A number of Saskatchewan pharmacies say they are being affected by a province-wide billing outage that leaves them unable to submit claims to the provincial government’s drug plan. At White Butte Pharmacy, the problems began early Monday which made processing prescriptions more time-consuming. “There were lots of error messages, communication failures that come back so thus — it takes a lot longer to process a prescription versus what it typically does,” said pharmacist Shona Elder with White Butte Pharmacy. Other pharmacies across the province were reporting similar issues. One was Saskatoon Co-op Pharmacy, which said the outage is causing long wait times and billing issues. “We expect the service disruption to be resolved by [Tuesday]. If your prescription is not needed immediately, please consider waiting to place your order until the provincial system is restored,” Saskatoon Co-op said in an update online. Medi-Center Pharmacy in Prince Albert reported similar issues. “All Saskatchewan pharmacies are impacted,” Medi-Center said. “This means we are unable to bill prescriptions and determine your co-pay at this time. This outage may last into [Tuesday]. The problem has been escalated to the highest level of government for resolution.” Regina-based Hill Ave. Drugs gave a more definitive timeline, saying that the issue is expected to be fixed between midnight and 4 a.m. Tuesday. “We are unable to properly fill prescriptions today, but can still help with time sensitive medications, such as antibiotics, or if you are out of medication,” Hill Ave. Drugs said in its post. “If you need your medications today, please reach out to us and we will work with you on a plan,” a post from Pharmasave Swift Current reads. “We share in your frustration with the current situation and will update you with a resolution as it becomes available to us. We will ensure you are taken care of.” The Ministry of Health said it was aware of performance issues affecting the Drug Plan Pharmacy Claims System following a system update that was done on Sept. 27. “The system remains completely operational, but claims are processing more slowly than usual,” read a statement to CTV News. “The system is expected to return to normal operation by Tuesday. The Ministry of Health apologizes for the inconvenience and thanks patients, pharmacies and the public for their patience as this issue is resolved.” The Saskatchewan NDP criticized the government for not informing the public sooner about the problems. “If it was completely in operation, I suppose it would be operational fully. We don’t’ know when it actually started, we don’t have any other updates,” said NDP MLA Joan Pratchler. “There’s a lot more questions than we have for answers there. My question is where is your disaster recovery plan?” Some pharmacies are advising their customers that if medication was needed Monday, a plan will be worked out. They are assuring customers that everyone will be taken care of.
