In mid August, the Manitoba government announced a cap on dispensing fees.

For pharmacies, dispensing fees cover storage, preparation, and service costs. Up until this month, the fee could vary between businesses.

According to the press release, approximately 97 per cent of dispensing fees on pharmacare claims are less than $30. Of the rest, the dispensing fees range from $30 to over $900.

Sig Pfahl, owner of Pfahl's Drugs in Winkler, said his fees average around $12, depending on the product, and taking into consideration more expensive items. Some items have a much shorter shelf life than others and some have special storage needs.

"An expensive product, especially one with expiry dates and return issues, they have special costs attached to them," said Pfahl.

Pfahl explained that in some cases companies won't take back the product, leaving the pharmacy to absorb the cost. The product won't sell unless another patient needs the same product within the short expiry date.

"Right now for example, I have inventory of a product ... that patient's needs changed, and right now I'm sitting on several thousands of dollars of inventory that I can't return," he said.

Pfahl says dispensing fees depend on things like storage and preparation costs

However, Pfahl understands why the cap has been put in place.

"Regulation is useful in situations where there is extreme possibilities of abuse. That is difficult to see in my world here," he said. "We try to be reasonable and try to set things up so we can make ends meet ... what targets represent is specific to the business and it's ability to absorb things and pay the bills."

As of August 18, Manitoba pharmacies can charge provincial drug programs no more than $30 per prescription, regardless of the base cost of a drug or how a drug is packaged, charge pharmacare no more than $30 for compounding services in a pharmacy (when medicinal ingredients are mixed and prepared to meet an individual patient's clinical needs), and charge pharmacare no more than $60 in cases where drugs need to be compounded in sterile conditions.

A cap on dispensing fees is meant to help reduce costs for patients and the provincial drug plan, and ensure pharmacies remain able to recover costs associated with dispensing drugs.