360,000 people showed up in Montreal this weekend to watch one person go around in circles very fast. Meanwhile, your patient's prescription renewal has been going around in circles for two weeks and nobody's watching. Good morning. 🫡
Main Story
Your Patient Has a Doctor. That's Not the Problem.
The renewal fax never came. What happened next is painfully familiar.
What happened: Patient shows up. Zero refills. Doctor hasn't sent the renewal fax. Patient looks at you like you personally hid their medication. "What do I do?" You explain — politely, for the four hundredth time — that the prescription had zero refills. They didn't realize they were out of refills until they were already out. You fax the doctor anyway. The doctor hasn't faxed back. And here we are.
So you offer to renew it yourself. You have the legal authority. You know the patient. You know the med. Five minutes. There's a professional fee — you're putting your name and licence on this script.
"My doctor doesn't charge me."
You explain — again — that their doctor doesn't charge them out of pocket, and pharmacists don't have an OHIP billing pathway for renewals the way physicians do. So this is a cash fee for a clinical service you're personally accountable for.
They're not having it. They leave. Book a virtual clinic appointment. A physician who's never met them sees them for ten minutes, bills OHIP, and faxes the renewal to — guess where — your pharmacy. The patient walks back in, smiling, script in hand. Free. Except it wasn't free. OHIP paid for it. And you process the fax anyway.
A lot of pharmacists skip the whole saga and just absorb the fee. Put their name on the renewal, eat the cost, move on. The system has successfully trained pharmacists to do clinical work for free because explaining the billing gap takes longer than the actual renewal.
So what: If pharmacist renewals were billable to OHIP — same as any other provider doing the same clinical act — none of this happens. Patient gets their med. Pharmacist gets paid. No virtual clinic detour. No OHIP bill for a fax. No argument at the counter. Everyone's life gets easier. The authority exists. The billing doesn't. That's the whole story.
Now what: You already know how this goes. Renew, document, notify the prescriber, move on with your day. The only thing worth adding: every complete chart note you leave is quietly building the case for a billing code that should've existed years ago.
⚡ Rapid Fire
💉 Generic semaglutide is on your shelves. Maybe. Apotex and Dr. Reddy's both arrived last week — but supply is patchy. Some pharmacies got stock. Some are still waiting. Word on the floor is that certain chains bought fridges specifically to stockpile inventory ahead of demand. We can't confirm the fridges. We can confirm the fridge space conversation is happening. Apotex priced at roughly one-third of brand. Dr. Reddy's called their price "competitive" — which, next to Apotex's number, is doing some heavy lifting. ODB listing is expected soon, and private insurers will likely move first. Which means the "can I still get brand?" conversation is coming to your counter any day now. We doubt Novo will roll out a savings card that matches Apotex's pricing — though their current cards were already paying pennies on the dollar, so who knows. When market share is on the line, anything is possible.
💊 Myrbetriq and Lumigan RC go generic on ODB. Both listed as of May 29. Mirabegron and bimatoprost — overactive bladder and glaucoma. Two drugs patients have been on for years without thinking about. Now the box looks different, the pill looks different, and you're about to hear "is this the same thing?" fourteen times a day. Yes. It's the same thing.
🎗️ Ontario is moving colorectal screening eligibility toward age 45. Aligned with newer evidence. Advocates want 40. Your mid-40s patients are going to start asking about FIT kits. Two-minute answer. Have it ready.
🏎️ 360,000 people in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix. Antonelli took his fourth straight win after Russell retired with engine failure — turning a wild teammate battle into a solo cruise. Hamilton second, Verstappen third. If you spent Sunday watching the race instead of meal prepping — valid. Summer in Canada has officially started and your vacation request isn't going to submit itself.
THE PICK: 🎬 Stutz on Netflix — a psychiatrist who gives you actual tools, not just insight. 96 minutes. Watch it on a night you need to feel like someone gets it.
💬 Counter Talk
Patient asks if you can just renew their blood pressure med since their doctor hasn't sent the fax. You tell them yes — no appointment, five minutes. They stare at you like you just said parking is free. "I didn't know pharmacists could do that." You've been able to for years. Nobody told them.
😂 Meme of the Week
Not a replacement. A bridge with no toll booth.
That's it. If this landed, forward it to a pharmacist who'd get it. If something was wrong, missing, or worth arguing about — hit reply. We read everything at [email protected].
— The Sig Happens Team 💊