{"content":[{"text":"Best Medicines Coalition Position Points: National Pharmacare","bbox":{"left":0.230392,"top":0.168304,"width":0.5379499999999999,"height":0.015508999999999995}},{"text":"September 2019","bbox":{"left":0.432598,"top":0.196713,"width":0.13280799999999998,"height":0.015508999999999995}},{"text":"As National Pharmacare is discussed and debated, the ​Best Medicines Coalition​ offers \n perspectives from our community of patient organizations, each informed by the needs of \n Canadian patients and motivated by an urgency to improve care for all.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.242857,"width":0.7068430000000001,"height":0.049856999999999985}},{"text":"Core​ Positions: \n Pharmaceutical reform, including National Pharmacare, must focus on building an efficient and \n streamlined infrastructure aimed at improving patient care by delivering equity but at a high level \n – not the lowest common denominator approach -- with a comprehensive range of medicines \n available to all based on medical need. \n ● The current patchwork of prescription drug coverage in Canada, with widespread \n inequities and shortfalls, is insufficient to meet the needs of all patients. Too often the \n result is compromised care and limited outcomes at great cost to taxpayers and \n suffering to individuals and families. \n ● Reform proposals, including the implementation of National Pharmacare, must address \n needs and inequities, levelling up programs to a high standard of comprehensive care, \n ensuring the most critical disparities are prioritized and resolved. Importantly, reforms \n must not leave any patient worse off. \n ● All patients, without exception, must be able to obtain medically necessary medications \n in a timely manner. Medicines continue to grow in importance in saving lives, reducing \n suffering, extending years of good health and improving quality of life. \n . \n What is comprehensive care? \n ● Comprehensive means that all patients, without exception, must be able to get the \n medications each requires. This includes those with chronic, complex, difficult to treat, \n and/or rare conditions. Comprehensive must include specialized drugs, and medications \n considered curative or breakthrough. \n ● Drug formularies must be robust in scope and depth, with flexibility to meet needs. \n So-called essential medicines lists may have merit as a stop gap measure, but would \n leave too many Canadians without adequate coverage, especially if adopted in isolation. \n ● Rare diseases warrant a specialized approach such as the creation of a national strategy \n for evaluation and funding.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.311039,"width":0.764702,"height":0.462736}},{"text":"How should National Pharmacare be managed? \n ● Reform proposals have great potential to establish systems which are integrated and \n efficient, facilitating timely access to needed medications, including breakthrough \n therapies to address unmet needs. \n ● The current labyrinth must be reformed to eliminate duplication and waste. New \n agencies or structures must not be add-ons or additional layers, but rather lean \n instruments for modernization and effectiveness. \n ● Governance must be reformed to be accountable and transparent, with a strong role for \n patients entrenched throughout policy development and decision-making.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.792357,"width":0.752713,"height":0.151872}}],"images_bbox":[{"left":0.340686,"top":0.037879,"width":0.318627,"height":0.106061}],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[{"left":0.340686,"top":0.037879,"width":0.318627,"height":0.106061}]}