practice partner office consult
The purpose of this column is to answer questions about issues that we either hear about frequently, or that have a wide applicability across the profession. If you have any questions or topic suggestions for this column, please email them to feedback @ cpso. on. ca, or contact the Physician Advisory Service.
Offered free rent for your practice?
Steer clear of deals that present a conflict of interest
Support patients’ freedom of choice
Apharmacist is offering to provide me free rent if I relocate my practice adjacent to his pharmacy. Is this permissible? This is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive at the Physician Advisory Service, a practice consulting service for members that manages over 7,000 inquiries per year. It is not uncommon for a physician to be approached by a pharmacist who is willing to pay the physician’ s rent, and sometimes overhead expenses, in exchange for the physician relocating her / his practice to the pharmacy or directly adjacent to the pharmacy. This is done in an attempt to increase business, assuming the physician’ s patients will now fill their prescriptions at that pharmacy. You probably have seen advertisements in professional journals and magazines from pharmacies offering exactly this type of incentive. The offer sounds great but is it permissible? The answer can be found in the Conflict of Interest Regulations of the Medicine Act, which stipulates the following:
16. It is a conflict of interest for a member where the member, or a member of his or her family, or a corporation wholly, substantially, or actually owned or controlled by the member or a member of his or her family,( c) rents premises from,
( i) a supplier to whom the member refers his or her patients or their specimens, or
( ii) a supplier who sells or otherwise supplies any medical goods or services to the patients of the member, except where,
Issue 4, 2016 Dialogue 55