Award Issued on Pharmacare Tie-in
This matter was referred to Arbitration and a consent award has been issued. The award covers all nurses (RN/RPN/LPN) and will be funded by a combination of employer and pre-existing collective agreement contributions.
Under the consent award there is:
- Grandparenting of out-of-province employees on LTD
- Coverage for designated drugs for impacted employees/dependents
- Remedies for individual grievances
- Service improvements at Pacific Blue Cross
"Tying our list of covered drugs to the provincial Pharmacare formulary was a sound bargaining strategy - the problem lay with implementation," says BCNU President Debra McPherson. "As a result of the consent award there will be improvements to the implementation problems at Pacific Blue Cross and most of our existing members will continue being covered for most drugs they were receiving previously," she says. "We will continue to work within the Pharmacare system and be available to assist members if needed."
Next steps
- BCNU is working with external experts to determine the list of drugs to be grandparented. Grandparenting will apply only to members and their dependents who were on an approved claim between December 2012 and May 2013.
- Members will have until February 27, 2014 to file a grievance concerning coverage of a non-Pharmacare drug. Please call the BCNU head office or email pharmacare@bcnu.org if you want to file a grievance.
- All individual grievances will be reviewed to determine appropriate remedies on a case-by-case basis. This could include grandparenting of coverage for specific drugs for specific members or one-time payments to reimburse out-of-pocket expenses.