more efficient.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    I was recently informed that my classmate who has been a pharmacist for many years applied for a part time community pharmacist position. She was offered $30/hour by the associate of that chain. What is going on? Further, our wages have been frozen since the 2010 cuts.

  • Other - POSTED September 28, 2018

    Absolutely no fee increase. The current fees do not provide any support for pharmacists as it is. A fee increase is not warranted.

  • Other - POSTED October 26, 2018

    Great comments! Very well stated. OCP seems to be acting like more of a political party than a professional college…

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    It’s not fare for pharmacists to burden as liability increases more services are provided then ever. Save profession by preventing cutbacks, pharmacist wages going down, needs increase in dispe sing fees. Minimum wages for pharmacy assistant is unfair…

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    I believe these fee increases are too harsh for pharmacists given the community pharmacy government cuts and general trend of decreased government spending on healthcare, especially medications related services. . These fees would be justifiable if the OCP was more useful to pharmacists. I understand that your mandate is to protect the public but you should take example of other professional colleges that still protect their members from government budget cuts etc. These fees are definitely not justifiable given the current role of the college.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    I do not agree with the fee increase, it simply isn’t possible given the current wage (hospital or retail) the proposed change is 2-3 days pay for most individuals. I feel the fee increase will ultimately affect patient care, safety and quality care by driving trained and educated individuals out of the profession because they just can’t afford it anylonger.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    Unacceptable as pharmacist salaries now is going down and many pharmacists don’t have permanent work and they have a lot of expenses which is unfair .

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    This is a huge increase in fees. Our fees are already high compared to other professionals. The fact that we are essentially required to pay more so that the College can continue to make our lives miserable while validating their own existence in a "guilty until proven innocent" sort of way is ridiculous on all counts. As a pharmacist that loves my job and works hard to make things right for everyone around me, the College continues to make me question my decision to become a pharmacist.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    I think there are around 16000 pharmacists in Ontario. An increase of $75 in fees in 2019 is at least an additional $1, 200, 000 in one year alone (on top of our current contribution). This is outrageous. I don’t see many pharmacist or pharmacy technician hourly wages or salaries increasing to meet these additional costs. Since I graduated in 2014 pharmacists/pharmacy technicians have been expected to provide more services with little to no financial compensation. Now our own college wants to increase our fees more than inflation. This appears to be financial mismanagement. I think the easy answer is to take more money from your members – but this is not the fair answer. OCP please advocate for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians for once…otherwise please chance your title from "Ontario College of Pharmacists" to something a little less misleading.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    I strongly disagree with any fee hike. As a hospital tech, we were forced to become licensed and still have not seen any increase in pay to match our new scope of practice. The amount our college charges yearly compared to what nursing pays is ridiculous and I’m still struggling to find out for what. It was difficult enough to do these courses and work full time but then to be penalized yearly is just plain unjust. Where I am employed the employer pays for the pharmacists dues but not the techs… do you find this fair as well considering the difference in the pay scale? please reconsider!

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    As a pharmacy technician, I don’t support the drastic fee increase suggested by OCP. Our roles have changed and our scope has become larger to include more workload and we have seen zero compensation for this. We are doing more work, for the same amount of money, and we have much more responsibility now with our own licenses. The only thing OCP has done for us is allow us to have this license and call ourselves Pharmacy Technicians, but they haven’t done anything else in regards to being acknowledged for our increased workload. Fee increases, especially this drastic, will deter future applicants.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    Even this $400 is too much for pharmacy technician.

  • Other - POSTED September 26, 2018

    I think a fee increase in a time of decreased profitability of retail pharmacy demonstrates a tone deafness with respect to current climate. I understand that your costs are going up; so are mine. I’m looking to cut costs and seek out new revenue. You should be doing the same. May I suggest increasing fines for those besmirching the profession, as well as increasing the number of fines you impose.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I feel a 25% increase is a ridiculous amount to start at. As I am sure many agree Pharmacy Technician’s are still fighting to receive fair compensation for our increased duties in our field of practice. I have taken on extra responsibility without extra compensation. I already felt the process to become registered was pricey for what I was getting in comparison. I understand operating cost increase and so on but to have no increase for so long and then such a huge increase all at once is uncalled for.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I do not agree with an increase in fees. We really have nothing in return for this plus we always have extra educational work on top of my full time tech job. These high fees should always include our mandatory insurance as well.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I don’t agree with fee increases

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I don’t agree with the fee increase. If anything the fees should be decreased by 25 percent.

  • Other - POSTED October 5, 2018

    Are you absolutely out of your mind. Do you know the financial reality of pharmacy today. I have given up my benefits and cleaning lady to address the new financial reality that is pharmacy. When you do the same then you can ask me for money.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I would support the fee increase only if the increased funds were used by OCP to better support the profession of pharmacy. I have seen the profession decline significantly in the past 15 years. OCP appropriately holds pharmacists and technicians to a very high standard. However, the college turns a blind eye to large employers that provide poor working conditions that are both unsafe and unethical. Force employers to utilize staffing ratios for pharmacists to meet professional obligations. Punish employers that use quotas for services that further degrade the profession. Create a survey and find out how many pharmacists would choose the same career path given the current state of the profession in Ontario. Find out the root cause of the negativity within these comments. Just a few suggestions for the new found revenue stream and a legitimate way to better protect the public.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    The increases should be set at the pharmacy fee level rather than on pharmacist licence level. Our profession has been experiencing severe wage depression on the past number of years (despite the large corporate chains posting large profits), and many pharmacists do not get their licence fees covered by their employers. I understand that budgets may need to increase, but the increase should come from the pharmacy fees, not the pharamcists. Otherwise, this is just contributing to further wage decreases, either outright or through inflation. A pharmacy can also absorb it a lot easier than an individual pharmacist, especially if the pharmacist has only been able to find part-time or occasional work. So my suggestion is to freeze the pharamcist licence renewal cost, and increase the pharmacy fees further to compensate.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    Not in support. We are getting paid less every year. I wish OCP would advocate against our wages dropping. Especially in the GTA. No other profession goes through this. Why pharmacy?

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I do not believe that it would be appropriate to increase the fees. In most places, as registered techs, our wages have not reflected the increase in scope. To increase fees that have to be drawn from wages that have not increased with registration, would be burdensome.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    I disagree with this fee increase – 25% over two years is far too much, regardless of the fact that fees have been frozen for years. Most pharmacists have not had wage increases in that same time frame, and certainly not to that degree. And the comparisons made to other professions is ludicrous. Physicians, chiropracters, dental surgeons, optometrist all make far more than a pharmacist does and it is not surprising that they pay commensurately more. How about comparing us to nurses or respiratory therapists? We pay far more in licensing fees than they do. Perhaps the extra monies can be taken from the huge fees hospitals are now required to pay; they are far higher than community counterparts and hospitals do not generate revenue.

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    Can you please explain why you think fee increase is necessary while net assets are growing every year without any fee increase and with 10-12% increase in expenses? Thanks!!

  • Other - POSTED September 25, 2018

    As one person already commented, I would agree: "It appears that the biggest reason for an increase in fees is due to an increase related to the entire discipline process and an increase in the number of complaints." Why are there an increase in complaints? Is OCP not doing a good enough job in accrediting pharmacists and pharmacies? Is OCP too reactive, and not proactive? It appears that ALL of the pharmacists are being financially affected because of the small percentage that are not providing the care necessary. Perhaps they ought to implement a fee for complaints and other discipline actions, as also previously suggested. The magnitude of the fee increase is ridiculous. I am an underpaid pharmacist working in a primary care team. There is an oversupply of pharmacists that has led to subpar remuneration – OCP has had a hand in creating this problem through registering so many pharmacists. Will OCP suggest we reduce the number of IPG pharmacists and new grads to help this problem? I am very skeptical of other OCP decisions – e.g. mandatory cannabis education- that leave me scratching my head around who is OCP serving to protect? The chains who are itching to do this?

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I do not agree with this new fee increase. Wages have been frozen and it is becoming harder and harder to find a pharmacist job within the GTA. Furthermore, the wage of the pharmacist continues to decrease in this heavily saturated environment making it unfair to raise our fees without raising our pay.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I absolutely do not support this fee increase. Wages are getting lower and lower each year and there is increase in registered members every year anyways. OCP spent $16,576,743 in expenses in 2017. Perhaps, OCP should look into these expenses and come up with a plan to reduce them.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I support the fee increase and thank council for their transparent communication in advance of the actual fee increase. We are fortunate to have such great representation for our profession. I would like to advocate for further support specifically for family health team pharmacists as much focus has been placed on community and / or hospital pharmacists in the past.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I disagree with the drastic increase. There is mention that there has not been a fee increase in several years, however a more modest increase more frequently would have been an easier ‘pill to swallow’. Also, while you may not have increased the fee per registrant, there are now MANY more registrants than before (~30% increase since I started in pharmacy school about a decade ago…) and overall income from registration fees is much higher. Would consider looking internally at reducing operational costs before putting this burden onto the profession, who have been struggling with decreased wages, poor opportunities for employment, and increasing cuts and pressures from payers.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    The College materials suggest the increases are necessary to help recover the costs of an increased number of disciplinary hearings. If this is the case, Part B pharmacists and new registrations do not contribute to the increased number of resources allocated. While these members receive a small benefit from upholding the reputation of the profession, they should not have their fees raised by the same proportion, and it should be much less than 25%, if at all. The College should make use of other cost recovery mechanisms for the increased cost of disciplinary hearings so that the burden lies more proportionately with those who are costing the system.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Hello, the additional information provided should have a few more points on the graphs to accurately portray the environmental scan that was intended. 1) average wages for pharmacists in each province and broken down community/hospital – overlay on top of provincial breakdown of fees 2) professional scope/responsibilities – size of responsibility vs. other provinces 3) Regulated Health Professional Fees – where are the nurses – they are noticeably missing from the comparison

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Thank you OCP for seeking members’ feedback. I reviewed the financial statements for 2017 to 2016. As per the statement, there was 2.6% increase in revenue in 2017 from 2016. There was 4% increase in revenue from membership fees alone. There was decline of 12% in revenue from three areas: hospital pharmacy fees, registration fees and income, and investment income. When compared this to expenses – there was 5% in expenses. Council and committee expenses and personnel expenses were increased by 10.4% & 4.2%, respectively. As other members have spoken the degree of price hike is not justifiable. Simply looking from the financial health of OCP, you are actually making revenues from the membership fees year over year (4%) which surpasses the inflation rate of 2%. Revenues have declined in other categories by 12%, which should be focus of increase. From expense perspective, there is 10% increase in expenses in council and committee and personnel together. I do not know what kind of expenses this entail. However, you can consider reducing expenses by implementing cost-cutting measures and utilization of technologies. Finally, financial health of the OCP is quite healthy with $14.8 mil in assets and $5.1 mil in liabilities. Overall, modest increase of 1-2% is reasonable, which will keep up with the college’s financial picture and the inflation rate. You may also consider harsher penalties for members who are founded to be guilty on various issues.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Fee increases is absolutely unacceptable.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    May I suggest that if you are going to increase the fee, you provide an option to make payments throughout the year as opposed to one lump annual sum? May I also suggest that you look at ways to accommodate new parents who are on parental leave, so that someone on mat/pat leave does not have to choose between spending the whole amount or forfeiting their licence while they are off? Some type of reduced rate for those on parental leave would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    If there are insufficient funds to respond to inquiries to the point of compromising public safety, I suggest increasing the fines and penalties for those not complying with college regulations, rather than raising fees for all members. As many others have commented, we are working in a time of crisis for pharmacist and technician wages, which is causing many of our best and brightest to tire with the profession, and change their path. Whether or not there is an increase, I believe there college’s members should be privy to 100% financial transparency.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I find it is a rapid increase with almost 25% increase in only 1 year and half , especially the salaries of pharmacist all over the province is decreasing and not increasing like all the other professions. A quick compare between us ( the province of Ontario) and the province of British Columbia ; we will be paying 300 $ more per year . I took this as an example as our salaries started to be near to them ; low . Thanks for your collaboration.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Well despite the fact that cost of living is going up in everything I don’t believe that rates of pharmacist or profit of some pharmacies are going up too.We all face challenges everyday to keep our jobs in terms of all cuts in rates and hours and ongoing trend of replacing experienced pharmacist by new grads aiming to cut on pharmacies cost . I think the college need to review this proposed increase again or may be adjust it to be done gradually on yearly basis rather then 25 % increase over 2 years (2020 fees)

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    i think increasing the fees of Pharmacist and community pharmacy does not help the profession. Pharmacist and Community Pharmacy are already in financial constrain and putting more financial pressure on them will back-fire on the profession in the long run. i highly do not encourage such increase in fees. I also do not agree with decreasing fees for Hospital Pharmacies while increasing the same for Community Pharmacy.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    i think increasing the fees of Pharmacist and community pharmacy does not help the profession. Pharmacist and Community Pharmacy are already in financial constrain and putting more financial pressure on them will back-fire on the profession in the long run. i highly do not encourage such increase in fees. I also do not agree with decreasing fees for Hospital Pharmacies while increasing the same for Community Pharmacy.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Hello, Thank you for providing a forum for feedback on the proposed fee annual registration fee changes. I am not in favour of the proposed increase in annual registration fees. I recently completed a hospital pharmacy residency, which included taking a significant "pay cut" in order to improve my knowledge and clinical skills to better serve patients. I don’t believe the OCP provides any consideration/discounted fees for residents. I think this needs to change. The annual membership/registration renewal with the College of Nurses of Ontario in 2018 was $226 including HST (http://www.cno.org/en/maintain-your-membership1/annual-membership-renewal/). It seems a little disingenuous to state that the proposed fee increase is "at the lower end of other health profession fees in the province" without providing specifics. If the fees are to increase, I think OCP members are owed a more detailed explanation for why these fee increases are absolutely necessary, including an explanation of how these particular fee values were arrived at/calculated. Thank you for listening to my concerns. I hope that they are taken seriously and that the decision to increase annual registration fees for pharmacists will be re-evaluated. Best, Anish

  • Other - POSTED November 7, 2018

    With respect to the public register, the bold exclamation mark next to the name of a Member who has been disciplined or referred to the Discipline Committee significantly has a negative connotation. The large symbol strongly suggests that the public beware of the Member, as if the Member is a danger to patients. Note this connotation can seriously damage a Member’s reputation, career, health, and well-being including that of family. I would very strongly recommend that the symbol or the link to public concerns about the Member be diplomatic and objective.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Could you please provide a breakdown and/or summary of what you plan to do with the extra revenue generated from the fee increases? It’s difficult to support such a substantial increase without some transparency on how it will be utilized.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Comments on this consultation should be made public.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    im ok wth increase fee and support college all works,.. our college is the BEST.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    This is outrageous. Such a money grab. How come nursing license fees are roughly $200 yearly? And they have more schooling then us pharmacy technicians. Something is really wrong with this.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I believe the fees proposed are too high and as a member, I do not feel it justifies . I did not have as much support or guidance appropriate for my fees. I think the. OCP needs to cut down unnecessary expenses and balance the budget. I think a lot of additional expenses may be due to inspections hospital pharmacies and am not sure of who or how the inspectors are chosen and what are the expenses. I suspect it has become very expensive and needs a further review in my opinion.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    No to the fee increases Why should I or other Phm’s contribute more & receive no support from OCP when valid complaints are submitted nor clarification of professional issues we are in need of input…use your professional judment

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    It’s unfair to increase the renewal fee this much in 2 years

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    The proposed annual pharmacist fee amendment of 25% over the next 2 years is too high and out of line with the current realities of the pharmacist labour market in Ontario. While the cost of living in Ontario has greatly increased over the past 9 years (in particular housing, transportation, etc), the wages of pharmacists have remained relatively stagnant in hospital pharmacies and in many cases, decreased in community pharmacies. In many hospitals (including the hospital that I currently work at), wages have been frozen for the last 3 years and even before the freeze in salary, annual increases in cost of living in terms was not matched by adjustments in salary. In the proposal, the Council seem to assume the 2.5% increase in cost of living would be reflected in the pharmacist wages of the pharmacists paying the annual fee but that is certainly not the case. In community pharmacies, pharmacist wages have steadily decreased over the past 6-7 years due to the saturation of pharmacists in the greater GTA area, particularly after the increase of pharmacy graduates after the second pharmacy degree program was established at the University of Waterloo. I also find the OCP’s comparator charts on registration fees extremely misleading because the fee axis is clearly not to scale to make it appear as if Ontario is much lower than it actually is. Moreover, including physician registration fees is not a fair comparator given the vast difference between the salaries of physicians, chiropractors, optometrists, dentists to pharmacists. The charts on https://www.ocpinfo.com/library/other/download/fee-adjustment-infographic-comparators.pdf should be made to scale and only professionals with comparable salaries to pharmacists/pharmacy technicians should be listed (NOT physicians and etc). The proposed 25% increase in pharmacist registration fees is excessive, out of line with the current economics of the pharmacist labour market and should not be carried out. While OCP has stated "the decision to increase fees was made after much thought and analysis" – it should report to members of actual ACTIONS taken prior to proceeding with any fee increase. As with other non-profit organizations, the OCP needs to first examine ways to maximize internal efficiencies, eliminate waste/expenses, optimize the utilization of resources prior to proposing any increases in fees. I strongly disagree with drastic 25% increase in the proposed pharmacist registration fee increase over the next 2 years because it too high and OCP should demonstrate to its members that all other avenues of resource maximization has been exhausted prior to raising the registration fee.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Our ability to earn a profit is constantly hindered by new ODB rules: maximum dispensing fees for maintenance meds, decrease of markup from 10% to 8% and to 6% for claims over $1,000, their recouping of 2.8% from our fees and markups for 18 months for their mismanagement of the system, and so on and so on… And now our college is wanting to increase member fees. While i do understand costs of business have gone up, so have pharmacies costs without increases to us. And, with the recent accreditation of hospital inpatient pharmacy would that not be an increase in revenue to the College that was never seem before. These fees themselves should offset your increase in operational expenses and, therefore, eliminate the need to increase member fees.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I think it is fair if they are increasing the fee, the should increase the salary for the pharmacy team too!! it is not fair as a pharmacist working more than 10 years in Ontario you still taking 4o $ per hour since last 5 to 6 years . it is really put the pharmacist profession behind!

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Increasing annual fees has to be justified with increasing pay for both pharmacists and technicians. In the last few years the $/hr for pharmacists have drastically been reduced with increasing number of pharmacist graduates. As part-time, relief, or hospital pharmacist where the annual fees are not paid by your employer this increase will not be well received.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    The proposed fee increases will be implemented through reasonable scheduled increases, which are still lower than most regulated health professions, and will support the college in continuing the important and great work it does in order to protect the public and continuously improve regulation of the profession.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I disagree to a great extent with this decision; while I do understand that the college is trying to protect the public; I don’t see who is going to protect us! while our rate has been going downstream for the past few years and the college is not addressing this major drawback with its great complications. So if they need extra resources I don’t think it should be coming from the pharmacists who are already working their best while being constantly underpaid in most fields. I would rather use this extra 100$ for a useful CE to help my patients rather than give it to the college which has not shown any support to the pharmacists’ wellbeing including finanacial or respect for their time and expertise. That should be coordinated with the government or other financial resources just like the other colleges who had at least continuously supported the public without ignoring its members

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    If not already completed, would suggest specialists to examine the processes at OCP to evaluate areas that can be made more efficient (i.e., lean assessment) so that resources can be redistributed to prevent increases in fees.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    There has been no increase in fees from ODB since 2014. And since then we have seen cuts like there is no tomorrow Changes to ODB Program: 1) Mark-up Reduction for High-Cost Drugs in 2015 2) Dispensing Fee Reduction for Claims for Residents of Long-Term Care Homes in 2015 3) Maximizing the Quantity Dispensed for Chronic-Use Medications ( 5 dispensing fees in 2015 Then we have a lot of competition. When I started in my town as a pharmacist there were 10 Pharmacies . We have now 3 more Pharmacies. Also the OHIP + which saved ton of money to big Insurance compagnie We are a really easy group to add fees on and to substract fees from. A little to easy. Try to do provide your services with less money like we are doing. Way too easy.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    There has been no increase in fees from ODB since 2014. And since then we have seen cuts like there is no tomorrow Changes to ODB Program: 1) Mark-up Reduction for High-Cost Drugs in 2015 2) Dispensing Fee Reduction for Claims for Residents of Long-Term Care Homes in 2015 3) Maximizing the Quantity Dispensed for Chronic-Use Medications ( 5 dispensing fees in 2015 Then we have a lot of competition. When I started in my town as a pharmacist there were 10 Pharmacies . We have now 3 more Pharmacies. Also the OHIP + which saved ton of money to big Insurance compagnie We are a really easy group to add fees on and to substract fees from. A little to easy. Try to do provide your services with less money like we are doing. Way too easy.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    There has been no increase in fees from ODB since 2014. And since then we have seen cuts like there is no tomorrow Changes to ODB Program: 1) Mark-up Reduction for High-Cost Drugs in 2015 2) Dispensing Fee Reduction for Claims for Residents of Long-Term Care Homes in 2015 3) Maximizing the Quantity Dispensed for Chronic-Use Medications ( 5 dispensing fees in 2015 Then we have a lot of competition. When I started in my town as a pharmacist there were 10 Pharmacies . We have now 3 more Pharmacies. Also the OHIP + which saved ton of money to big Insurance compagnie We are a really easy group to add fees on and to substract fees from. A little to easy. Try to do provide your services with less money like we are doing. Way too easy.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Although there is a tendency to increase fees, I do not understand why the part B fees are being increased. A part B registrant does not require much input from the college nor is it likely they will need a disciplinary hearing as they are not practising in a patient focused role. Also there is no mention of a reduced fee for someone who works part time or earns less than a specified amount. The college should be encouraging members to stay who are part B or wish to work part time either as a choice or through illness or being a carer or single mum. To jeopardise our members by not allowing such options is detrimental to the profession and future members who may be diverted to another career. Unity is what is needed and this can only be achieved by allowing greater options to allow people who may retire the option to stay registered at a reduced fee. Those individuals based abroad could also benefit from a reduced fee to entice them to continue to pay fees and remain registered. Although the college fees are low compared to other provinces or territories it does not negate the fact that the college has a duty to its members to ensure it supports them through challenging times to allow the profession to flourish as the economy dynamics change.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Give us a break! Every single profession across the board in Ontario for the last 12 years received a cumulative wage/salary increase of an average of 22%, while the average salary for pharmacists decreased during the same period by an average of-24% and nothing seems that this situation will be reversed or improves soon. Nine years of status quo of the College fees (which are already high) does not mean that it is time to put more burden to our shrinking incomes due to aggressive government regulations since 2006 till date and the wage raise of the non-pharmacist employees in the pharmacies. Proposal: Instead of increasing the fees of each individual affiliated to the College (pharmacists/students/interns/pharmacy technicians) and regardless of his/her income, why the fees of membership and accreditation are not linked to the number of pharmacies the pharmacist own or partner or the income of each pharmacist, so the WEALTHIER members pay their fair share while the pharmacists who struggle to survive with a shrinking income are offered a break from more financial burden ?

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    As an employer that supports our registered staff by paying their OCP dues, these increases are highly punitive, particularly at a time when we are dealing with the negative financial impacts from generic price reductions and increased minimum wage. I would rather see OCP extract additional revenues via stiffer penalties for those that put our profession in a state of disrepute.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Absolutely no fee increases can be tolerated by individual pharmacists and independent stores. Small independent stores like the one I own are suffering severe financial losses. I have experienced staff who get a premium wage. I did not want to cut their wages. Wages for pharmacists everywhere are going down, (I work relief at other stores just to make ends meet). How can we be expected to sustain more financially? It is constant pressure from regulators without proper reimbursement. Ex. Drug recalls, drug shortages. We do all the work for our patients and prescribers and ODB does not consider it eligible for $15 Professional Opinion Program. I want the public protected but who protects us the pharmacists and small business owners.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I don’t think the fees need to be increased at the moment. The proposed increase may be feasible to be phased in around 2028.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    This seems like a big rapid increase considering we will be paying for the pharmacy and individuals’ fees. It would help to get a more detailed breakdown on how the increase is justified since pharmacy reimbursement and pharmacy staff wages are going down (in the opposite direction to fee increases). Perhaps a slower and lower rate of increase YOY would before more feasible over 5 years. Thank you for your consideration.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I would agree with that if the profession stayed as it used to be 10 years ago. Now adays the pharmacist rate per hour is lower than it used to be and many pharmacist can not find a full time job, and many others have to commute daily or weekly to do few shifts. The pharmacist income now is not as before considering all those expenses from licensing to liability insurance to cost of commuting plus the lower demand on full-time positions.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    It appears that the biggest reason for an increase in fees is due to an increase related to the entire discipline process and an increase in the number of complaints. It appears that all of the pharmacists are being financially affected because of the small percentage that are not providing the care necessary. Why not just implement a fee for complaints and other discipline actions. I am not against a fee increase but 25% over 2 years and over 1 year for a business owner borders on ridiculous. Did the members of council solicit input from their members prior to this discussion? I understand that there hasn’t been an increase in 9 years but that doesn’t justify trying to get that all back in 2 years. What about the new graduates coming out that are already facing large debt, lower wages (because so many pharmacists were licensed over the last several years that the market is now saturated) and now an increase of 25% in their license fee. Just seems that it’s a bit too much all at once.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    This is a ridiculously high proposal (25%)… Did no one think a modest (5%)increase was an option?

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    The profitability of pharmacy has gone down dramatically in the last few years. The rate of pay for pharmacist has gone down too. I understand that there is inflation and cost of operation has gone up too. But, I feel it is unfair that the college to increase the fees.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I don’t agree with the fee increase

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    As a potential pharmacy technician that is making less than $20 an hour Presently I’m making $14.75 an hour. And only part time. I FEEL THAT THE INCREASES ARE TOO FREQUENT AND TOO MUCH. don’t increase because some are making high wages It is unfair to the rest of us who are making peanuts.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    Not acceptable, pharmacist wages are getting lower every year . No real benefits for the payers

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    As a recent graduate, struggling to pay back student loans, I believe that these fee increases are unreasonable. In an era of increasing saturation of pharmacy in Ontario, decreased job prospects for new grads, and frozen or decreasing salaries, this fee increase is prohibitive and when taken together with other costs of working (insurance, professional membership), is a significant portion of my compensation. I am strongly against this increase.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    A 25% rise in fees over 2 years is absolutely unreasonable. A 5-10% rise would be more in line with inflation. Your members are earning less. Upping fees that much may make members considering leaving the profession (near-retirees, already considering leaving Ontario) go.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    The fees for pharmacy technician registration renewal should not be increased. Registered pharmacy technicians are still not payed as well as they deserve. Also, most of the community pharmacies do not really differentiate between registered technicians and assistants in terms of payment. Thus, the increase in fee will be an additional burden.

  • Other - POSTED September 24, 2018

    I don’t feel we should be increasing the fees for registration, what will the increase in fees provide for current registered pharmacists? There should be clear direction in what the fees will do for us. If the fees do increase I feel that OCP should include Malpractice insurance for the same price with the registration fee.