Nova Scotians who are prescribed take-home cancer drugs can benefit from a new fund to help reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
And if eligible, they can be reimbursed retroactively, dating back to April, 2017.
Dr. Daniel Rayson is a medical oncologist with the QE2 Cancer Care Program.
He says over the last decade more patients are receiving at-home treatments, usually in the forms of pills.
Rayson says the pills are usually tolerated better, and have better side-effects than intravenous treatments in the hospital.
But he says they’re extremely expensive.
“For a number of years now there’s been a lot of pressure to try and make sure patients, when dealing with a cancer diagnosis, don’t also have to deal with crushing financial costs.”
He says the Take-Home Cancer Drug Fund is the government’s interim measure while they look for long-term solutions.
The provincial government recently committed $846,000 this fiscal year, and another $2 million in each of the next three years, to help cover drugs included on the Nova Scotia Pharmacare program that help treat cancer.
Rayson says it’s a bridge to an ultimate solution to a national pharmacare program, but it’s a really important step for the province.
He says it will streamline the process of being able to treat patients.
“We have medication resource specialists who their entire job is trying to navigate coverage for patients so they can have access to some of these treatments,” he says.
“This is an on-the-ground, absolutely real-time issue for cancer patients in this province.”
Patients who filled prescriptions between April 1, 2017 and February of this year are eligible for reimbursement.
Deadline for applying for retroactive reimbursement is September 30th.
To access the fund, a patient must:
- Be a Nova Scotia resident and have a valid Nova Scotia health card;
- Have a prescription for take-home cancer drugs;
- Have accessed all other sources of financial assistance available, including private, public, and manufacturer assistance programs;
- Have out-of-pocket expenses for eligible take-home cancer drugs greater than 4% of net family income, as defined by line 236 of Canada Revenue Agency’s Notice of Assessment; and
- Register with the Nova Scotia Family Pharmacare Program and meet any coverage criteria associated with the specific drug,
For more information, head to NS Cancer Care.
The full interview is this Sunday, March 11 on South Shore Sunday Morning.
