Drug costs have risen more than 140% since 1997, making them the single, fastest growing area of health care in Canada. Ontario's publicly funded drug programs account for $3.8 billion annually. That represents 10% of the provinces health care spending; up from 8% ten years ago. The challenge is to ensure the system's sustainability and a critical component is ensuring that the government receives better value for money spent on drugs.

• The government is improving access to new drugs by entering into Listing Agreements with manufacturers and will be exploring options for more competitive prices through Competitive Agreements.
  read about our Competitive, Pricing and Listing Agreements Progress  >>
• The government is paying less for generic drugs through a new price rule for generic drugs in the Ontario market place.
  read about our Generic Drug Products Progress  >>
• The government has expanded the definition of Interchangeability to include more generic products and has implemented Off-Formulary Interchangeability of generic drugs.
  read about our Off-Formulary Interchangeability Progress  >>
• The government is enforcing drug pricing to ensure that manufacturers fulfill their pricing commitments and to protect pharmacists from unauthorized price increases for products listed on the Formulary.
  read about our Enforcing Drug Pricing Progress  >>
• The pharmacy reimbursement structure is changing to better reflect the true cost of dispensing drugs; removing the rebates paid to pharmacies.
  read about our Pharmacy Reimbursement Structure Progress  >>
• An alternate payment model for long-term care pharmacy services has been introduced that enables long-term care pharmacies to access government stock.
  read about our Alternate Payment Model progress  >>