Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
The Canadian Pharmacists Association is very grateful for this opportunity to appear before the committee. For those of you who are not familiar with the organization, CPhA, as we refer to it, is the national organization that represents individual Canadian pharmacists.
I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight our recommendations in three areas we believe need further investment: drug safety, value, and quality; health care funding; and health human resources.
There's no issue more important to pharmacists than to ensure the safety and effectiveness of drugs and that they represent value and quality outcomes for patients. To do this, pharmacists need access to data, and we need better information on safety and efficacy to be able to put in programs to help address some of the problems.
It's estimated that some 25% of drugs are prescribed inappropriately, that 50% of patients fail to take their medications as they've been directed and often fail to complete their courses, and it's estimated that there are about 70,000 preventable hospital admissions in Canada each year as a result of adverse drug reactions and inappropriate drug use.
We require investment funding to develop better indicators of drug use. By indicators, I mean really defined statistics that measure quality and effectiveness. A national medication management centre is required to improve the safety and quality of drug therapy. We're recommending appropriate funding of such a centre to develop better indicators of drug use and make better use of the existing ones.
Canada also requires the establishment of seamless pan-Canadian electronic health records. A comprehensive e-health record for every Canadian would allow health professionals to access medically necessary information to work in a more collaborative manner, make better informed decisions, and improve the safety and outcomes for patients. Introduction of e-health records across Canada continues to be a priority.
Moving to health care funding, as we know, the current 10-year agreement on health care funding that was signed in 2004 is set to expire in 2014. The current agreement included an annual 6% escalator in the Canada health transfer and a commitment to meet a range of health-related objectives. One of those objectives was the introduction of a national pharmaceutical strategy, which included a catastrophic drug coverage program. In its most recent reports on the progress of the agreement in 2008, the House of Commons health committee identified a number of areas in which progress had been made, but also identified some areas where there had been lack of progress.
Governments need to revisit the 2004 agreement and address the unfinished business arising from the accord, including the commitment to a national pharmaceutical strategy.
As we know, discussions have begun regarding the structures and the future of health transfers after 2014. All governments, the health sector, and Canadians in general need to be consulted on the transfer arrangement post-2014. We're recommending that the federal government establish a broad consultation process as a part of the planning for 2014 or for what happens to health care funding post-2014.
An important part of the health care system is health human resources. In June the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health also released a key report on health human resources, which contained a number of recommendations for the federal government to improve health human resource forecasting, planning, integration, and supply. It recommended the establishment of a new national observatory on health human resources. An observatory can be thought of as an arm's-length organization whose mandate would be to monitor, track, and measure the supply of health human resources in Canada. The committee also recommended that the federal government provide a sustained funding mechanism to the provinces and territories to promote and develop interprofessional collaborative practice.
At CPhA we strongly support these two recommendations and would recommend appropriate funding be devoted to each.
Thank you once again for this opportunity to appear. I look forward to your questions.