Community Pharmacy Amalgamations

The amalgamation of two or more corporations, one of which currently operates an accredited pharmacy in Ontario, is equivalent to the acquisition of an existing pharmacy and requires issuance of a new certificate of accreditation. To be accredited, the applicant(s) and the new pharmacy must meet all of the criteria set out in the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act, 1990 and its regulations.

Step 1: Submit an Application for Certificate of Accreditation as a Pharmacy

A complete application must be submitted to the College at least 45 days prior to the proposed opening date of the new pharmacy and includes:

  1. Application for Certificate of Accreditation as a Pharmacy
  2. Application fee
  3. A Director of a Corporation Declaration of Good Character for every pharmacist director of the operating corporation
  4. A Pharmacy Self Assessment
  5. A pharmacy floor plan for OCP approval labelled with the following details:
    • Total square footage of area to be accredited – if the pharmacy is part of a larger area, clearly delineate the pharmacy portion and identify how the accredited area is kept secure/physically separate from the non-accredited area
    • Total square footage of dispensary (area behind the counter)
    • Location of required two sinks in the dispensary (if the pharmacy does Level B or C compounding you must also show the additional sink in the compounding room)
    • Location of acoustically private consultation room or area
    • Location of compounding area(s) and C-PEC (hood) if any – if the pharmacy will not be providing compounding services, please indicate “no compounding” on the floor plan

Applications may be submitted by email to pharmacyapplications@ocpinfo.com, faxed to 416-847-8399 or mailed to the College to the attention of Pharmacy Applications & Renewals at 483 Huron St, Toronto, ON M5R 2R4.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The College evaluates each person who is an applicant based on the criteria set out in Part III of the Regulations under the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act including an assessment to determine if past and present conduct of the proposed owner(s) affords reasonable grounds for the belief that the pharmacy will be operated with decency, honesty and integrity and in accordance with the law. The College will take whatever time is necessary to complete this assessment. Application processing time varies and a pharmacy’s proposed date of opening is subject to change.

Step 2: Initial Assessment

A Community Operations Advisor will review your application and conduct an initial assessment. The initial assessment may be conducted in-person or remotely. Details of the assessment criteria can be found in the Accreditation Assessment Criteria for Community Pharmacies.

Step 3: Activate Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety (AIMS) Pharmapod account

Once the College has processed your application, you will be contacted by Pharmapod, the third-party vendor for the AIMS Program. Follow the instructions outlined in the Pharmapod email with the subject line “Pharmacy Name – Invitation to Pharmapod” to activate your account.

Step 4: Opening Day

On opening day, the applicant must submit to the College a signed copy of the Data License Agreement (“DLA”) (a copy of the DLA can be downloaded from your OCP registrant’s account under the “DLA” tab), a copy of the Articles of Amalgamation and Share Certificates filed with the Ministry of Government Services as confirmation that the amalgamation has been completed.

Once confirmed, the College will send notification to Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) confirming the amalgamation and new pharmacy’s accreditation number, owner and opening date. The new pharmacy will be activated and have a profile on the College’s Find a Pharmacy or Pharmacy Professional tool. A certificate of accreditation will be sent by email to the Designated Manager of the pharmacy — display of the certificate in the pharmacy is optional.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The College will not activate the new pharmacy and the new pharmacy will not be permitted to bill third parties until the DLA, Articles of Amalgamation and Share Certificates are received.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Ensure all paperwork required by Ontario Drug Benefits has been filed. ODB is not open on weekends. All new openings must occur on a weekday.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The purchase of a pharmacy through an amalgamation has an impact on existing access to provincial clinical viewers like ConnectingOntario and ClinicalConnect. If you have purchased a pharmacy that you are aware has existing access to a clinical viewer, you are required to communicate this change in accreditation number to minimize service disruption and ensure legal agreements are updated if applicable. For changes to ConnectingOntario, please email oh-ds_connectingontario@ontariohealth.ca or call the Ontario Health Service Desk at 1-866-250-1554; for changes to ClinicalConnect, please email support@clinicalconnect.ca or call 905-577-8270 ext. 1

If your pharmacy does not yet have access to a clinical viewer, please visit the ConnectingOntario ClinicalViewer webpage for more information. Please scroll to the ‘Let’s determine the clinical viewer available in your region’ section and enter your pharmacy’s postal code to obtain additional instructions for applying for access to the appropriate clinical viewer in your region.

Step 5: The Callback Assessment

A Community Operations Advisor will conduct a follow up assessment of the pharmacy 6-12 months following the opening to ensure that the operation is safe and the public is protected. For more information on the inspection process, please review the Protecting the Public section of our website.

If you have any questions about the accreditation process send an email to pharmacyapplications@ocpinfo.com or call 416-962-4861 ext. 3600

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