In Canada, annual prescription medication costs over $33 billion and are only second to overall hospital expenditures in health care spending.1 These costs largely reflect the treatment of chronic medical conditions predominantly cared for by family physicians,2 including heart disease and lipid management, hypertension, diabetes and depression.3
The ACFP is pleased to share with you the annual Price Comparison of Commonly Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in Alberta document. Authored by Dr. Mike Kolber, Tony Nickonchuk, and Jayson Lee, the document identifies generic products (generally cheaper) from brand name products, a 90 day cost for standard doses (unless otherwise noted), and Alberta Blue Cross and Indian Affairs coverage.
The document is grouped by medication class and then ordered by cost. Please read the introduction for further explanation and specifically how the costs were calculated. While this document is not exhaustive, it contains many medications potentially used by office based primary care providers.
One Response
This is a great tool! It took me a while to find it after hearing about it at PEIP, but now I’ll be using it daily. I’m an R-1 and I’m really hoping to use resources like TFP, your podcasts and this list to help develop reasonable prescribing habits early on. Well done!