Corporate pressure led Shoppers Drug Mart staff to bill unnecessary medication reviews, pharmacists say

Sitting at her home in Ottawa earlier this month, Mary Fernando got an out-of-the-blue call from her pharmacy at Shoppers Drug Mart.

An employee on the other end of the line asked if she was still using two inhalers to control her asthma, as she had been doing consistently for years. She said yes.

The employee then asked whether she was happy with the medication. Again, Fernando said yes, then quickly ended the call — all within five minutes.

"It was just a bizarre conversation," she said.

Fernando later realized Shoppers Drug Mart had billed for the conversation as a virtual medication review under Ontario's MedsCheck program, which reimburses pharmacies in Ontario for meeting with patients to go over their prescriptions.

"I could not imagine a milder patient than me, right? And a more useless MedCheck," Fernando said in an interview.

"You think that money could be used — should be used — more wisely."

CBC News spoke with former Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy employees who believe the company is taking advantage of the MedsCheck service by pushing staff to bill for consultations patients don't necessarily need. The company can then bill the province up to $75 per call.

WATCH | Former Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy employees believe company is taking advantage of Ontario program:

Eight former Shoppers Drug Mart employees said intense pressure from management pushed staff to cold-call customers regularly. In an internal letter obtained by CBC News that was emailed to company leadership last July, a group of pharmacy owners said the "borderline abusive" pressure to do more MedsCheck calls was affecting their ability to provide the best patient care.

"It's a shame, it's a disappointment," said pharmacist Jon Nhan, who said he left Shoppers Drug Mart to work for an independent pharmacy last year.

"I worry that something like this could really could set us back as a profession, as a health-care system, and for patients — ultimately because they are the ones who would potentially miss out and suffer."

In an interview on Tuesday, Shoppers Drug Mart president Jeff Leger said the company does not "pressure pharmacists to bill for MedsChecks" in order to turn a profit.

"We obviously monitor this very closely, take these allegations very seriously, but really believe that MedsChecks and Med reviews are actually having a positive impact on Canadians," said Leger.