The following are highlights from Council’s meeting held on March 13, 2025.
Compounding and repackaging agreement for Northwest Territories
On April 1, the following policy changes for Alberta compounding and repacking (C&R) licensed pharmacies took effect:
- An Alberta C&R pharmacy MUST ONLY compound or repackage drugs for an entity that is a licensed or institution pharmacy located IN Alberta.
- An Alberta community or satellite pharmacy MUST ONLY receive compounded or repackaged drugs from a C&R pharmacy licensed in Alberta.
Collectively, this means that compounded and repackaged drugs cannot be provided from other jurisdictions to licensed pharmacies in Alberta, nor can compounded and repackaged drugs be provided by licensed pharmacies in Alberta to those in other jurisdictions.
There is only one exception to this policy. The Northwest Territories (NWT) currently has no C&R pharmacies available to provide services for needed drugs to NWT patients. Council has approved a special exception to allow C&R pharmacies in Alberta to provide compounding and repackaging services into NWT in exceptional cases. This allows Alberta C&R pharmacies to help pharmacies in NWT meet patients’ needs. A special compounding and repackaging agreement for providing services into NWT was approved and posted to the ACP website on the Licensee resources page.
Governance review
After a review of ACP’s governance structure, Council determined the current structure continues to meet the college’s needs. However, there will be adjustments made to the committee structure within Council. The Executive Committee has been rescinded, while the Governance Committee will assume an expanded role. The Nominating Committee remains intact. At its next meeting on May 1, 2025, Council will discuss potential changes to the way ACP conducts elections for regulated members. Potential changes to elections were included in a consultation of regulated members about proposed bylaw changes in 2024.
Generative discussion–pharmacists and pharmacy technicians’ role in primary care
Recently, Alberta Health launched Primary Care Alberta, one of the four new pillars of Alberta’s health system. Council held a generative discussion about the role pharmacy has, or could have, as a part of this pillar. Questions pondered by Council included
- Where do pharmacists and pharmacy technicians fit as part of Primary Care Alberta and the health system as a whole?
- How will the introduction of Primary Care Alberta affect the public’s best interest? How will the public navigate this as part of the overall health system?
- How will the introduction of Primary Cary Alberta impact ACP in fulfilling its mandate of protecting the public?
Council discussed pharmacists’ capacity to assume the responsibilities that may be expected as primary care providers and the lack of consistency in services provided from one pharmacy to another across Alberta.
