City workers reimbursed nearly $2M worth of Viagra, report finds

CTV Toronto: City hall drug claims Drug claims – for Viagra and Cialis – are causing a stir at city hall. Natalie Johnson reports.

A new audit report revealed that the city may have been paying excessive benefit claims from its workers -- and nearly $2 million for drugs like Viagra and Cialis.

Now, the report, which analyzed data from 2013 to 2015, is calling for the city to assess the validity of the claims and to come up with a proper method to oversee drug benefits.

“I’m surprised. I don’t know how some of these employees do it,” Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong told CTV Toronto.

“Anybody who is found to have defrauded the system should be dealt with very harshly, and I would suggest a termination is an appropriate kind of penalty,” Mayor John Tory said while speaking to the media Wednesday.

The most common drugs employees were reimbursed for were prescription opioid pain relievers, sedatives and stimulants, the report says, citing the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

“I’m not a doctor and don’t know why you’d need high doses, but the important thing is we’re asking these questions,” Audit Committee Vice Chair Stephen Holyday told CTV Toronto.

The city has no maximum coverage limit for erectile dysfunctions drugs. The report revealed that 37 claimants were each reimbursed over $3,000 in 2015 and five were reimbursed over $5,000.

The report included 18 recommendations to help improve the city’s oversight of claims and to help prevent and detect potential misuse of the benefits.

“Implementation of the recommended changes from this report can potentially result in approximately $0.9 million annual savings, and $180,000 in a one-time recovery. In addition, full implementation of recommendations for improving oversight and controls may potentially reduce the annual drug benefits cost for the city in the long term,” the report concluded.

Staff members who have made these claims will be investigated further and, at some point, they may need to offer up explanations about their claims.

BY THE NUMBERS