Drug administration

Last updated: March 1, 2023

As of October 14, 2022, pharmacists can give patients injections of most vaccines and medications.

When a pharmacist administers an eligible injection to patients enrolled in MSP, they must claim the PharmaCare drug administration fee and cannot charge the patient for the service.

The PharmaCare fee is $11.41.

Exclusions

The drug administration fee cannot be claimed for injecting vaccines indicated for travel, nor for insulins, low molecular weight heparins and other products designed for patient self-injection that come in an auto-injector or pen. If a vaccine commonly used as a travel vaccine (such as hepatitis A) is administered for an indication other than travel, pharmacists must claim the drug administration fee and must not charge the patient.

Schedule II drugs

A prescription from an authorized prescriber is needed for pharmacists to administer and claim the fee for Schedule II drugs (e.g., vitamin B12, dimenhydrinate).

Vaccines do not require a prescription.

Multiple injections

To claim multiple injections for one patient on the same day, use the PharmaNet intervention code UF. PharmaCare will pay the drug administration fee and the dispensing fee for each injection. However, PharmaCare payments for iOAT injections are limited to 4 per patient per day.

Claiming fees

PharmaCare pays pharmacists a fee of $11.41 for injecting eligible medications (this amount matches what the Medical Services Plan (MSP) pays physicians for injecting vaccines in-office)
Patients cannot be charged for these services. The drug administration fee is subject to the Full Payment Policy
The pharmacist enters a claim in PharmaNet on the date of injection
The maximum PharmaCare reimburses for a combination of medication review services, clinical services, or administration of drugs and vaccines for the same patient, on the same day, from the same pharmacy is $78.00


Service	Criteria	PharmaNet procedures
Injection of most drugs Injection of most non-publicly funded vaccines	Patient must have MSP coverage May claim for Schedule II drugs only with a prescription Do not claim for vaccines indicated for travel* Do not claim for self-injection medications**	Enter P1 in PractIDRef (for CPBC) and your CPBC ID for PractID Use PIN 66128366 For Quantity, enter 1 Do not enter a drug cost or fee In SIG field, enter DIN_generic name_route_admin site, e.g., 0273497_VitB12_IM_LEFT

*Some vaccines can be indicated for travel and for other reasons. When assessing if a patient is eligible for a publicly funded vaccine, consider the intended use (indication) for the vaccine. Visit the BCCDC website for more information about publicly funded vaccines. Pharmacies can charge the patient when a pharmacist administers drugs that are not eligible for the $11.41 administration fee, such as vaccines indicated for travel; however, these cannot be claimed in PharmaNet. This maintains consistency and fairness, since administration of travel vaccines is not paid for by the government when they're administered by other healthcare practitioners.

**Drugs for patient self-administration are designed for use without professional assistance, and therefore are not eligible for the drug administration fee. Even if a prescriber writes "pharmacist to inject/administer" on a prescription for a drug like insulin, pharmacists cannot claim the drug administration fee.