An agreement is necessary because the pharmacist does not have any contractual ties with Medavie Blue Cross. If the company refuses to reimburse a claim for a product or decides to make a withdrawal from the pharmacist's account—because the system operates by direct deposit—because an error has been made or because it wants to be compensated, then there are no safeguards in place. It is commonplace in the industry to have intermediaries step in and impose their own rules. Obviously, we do not want pharmacists put in these kinds of situations. We want them to be familiar with the conditions they must abide by when they agree to honour the Medavie Blue Cross card.
On February 3rd, 2011. See this statement in context.