Alberta Health amended their price policy on September 26, 2016 to come into effect on October 1, 2016. The following amendments were made:

Amendment to the Maximum Allowable (MAC) Price Policy of the Alberta Price Policy

Effective October 1, 2016, the MAC Price Policy, section 2-14, will be amended to include eligible proton pump inhibitors (PPI) as a MAC Grouping. A four-month transition period will apply and pricing rules for these MAC Groupings will be effective on February 1, 2017. The October 1, 2016 Updates to Alberta Drug Benefit List (ADBL) and the Interactive DBL (iDBL) will be updated with the maximum allowable cost pricing for the affected drugs to reflect this price policy change.

Physicians may continue to prescribe and/or plan members may choose any proton pump inhibitor listed on the ADBL; however, as per definition of MAC Price as defined within the Price Policy, Alberta government-sponsored drug programs will only pay up to the MAC Price.

This amendment is aligned with the application of similar pricing strategies in other jurisdictions and private drug insurance plans. The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health and the Canadian Optimal Medication Prescribing and Utilization Services have determined that all proton pump inhibitors are therapeutically similar and equally effective in the majority of patients.

For more information, please consult Alberta’s updated price policy found here.