“WSIB lifts lid on secret drug list for injured workers” / Sara Mojtehedzadeh (Toronto Star, Jan. 23, 2017)
After a Star report last August on a policy advocates criticized for putting injured workers at risk, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s Drug Benefit Program formulary is now publicly available and searchable online. This means that when injured workers are entitled to benefits, it will now be easier for doctors to prescribe treatments that are eligible for coverage – and avoid the situation of injured workers turning up at the pharmacy to collect prescriptions and finding they have to pay out of their own pocket.
The move comes as Ontario’s Information and Privacy commissioner prepares to rule on an access to information appeal brought by the Industrial Accident Victims’ Group of Ontario (IAVGO), a legal clinic which since 2013 has sought access to the list of drugs on behalf of clients having problems accessing treatment. IAVGO lawyer Maryth Yachnin called the move a good first step, but said the clinic “remained very concerned with the WSIB’s approach toward health care generally.”