COVID-19 information for pharmacies

PharmaCare pays a fee of $18.00 for the administration of each dose of a publicly-funded COVID-19 vaccine.

As part of the province’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, pharmacies will also receive payment for COVID-19 vaccinations administered at the pharmacy by non-pharmacist practitioners who have been authorized to provide immunizations by their respective regulatory colleges.

The BCPhA, with the Ministry of Health, has created a guide with important details about: 

• ImmsBC data entry (unique to the COVID-19 vaccine)
• Inventory tracking using your office use medication PHN (O-Med)
• Cold-chain reporting, reimbursement
• After-care and how to manage and report adverse events following immunization (AEFI)
• How to prevent and report wastage

Resources:

• COVID-19 Immunization Guide for B.C. Community Pharmacies
• List of engaged pharmacies
• Publicly Funded Vaccines 
• Section 8.10 of the PharmaCare Policy Manual–Payment for publicly funded vaccinations
• PharmaNet fan-out messages and how to report COVID-19 vaccines correctly
• Registration information through Get Vaccinated 

Community pharmacies can claim $75.00 per each case of publicly-funded COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits (“RAT kit”) they provide to clients.

Pharmacies should include an instruction sheet with every kit provided or share the QR code with those who want to read the instructions online. The instruction sheet for BTNX (PDF) and the instruction sheet for Artron (PDF) can be printed from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) website in numerous languages.

Clients can pick up a kit containing five tests from participating pharmacies at no cost. They should pick up a test kit when they are asymptomatic, to use at a future time when they have symptoms. People can also pick up kits for family members or another person.

Please watch the PharmaCare Newsletter for further updates.

PharmaNet instructions:

1. Enter PIN for RAT case: 66128325
2. Enter your pharmacy’s O-Med PHN instead of entering a patient PHN.
3. Enter Quantity as the number of cases. Do NOT enter the quantity as the number of tests or kits. Payment of claims will be monitored to ensure that quantities are entered correctly.
4. The claim will adjudicate as a non-benefit and will be paid monthly.
   • PharmaCare Newsletter 22-003
   • PharmaCare Newsletter 22-004
   • PharmaCare Newsletter 22-005

Resources:

• Instruction sheet for BTNX (PDF)
  • English | ASL | Arabic | Simplified Chinese | Traditional Chinese | Farsi | French | Korean | Punjabi | Spanish | Vietnamese | Tigrinya | Russian | Ukrainian
• Instruction sheet for Artron (PDF)
  • English | ASL | Arabic | Simplified Chinese | Traditional Chinese | Farsi | French | Korean | Punjabi | Spanish | Vietnamese | Tigrinya | Russian | Ukrainian

To prevent unnecessary personal interactions, a temporary exemption to the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act allows non-pharmacist pharmacy staff to deliver controlled substances.

The College of Pharmacists of British Columbia amended Professional Practice Policy (PPP-71) on March 17, 2020, allowing pharmacists to authorize/initiate delivery of opioid agonist therapy (OAT) medications when appropriate, rather than requiring prescriber pre-approval. For OAT medications, prescribers must be notified as soon as is practical that delivery has commenced, and delivery must cease if the prescriber indicates it is not permitted.

When delivering to a patient in self-isolation, follow safe procedures when delivering the medications, identifying the patient and confirming receipt of the medications. Maintain a 2-metre distance.

Documentation requirements

Pharmacies receiving verbal orders for controlled drugs and substances from a prescriber must record the prescription details in the patient’s file (either paper or electronic). Please see the College's website for detailed documentation instructions (PDF, 210KB).

On April 17, 2020, PharmaCare temporarily suspended the requirements for patient signatures on the Frequent Dispensing Authorization (FDA) and smoking cessation forms in order to minimize in-person interactions during the COVID-19 crisis. 

As of July 1, 2022, the temporary signature suspension was rescinded. Pharmacists and providers must obtain signatures from all patients on smoking cessation and FDA forms. 

Forms submitted prior to July 1 will still be effective for one year, providing “COVID” is marked in the signature box and the form is retained with proof of facsimile transmission to the prescriber.

Forms impacted by the signature suspension:

• HLTH 5378 - Frequent Dispensing Authorization (PDF, 543KB) 
• HLTH 5464 - Smoking Cessation Program Declaration and Notification form (PDF, 563KB)

First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) aims to support continuity of treatment and immediate coverage for eligible benefit items. The Transitional Coverage Request (PDF, 651KB) (TCR) is a manual claim process that reimburses pharmacists for a one-time fill, allowing additional time for providers to address the coverage issue. The updated form has a checkbox to indicate whether the coverage issue is COVID-19 related and can support timely coverage to reduce gaps in care.

FNHA will reimburse pharmacists a $10 service fee in addition to the drug cost and dispensing fee (up to the PharmaCare maximum). This pharmacist’s fee also extends transitional coverage for medical supply and equipment items that are urgent and eligible for coverage. The following PIN will show on your payment statement from our partner Pacific Blue Cross: 3642005 – TCR payment.

Plan W provides the most comprehensive drug coverage for FNHA clients.  If an FNHA client does not have Plan W as their primary drug plan, then the pharmacist can submit a TCR with the client’s PHN, status number, date of birth and address, indicating that the client requires Plan W enrolment. In this scenario, FNHA will reimburse pharmacists a $10 service fee. The following PIN will show on your payment statement from Pacific Blue Cross: 3642006 – MSP enrolment payment.

For any questions about Transitional Coverage Requests, please contact FNHA at 1-855-550-5454.