Category: Actuality

A patient with hypertension shows you several blood pressure readings above their target. Their physician has retired, and they ask what to do. Later that day, a patient seeks help for urinary symptoms she has never experienced before.

Can your team receive these requests, gather the right information and arrange the next steps? Starting December 9, 2026, expanded activities under Bill 67 (PL67) create new possibilities. Here are five recommendations to prepare your pharmacy, illustrated by three practical cases.

These fictional situations help teams prepare. They illustrate decisions to work through and do not constitute treatment protocols. Sources checked on October 12, 2026.

Bill 67: the main changes at a glance

Activity	Already permitted	What changes on December 9, 2026	Essential conditions and limits
Prescribing for a common health condition	Prescribing for certain previously treated minor conditions and other expressly defined situations.	Independent prescribing for a common health condition, without a prior diagnosis.	All five criteria must apply. High prevalence in the relevant patient population or general population. Typical, readily identifiable and assessable signs or symptoms. Expected improvement with follow-up and time-limited treatment. Low risk of deterioration in the short term. Low risk of harm, considering the patient, treatment and context.
Prescribing for a diagnosed chronic disease	Treatment adjustments and prescribing within certain collaborative arrangements.	Independent prescribing for a chronic disease that has already been diagnosed.	A professional authorized to diagnose and prescribe must have established the diagnosis. The patient must have a low risk of deterioration in the short term. This authorization does not create a general power to diagnose.
Preventive prescribing	Prescribing in defined situations, including vaccination, contraception and certain types of prophylaxis.	A broader framework for prescribing to prevent diseases, health conditions, signs or symptoms from developing.	Assessment of the situation, evidence-based prescribing and practice within the pharmacist’s competence. This authorization does not create a general power to diagnose.
Therapeutic substitution	Substitution for supply shortages, administration problems, safety risks, market withdrawal or unavailability within an institution. Generic substitution is also already permitted.	Addition of grounds that include exclusion from the patient’s insurance coverage.	The prescribed medication must be excluded from coverage; an administrative refusal alone is insufficient. The replacement must appear on Quebec’s List of Medications (Liste des médicaments). The pharmacist informs the patient and records the substitution. Inclusion on the List does not guarantee reimbursement.
Administering medication	Administration to demonstrate appropriate use, for vaccination or in an emergency, through authorized routes.	Administration for treatment when a prescription exists. Addition of transdermal, ophthalmic, otic and rectal routes.	A specific training certificate issued by the OPQ and a valid resuscitation training certificate. Intravenous administration is not among the authorized routes.
Specimen collection	Introducing an instrument into the pharynx.	Addition of introducing an instrument beyond the nasal vestibule.	This expansion does not provide general authorization for blood draws or other invasive specimen collection.

1. Choose which activities to introduce gradually

Start with your patients’ needs and your team’s competencies. The final regulation expands prescribing and substitution, among other activities. The OPQ recommends gradual implementation, based on the pharmacist’s competence and the practice setting’s capacity.

Your team decision: choose the services you want to prepare first. For each service, identify competencies to strengthen and missing resources. An authorized activity also requires a setting capable of providing it.

2. Prepare the assessment and clinical references

With Atlas, before preparing this service: use a fictional case to research Quebec references and assessment points to discuss. Open the suggested sources and select those that support your procedure. Our Atlas overview describes this research workflow.

Case 1 — A first urinary tract infection

Situation. An adult patient describes burning during urination and frequent urges since the previous day. She has never received treatment for a urinary tract infection.

What Bill 67 adds. A first episode can be assessed under the common health condition framework when all five criteria in the table apply. The current minor-condition pathway relies on previous treatment. A request for an antibiotic does not automatically make the situation eligible.

What to check. The pharmacist clarifies symptoms, their progression, possible pregnancy, comorbidities, medications and allergies. Fever, flank pain or an unusual presentation changes the referral decision. The INESSS clinical guide helps prepare the assessment and referral criteria.

Preparation needed. Make references, referral criteria and follow-up arrangements accessible to pharmacists. Plan how to receive the request, share the information and explain the next steps to the patient. Specify when to reassess her and how she can reach the team. The intake team passes on the request without promising a prescription. The pathway must also support referral when the situation falls outside the permitted framework.

3. Organize follow-up for patients without a primary care provider

Case 2 — Diagnosed hypertension that needs reassessment

Situation. A patient with diagnosed hypertension returns with several blood pressure readings above their target. Their physician has retired. They already take medication and ask whether their treatment should change.

What Bill 67 adds. Independent prescribing for a diagnosed chronic disease can provide another option, such as adding medication when the situation warrants it. Already permitted treatment adjustments remain distinct from this new authorization. The conditions in the table apply.

What to check. The pharmacist confirms the recorded diagnosis, measurement technique, actual medication use, symptoms and relevant monitoring data. The risk of deterioration in the short term must remain low. An above-target blood pressure reading alone does not justify adding medication. Suspected hypertension is not an established diagnosis.

Preparation needed. Make readings, laboratory results and the follow-up plan accessible to pharmacists. Tell the patient how to reach the team if their condition changes. Keep referral contacts accessible to the team. Plan professional communications when circumstances justify them, including when the patient’s needs exceed the practice setting’s capacity.

4. Prepare a pathway for therapeutic substitution

Case 3 — A medication excluded from insurance coverage

Situation. A patient learns that her insurance does not cover the prescribed medication. Its cost makes her hesitate to start treatment. The team shares the exact reason for the refusal and the clinical need with the pharmacist.

What Bill 67 adds. Exclusion from coverage becomes grounds for therapeutic substitution. The table’s conditions apply, including the replacement’s inclusion on Quebec’s List of Medications (Liste des médicaments). This option does not guarantee reimbursement by the insurer.

What to check. The pharmacist distinguishes exclusion from coverage from an administrative problem and assesses whether another therapy suits the patient. Cost alone does not determine treatment. The pharmacist checks the replacement’s coverage conditions before presenting options to the patient.

Preparation needed. Prepare to collect the reason for refusal, consult the applicable list and explain the options. The record must show the substitution, information given to the patient and planned follow-up. Include professional communications when circumstances justify them.

5. Clarify roles and prepare documentation

For all three situations, clarify who receives the request, conducts the assessment and arranges the next steps:

• The intake team collects the required information and passes the request to the pharmacist, without announcing a clinical decision.
• The pharmacist assesses the situation, chooses the intervention or referral, then documents the reasoning and follow-up.
• The manager prepares consultation time slots, resources and the distribution of work.

With Nexus, before the consultation: if your pharmacy uses this module, the patient answers structured questions about symptoms, treatments and medical history. The pharmacist reviews the collected information, clarifies missing details and continues the assessment. Prepare the team’s pathway from the patient’s request through information collection to the consultation.

In the substitution case, “Insurance refused, product changed” leaves the next pharmacist without an explanation. Your template should show the confirmed reason, clinical assessment, chosen option and rationale, information given to the patient, and planned follow-up. Missing information remains identified.

With Echo, during the consultation: after obtaining consent to recording, record the interview, review the transcript and select the note template. After generation, the pharmacist corrects facts as needed and ensures all relevant information is organized appropriately. The Pharmia overview describes this documentation workflow.

Two dates for your preparation plan

• December 9, 2026: the regulation on expanded professional activities takes effect.
• March 31, 2028: deadline to successfully complete the OPQ’s general training, except for retired members. The OPQ states that this training is not a prerequisite for practising the expanded activities.

Scope reminder. General training does not replace the specific certificates required for certain activities, including medication administration. Professional authorization, the practice setting’s capacity and payment eligibility remain three separate questions.

Is your pharmacy ready for Bill 67?

• ☑ Priority activities to introduce have been identified.
• ☑ Each pharmacist has completed or planned the OPQ’s general training; required activity-specific certificates have been verified.
• ☑ Protocols, clinical references and referral criteria are current and accessible.
• ☑ Pharmacists’ and pharmacy technical assistants’ roles are clear, from intake through follow-up.
• ☑ Consultation and follow-up time slots are planned.
• ☑ Documentation tools organize the assessment, decision and planned follow-up.

Preparing for Bill 67 means making new services workable in your pharmacy. Your team needs accessible references, a structured assessment and follow-up it can provide.

Prepare your pharmacy for Bill 67 with Pharmia — Discover our 3 modules

Official sources

• Gazette officielle du Québec — Order in Council 1340-2026, sections 1, 2, 8–12 and 19.
• OPQ — Professional practice guide, sections 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 5 and 6. These cover minor conditions, prescribing without a prior diagnosis, substitution and administration before December 9, 2026.
• OPQ — December 9: an evolution to introduce gradually, October 5, 2026.
• OPQ — L’Express, August 20, 2026, training and deadline.

Bill 67 is set to transform pharmacy practice in Quebec. Are you ready?

A new reality for Quebec pharmacists

The Quebec pharmacy landscape is undergoing a profound shift. With the adoption of Bill 67, pharmacists will see their scope of practice expand considerably: prescribing medication for common health conditions, diagnosed chronic diseases, prevention, specimen collection, and much more. Overnight, new professional acts will be added to an already demanding practice.

These are major advances for access to care. But let’s be honest: more acts means more responsibility, more references to master, more documentation to produce — all in a labour-shortage context that isn’t improving.

That is exactly why Pharmia exists.

What is Pharmia?

Pharmia is an AI-powered clinical platform, designed from the ground up for the reality of Quebec pharmacists. Not a translation of an American tool. Not a ChatGPT dressed up as a pharmacist. A complete ecosystem that covers the entire pharmaceutical consultation process: from patient history-taking to the generation of clinical documentation.

The platform is built around three flagship tools: Pharmia Atlas, the clinical research copilot, Écho, the history-taking and clinical analysis assistant, and Pharmia Nexus, the optimized consultations module.

Pharmia Atlas — your clinical copilot

Pharmia Atlas is a clinical research assistant that understands the daily reality of the Quebec pharmacist. You ask a question in plain language. Atlas simultaneously queries recognized clinical databases and gives you a structured, sourced and actionable answer, all in a matter of seconds.

Reliable sources, not hallucinations

Every Atlas answer is grounded in verifiable clinical data. It doesn’t guess a dosage and doesn’t invent an interaction. Atlas queries directly:

• Health Canada — official monographs, DIN, the Drug Product Database (DPD) and the Natural Health Products Database (NHPID)
• PubMed — peer-reviewed scientific literature
• FDA Drug Labels — American monographs and warnings
• INESSS — Quebec clinical practice guidelines
• PIQ and INSPQ — immunization protocols and public health recommendations
• OPQ and APES — practice standards and professional references
• Liverpool Drug Interactions — specialized drug interactions

These are just a few examples — Atlas has access to many more clinical sources and databases, covering nearly all of a pharmacist’s information needs.

Every source consulted is cited with a clickable link. No black box: clinical transparency.

Built for the Quebec setting

Atlas prioritizes Quebec references. When a pharmacist types “72 y.o. pt, CrCl 38, on metformin 1000 bid + glyburide 5 bid, HbA1c 8.2 — what to adjust?”, Atlas immediately flags glyburide as inappropriate in renal impairment per the RUSHGQ criteria, proposes a metformin dosage adjustment based on eGFR, and suggests a safe alternative antihyperglycemic — all with INESSS references and Quebec renal function thresholds.

The tool understands mixed terminology (French-English) and the abbreviations pharmacists use every day (“bid”, “CrCl”, “tab”). It knows the billable acts under the AQPP-MSSS Agreement, collective prescriptions, the Pharmacy Act and the RAMQ billing codes.

Dedicated modules for complex analyses

Beyond one-off research, Atlas includes specialized modules for clinical tasks that require structured, in-depth analysis.

Pharmacotherapy review. Atlas guides the pharmacist through a structured, exhaustive review of pharmacotherapy — interactions, safety, dosage adjustments, deprescribing and therapeutic gaps — all based on Quebec clinical references. A particularly relevant tool for the annual review of blister-pack patient files.

Travel health consultations. Atlas has a dedicated travel consultation module, based on INSPQ, CDC and PIQ data. For each destination, it systematically assesses malaria risk (antimalarial chemoprophylaxis), traveller’s diarrhea (standby antibiotic and self-treatment), acute mountain sickness (acetazolamide prophylaxis when the itinerary warrants it) and the vaccines recommended per the PIQ. Atlas also identifies the associated billable acts — including assessments without a prescription, often under-billed in practice.

More than 15 specialized tools

Atlas does more than generate text. It uses real-time tools to:

• Look up a drug by DIN, ATC code or brand name in the Health Canada database
• Check drug shortages in Canada (Drug Shortages Canada)
• Consult drug interactions across multiple databases
• Generate immunization schedules based on the PIQ
• Access CDC and INSPQ data for travel health consultations
• Identify acts claimable to the RAMQ based on your clinical situation

A personal workspace

Beyond the chat, Atlas offers a document workspace. Pharmacists can upload their own documents — internal protocols, practice guides in PDF, reference tables — and Atlas integrates them into its research. A document shared once stays accessible across all future conversations.

Écho — never miss a question, never miss a red flag

Écho is the part of Pharmia that directly supports the consultation. When a patient presents with a health concern, Écho makes sure all the right questions are asked and that nothing slips through the cracks.

Intelligent history-taking

Pharmia’s history-taking agent talks directly with the patient, interactively, to gather the relevant clinical information. It clarifies, digs deeper and rephrases answers to maximize the quality of the data collected — all before the pharmacist even steps in.

Red-flag detection

Écho automatically identifies warning signs in the patient’s answers. A symptom that requires an urgent medical referral, a potential interaction with the patient’s medication profile, a contraindication — Écho detects them and highlights them for the pharmacist.

Clinical analysis and prescription generation

Once the history-taking is complete, Écho produces a structured summary of the consultation, identifies the clinical problems and proposes recommendations with or without a prescription. The pharmacist stays in full control: they validate, adjust and sign. Écho handles the paperwork.

Automated documentation

The reality in pharmacy is that writing a complete SOAP note while keeping up the pace is demanding. With Écho, documentation is generated automatically — SOAP notes, DAP, or custom formats — according to the pharmacist’s choices. All they have to do is validate.

Pharmia Nexus — optimized consultations

Nexus automates information gathering before the consultation: the patient answers questions online, and the AI structures the clinical data for the pharmacist. Automatic detection of applicable clinical algorithms, regulatory verification, identification of billable acts and generation of documentation. The pharmacist receives a pre-analyzed file and focuses on their clinical judgment.

Why now? Bill 67 changes everything

Bill 67, adopted in November 2024, represents the largest expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice in a generation. Prescribing medication for common health conditions, diagnosed chronic diseases, prevention, diagnostic tests, specimen collection — the list is long and the responsibilities are real.

The challenge is that these new acts come with a host of new references, new clinical algorithms and new documentation requirements. A pharmacist who starts prescribing for hypertension, diabetes or migraine must master the corresponding INESSS guidelines, know the critical values, and document their six-step prescribing process — all on top of an existing workload.

This is where Pharmia makes the difference. Atlas puts all those references at your fingertips, instantly. Écho structures the consultation so nothing is forgotten. Documentation is generated automatically. The pharmacist can focus on what truly matters: their clinical judgment and the patient in front of them.

The shortage in the background

Quebec is experiencing a pharmacist shortage that puts pressure on the entire network. Every minute counts. The time a pharmacist spends hunting for an interaction across three different tabs, cross-referencing sources by hand or writing a clinical note is time not invested with patients.

With Pharmia, a search that used to take 10 to 15 minutes now takes a few seconds. Documentation that took 5 minutes is generated automatically. Multiplied by the number of consultations in a day, that’s a concrete time saving that eases the workload — and helps make the profession more sustainable.

“Pharmia Atlas is a real asset! I no longer have to lose several minutes on my research. I can ask all my questions and it answers me with reliable references.”

Accessible to all, adapted to each

Pharmia is an all-in-one platform for pharmacy: history-taking, clinical analysis, research, documentation, billing. But an individual pharmacist doesn’t need to adopt the whole thing to benefit from it.

Pharmia Atlas and Écho are available individually. A pharmacist in a community pharmacy, a FMG, a healthcare institution or even solo practice can use Atlas as a daily clinical copilot, or Écho to structure their consultations — without having to integrate the entire platform into their workplace.

Security at the core of everything

In pharmacy, data security is non-negotiable. Pharmia was built with compliance in mind:

• Hosted in Quebec — data stays in Quebec and never crosses the border
• Law 25 and PIPEDA compliance — full compliance with Quebec and Canadian personal-information protection laws
• Certifications in progress — SOC 2 and TGV in the process of being obtained
• No data used for training — conversations, documents and patient data are never used to train AI models
• End-to-end encryption — data is transmitted and stored securely
• Complete logging — traceability audits are available at all times

The future of pharmacy practice starts today

Artificial intelligence is already transforming many sectors. With Bill 67 coming and the shortage persisting, Quebec pharmacists need tools that increase their clinical capacity without increasing their workload.

Pharmia is the bridge between the pharmacist’s clinical expertise and the power of AI — instant access to pharmaceutical knowledge, a structured consultation that leaves nothing to chance, and documentation that takes care of itself. All designed by a team that understands the daily reality of Quebec pharmacy.

Discover Pharmia and see how AI can become your best clinical ally.

Test pharmia here !

Quebec pharmacists lose hundreds of hours every year to administrative tasks. Meanwhile, patients wait — and the healthcare system runs out of breath.

A clinical activity in full expansion

In 2023, Quebec’s community pharmacies delivered more than 7 million clinical acts — a 16% increase in a single year. Since 2019, that’s a 51% growth in clinical activity. Quebec pharmacists have become, de facto, the first point of contact in the healthcare network: accessible without an appointment, seven days a week, in more than 1,900 pharmacies across the province.

But this clinical growth has happened without the resources to support it.

The shortage that amplifies everything

Quebec is short roughly 1,150 pharmacists. The vacancy rate in community pharmacy reaches 12%, four times the provincial average across all sectors. In 2024, one million replacement hours were needed just to maintain basic service.

And a significant share of those hours never even reaches the patient.

The daily reality behind the counter

The typical day of a community pharmacist in 2026 isn’t only clinical work. It’s also:

• Answering calls from other pharmacies and physicians to clarify prescriptions, confirm therapies, or coordinate file transfers.
• Documenting every clinical intervention in often outdated systems, then faxing — yes, faxing, in 2026 — follow-ups to prescribers.
• Verifying, before each act, whether it complies with the regulatory framework in force: laws, regulations, agreements, exceptions.
• Filling out administrative forms that have no clinical value but are required by the system.
• Calling patients back for follow-ups the system doesn’t handle automatically.

These tasks are necessary in principle, but their execution remains largely manual, fragmented, and time-consuming.

The numbers tell the story

In Quebec

According to the 2024 survey of its members by the APPSQ (Quebec’s professional association of salaried pharmacists), most salaried pharmacists report a workload that is still far too heavy and conditions that are poorly suited to clinical practice. Even more revealing: 65% of respondents fear that the new acts introduced by Bill 67 will worsen this overload if no concrete administrative relief accompanies the expanded scope of practice.

The AQPP (Quebec association of pharmacy owners) sounded the alarm as early as March 2024, publicly calling for the removal of certain administrative rules surrounding clinical activities. The message was clear: rules designed to frame practice end up restricting patients’ access to care. AQPP president Benoit Morin summed it up this way: the barriers must come down so that the 7,000 pharmacists in the network can serve their patients effectively.

Across Canada

The Quebec picture fits within a documented national trend. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) estimates that Canadian healthcare professionals collectively lose 18.5 million hours per year on unnecessary administrative tasks — the equivalent of 55.6 million patient visits. And according to the CMA, 85% of that work comes from the healthcare system’s own processes, not from the clinical complexity of the cases.

For pharmacists specifically, data from the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) reveals a direct link between administrative burden and burnout: pharmacists experiencing burnout spend an average of 7.5 hours per week on administrative tasks, compared to 4.3 hours for those who aren’t. In 2023, 79% of pharmacy professionals in Canada were at risk of burnout.

Internationally

The phenomenon isn’t unique to Canada. In the United States, recent studies report that pharmacists can spend up to 90% of their time on administrative tasks rather than direct patient care. Pharmacy staff burnout has reached historic levels there, largely attributed to workload and chronic understaffing.

Bill 67: a major step forward, but incomplete

Adopted by the National Assembly, Bill 67 represents a historic reform of Quebec’s pharmacy legal framework. It promises to substantially expand pharmacists’ professional autonomy:

• Prescribing medication with fewer restrictions
• Extending prescriptions without arbitrary deadlines
• Substituting medications in more clinical situations
• Replacing certain administrative rules with the pharmacist’s professional judgment

The Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec (OPQ) hailed the reform as “a historic step for access to care.” The draft regulation was published in the Gazette officielle in June 2025 for public consultation, with updates in October 2025.

But adopting the law doesn’t solve everything. The APPSQ underlined this in its November 2025 statement: current working conditions in community pharmacy still cannot absorb the new responsibilities introduced by Bill 67. Without concrete relief from the administrative burden, expanding the scope of practice amounts to adding more weight onto already overloaded shoulders.

La Presse reported in December 2025 that the expansion of pharmacists’ powers was slow to materialize in practice, despite the law’s adoption.

The real problem: systems built for another era

The administrative burden in pharmacy is no accident. It’s the result of systems designed decades ago, when the pharmacist’s role was essentially limited to dispensing medication. These systems — pharmacy software, prescriber communication processes, billing mechanisms, documentation protocols — haven’t evolved at the same pace as the practice.

The result is a structural mismatch:

• Fragmented inter-professional communication: fax remains the dominant communication mode between pharmacies and prescribers in most practice settings.
• Redundant documentation: a single clinical act can require documentation in the pharmacy software, a paper form, a fax to the prescriber, and a chart note.
• Manual regulatory verification: before each expanded act, the pharmacist must mentally (or physically) review the applicable regulatory framework — laws, regulations, AQPP-MSSS agreements, collective prescriptions — to confirm the act is permitted.
• Complex billing: the billing system for clinical acts, governed by the AQPP-MSSS agreement, includes dozens of codes, conditions, and exceptions that vary by act type, patient status, and clinical situation.

What technology can change — and what it can’t

Technological solutions exist, and some are already deployed in other jurisdictions or other healthcare sectors. Among the most promising avenues:

Automated clinical documentation

Artificial intelligence can now capture, structure, and write clinical documentation from a conversation between the professional and the patient. Platforms like Abridge (which reached $100M in annual revenue automatically documenting medical consultations) show that the technology is mature. The same principles apply in pharmacy: capture the clinical exchange, generate the note, the follow-up, and the prescriber communications — automatically.

Intelligent regulatory verification

Instead of forcing the pharmacist to manually consult the legal framework before each act, a smart tool can cross-reference the clinical situation with the current regulations and confirm compliance instantly. That’s the “compliance by design” approach: the system checks for you, in real time.

Information system integration

Communication between pharmacies, prescribers, and healthcare facilities should be digital, bidirectional, and instant. The Dossier Santé Québec (DSQ) is a step in that direction, but its integration into daily workflows remains incomplete.

Billing automation

Billing for clinical acts can be automatically derived from the documented act, eliminating double entry and coding errors.

What technology doesn’t replace

The pharmacist’s clinical judgment. The trust relationship with the patient. The assessment of a complex situation that requires experience and context. Technology isn’t there to replace the pharmacist — it’s there to give back the time to do what they were trained for.

The real issue: time

Every hour spent filling out a form, faxing a document, or manually checking a regulatory framework is one less hour at the counter with a patient. In a labour shortage context, every hour counts.

The question isn’t whether pharmacists can do more. They are already doing more, every year, with fewer people. The question is how much longer we keep wasting time on processes that could be automated — and how many patients miss out on care that could have been provided if the pharmacist had had five more minutes.

Bill 67 gives pharmacists new powers. It’s time to give them the tools to exercise them.

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Pharmia builds artificial intelligence tools designed specifically for Quebec pharmacists — automated clinical documentation, real-time regulatory verification, and instant access to the entire normative framework of pharmacy practice in Quebec.

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References

1. AQPP — “Pharmacy owners call for the removal of certain administrative rules” (March 2024)
   monpharmacien.ca
2. La Presse — “Pharmacy owners call for the removal of certain administrative rules” (March 2024)
   lapresse.ca
3. APPSQ — 2024 survey on irritants in community pharmacy
   appsq.org
4. APPSQ — Statement on Bill 67 (November 2025)
   appsq.org
5. Canadian Medical Association (CMA) — Administrative burden: facts and figures
   cma.ca
6. Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) — National survey on the mental health of pharmacy professionals (2023)
   pharmacists.ca
7. Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec (OPQ) — “Bill 67 adopted: a historic step for access to care”
   opq.org
8. OPQ — “Bill 67 adopted: fewer administrative barriers, more autonomy”
   opq.org
9. La Presse — “Expansion of pharmacists’ powers slow to be implemented” (December 2025)
   lapresse.ca
10. OPQ — Bill 67 draft regulation, Gazette officielle (June 2025)
    opq.org
11. Profession Santé — “Pharmacy irritants: APPSQ unveils its survey” (August 2024)
    professionsante.ca
12. Portail de l’assurance — “Pharmacists play a growing role in primary care” (April 2026)
    portail-assurance.ca
13. Sully.ai — “Top 3 AI Pharmacists in 2026”
    sully.ai
14. MedMe Health — “An Overview of AI in Pharmacy” (2025)
    medmehealth.com
15. Contrary Research — “Abridge Business Breakdown”
    research.contrary.com

A message from your pharmacists to the people of Quebec because your access to healthcare concerns all of us.

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What the government is doing, and why it directly concerns you

Right now, in Quebec City, an amendment to Bill 15 is about to change the life of every Quebecer who sets foot in a pharmacy, that is, practically everyone.

The government is about to cap the fees that pharmacists can charge private insurers. In other words: they want to force pharmacies to operate on revenues that do not even cover their actual costs.

This is not an abstract debate between politicians and lobbyists. It is your neighbourhood pharmacy that is threatened. It is your access to healthcare that is at stake.

What will change in your daily life, concretely

Your pharmacy will close earlier

Are you used to stopping by the pharmacy on Saturday afternoon, or in the evening after work? If this amendment passes, many pharmacies will no longer be able to afford staying open outside peak hours. Evenings, weekends, holidays, the time slots when you need them the most will be the first to go.

You will wait longer at the emergency room

In recent years, with Bills 31 and 41, your pharmacist can prescribe an antibiotic for a urinary tract infection, treat your conjunctivitis, vaccinate you, and adjust your medications. Quick, accessible care, no appointment needed. If pharmacies can no longer afford to offer these services, those patients go back to the ER. The ER that is already overflowing. The ER where you wait 12, 14, 18 hours.

Your neighbourhood pharmacist will disappear

There are 1,900 community pharmacies in Quebec. Some are the only source of healthcare in their village. If we cut the revenues of these pharmacies, it is the regions that suffer first. Not Montreal. Not Quebec City. The small villages where your grandmother picks up her heart medication, where the pharmacist is the only healthcare professional within a 45-minute drive.

Your employer will cut your insurance coverage

If the government caps what pharmacists can charge private insurers, the insurers will adjust their grids, but not necessarily in your favour. The domino effect is predictable: group insurance plans will be renegotiated, deductibles increased, coverage reduced. You will pay more out of pocket for the same medications.

Your pharmacist will have less time to talk to you

The salaried pharmacist who takes five minutes to explain the side effects of your new medication. The pharmacist who calls your doctor to flag a dangerous interaction. The family pharmacist who has known your file by heart for ten years. All of that takes time and resources.

The real winners: insurers and multinationals, not you

They want you to believe this measure is in your interest. Yet it is not your pharmacist’s fees that are driving up your insurance premiums. It is the rising costs of specialty medications, treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars a year and are manufactured by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Your premiums are going up? It is because of these overpriced medications, not because of the pharmacist who serves you at the counter. The AQPP says it clearly: the real debate should be about the rising cost of medications, not about the revenues of neighbourhood pharmacies.

By going after pharmacies rather than the true sources of pressure on the system, the government is protecting the interests of private insurers and pharmaceutical giants, and you are the one paying the price.

The paradox that should outrage everyone

The government expanded the role of pharmacists with Bill 67, a law that told them: “You are capable of doing more. Prescribe, draw blood, vaccinate, treat.” Pharmacists accepted. They trained. They invested.

And now, the same government is about to cut their revenues. Concretely, it is telling them: “Figure it out.”

It is like asking a contractor to renovate an entire building, then telling them you will only pay half the bill, after the work has already started.

The financial impact the government does not want you to see

The amendment represents an approximately 25% decrease in revenues for community pharmacies.

A quarter of revenues. Gone. Overnight.

• 25% less revenue means 25% less investment: fewer staff, less training, fewer technologies, fewer clinical services for you.
• This revenue gap does not come from “greedy” pharmacists. It comes from the fact that public plan rates have not been properly indexed for over 20 years. Meanwhile, everything has gone up: rent, salaries, insurance, software, training.
• Instead of correcting the chronic underfunding of the public plan, the government is choosing to level down.
• For a typical pharmacy, this revenue loss is equivalent to having to cut positions, reduce opening hours, and abandon the very services that Bill 67 asks them to provide.

Who is behind this measure?

The amendment was proposed by Québec solidaire MNA Alexandre Leduc, adopted without consulting pharmacists, without notice, and in the middle of negotiations between the AQPP and the government.

The AQPP withdrew from the negotiating table, an unprecedented move. Its president, Benoit Morin, called the amendment a “massive slap in the face.”

The cases of “overbilling” that fuelled the media debate involve a handful of players in specialty medications. The AQPP had proposed targeted solutions to address these abuses. The government ignored them and chose to punish all 1,900 pharmacies in Quebec.

The industry is unanimous: this is unacceptable

The entire profession, owners, employees, independents, technicians is on the same side. The professional orders, the associations, the banners: no one supports this amendment. Because everyone knows that if pharmacies fall, it is the patients who pay the price.

It is an entire profession sounding the alarm to protect your access to healthcare.

What the government should do instead

The solution is simple: instead of cutting pharmacy revenues, the government must increase RAMQ rates to reflect the real cost of pharmaceutical services in 2026, and tackle the true causes of rising premiums the costs of specialty medications and the practices of major insurers.

You do not fix an underfunded system by impoverishing those who hold it together.

What you can do

Share this article. Show it to your family, your colleagues, your neighbours. The more people understand what is happening, the more pressure the government will face to back down.

Write to your MNA. It is simple and takes two minutes. Go to jappuiemonpharmacien.com to send a letter directly to your elected representative.

Ask them:

• “Do you find it acceptable that I would have to wait 18 hours in the ER for a urinary tract infection that my pharmacist could have treated in 20 minutes?”
• “Is it acceptable that I lose the care provided by my family pharmacist for my chronic pain that has lasted for years?”
• “Who will adjust my mother’s diabetes medications if her neighbourhood pharmacy closes?”
• “My pharmacy is open until 9 PM, it is the only place I can go after work, do you find it acceptable that it closes at 5 PM?”

Because that is exactly what is coming if no one reacts.

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References

• Radio-Canada – Quebec caps medication fees for insurers
• La Presse – The debate should be about the rising cost of medications
• AQPP – The AQPP withdraws from negotiations
• ABCPQ – Pharmacy chains and banners stand with the AQPP
• Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec – Primary care policy
• I support my pharmacist – Write to your MNA