Canada’s pharmacy industry is staking claim to territory once the sole dominion of doctors and public health officials – the role of health-care information provider – with some of the country’s largest drug store chains recasting their pharmacists as educators and advisors rather than mere dispensers of pills.

Wynne Powell, chief operating officer of Vancouver-based London Drugs, says this new positioning is being driven by demographic changes as well as provincial health bureaucrats who are looking to soften the impact of funding cutbacks to the medical services chain.

‘When you sit back and look at it, pharmacists are extremely well equipped to – and do – talk to patients on an ongoing basis, and can be used in this role very successfully,’ says Powell. ‘In British Columbia, the health ministry has certainly had a number of discussions with the chain drug association and companies such as ours, to determine how we can bring a greater involvement to the system in order to drive down health costs.’

Powell says the challenge for the pharmacy industry is to make its increased involvement in health care pay. Because of the competitive nature of of the business, he says, companies can’t afford to implement large-scale service extensions without establishing income streams that support them directly.

Virginia Cirocco, vice-president of pharmacy marketing for Toronto-based Shoppers Drug Mart, says the repositioning of pharmacists as health-care information providers dovetails nicely with consumer attitudes about the health-care system – and Shoppers’ own HealthWatch positioning.

Four years ago, she says, consumers said their main reasons for choosing a drug store were convenience, location and speed of service. Today, says Cirocco, they choose a pharmacy for the pharmacist and his level of knowledge and expertise.

Though some doctors have expressed skepticism about the increased significance of the pharmacist as a health-care information provider, Cirocco says Shoppers is confident that, given time, they’ll come to see it as complementary to their role.

‘It’s a really big undertaking and it’s only just begun. So I think in terms of seeing a mind-set change among stakeholders, it is probably early, but it is more receptive to the pharmacist playing a more active role in disease management.’

As they establish their new role in the health-care system, companies such as Shoppers, Groupe Jean Coutu, and London Drugs are paying particular attention to the needs of one of the groups likely to suffer most from government cutbacks – seniors.

Canada’s aging population, with its increased life expectancy, is expected to accelerate the strain on the health-care system (see chart) while at the same time create more opportunities for the private sector to fill in the gaps. Even today, annual sales in Canada’s home health-care industry are estimated at more than $300 million.

Groupe Jean Coutu of Montreal has seen demand for home-care products grow at an annual rate of 20% to 30%, and has responded by publishing a catalogue of about 2,000 products aimed at seniors and people with reduced mobility. A home health-care training program for pharmacists and technicians has been established, and the company is studying the feasability of offering a personalized home-care service.

Back at Shoppers, the company is establishing programs to assist in the treatment of chronic conditions associated with aging – diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular disease – with the hope that it will lead to incremental product sales and increased customer loyalty.

‘We’ve gone beyond the demographic to look below the surface,’ says Cirocco, adding that while diabetes currently affects only about 6% of the population, it is generally believed that only half of the people with the disease have actually been diagnosed. Further, she says, in 10 years, the percentage of the population that has diabetes is expected to double or even triple.

With that in mind, Shoppers is extending its Healthwatch advertising campaign from Toronto-based TBWA Chiat/Day with new executions centred around diabetes as well as asthma and other diseases.

Cirocco says a big part of Shoppers’ refocus on specific diseases includes a refresher course for its pharmacists on diseases and their therapies, as well as training to show customers how to use self-care products like blood-glucose monitors and asthma inhalation devices.

The in-store product mix is also changing to reflect the needs of an aging population, Cirocco says. Shoppers operates standalone Home Health Care stores that offer specialized dressings, supports, incontinence products, walkers and wheelchairs, as well as oxygen therapy products. There are currently 12 Home Health Care stores, with more on the way, she says.