Case Study of Interprovincial Variations in Patient Access to Oncology Drugs: Does a Common Public Formulary exist for Oncology Drugs in Canada?
Katherine H. D. Ballem, Juergen Krause

Abstract
In Canada, not all oncology drugs are covered under the Canada Health Act. Public coverage, however, can be obtained for some drugs through publically administered plans and their formularies, where the federal, provincial and territorial governments individually decide what drugs to cover and for whom. The Canadian Health Ministers declared in 2008 that Canada had an essentially common public formulary. This study examines that claim for oncology drugs, using two provinces’ formularies, British Columbia (BC) and Ontario (ON), as a case study by evaluating several measures of patient access to drugs. The results show that while BC had a faster review time and approved more of the drugs studied than ON, it placed more conditions on coverage. Both provinces also have unique systems of cost-sharing. With these differences, it is suggested that oncology drugs may not be becoming part of a common public formulary and that further research is required.

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