title: Listening for prescriptions: a national consultation on pharmaceutical policy issues.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pharmaceutical policy is an increasingly costly, essential and challenging component of health system management. We sought to identify priority pharmaceutical policy issues in Canada and to translate them into research priorities using key informant interviews, stakeholder surveys and a deliberative workshop.
  
  
  RESULTS
  WE FOUND CONSENSUS ON OVERARCHING POLICY GOALS: to provide all Canadians with equitable and sustainable access to necessary medicines. We also found widespread frustration that many key pharmaceutical policy issues in Canada - including improving prescription drug financing and pricing - have been persistent challenges owing to a lack of policy coordination. The coverage of extraordinarily costly medicines for serious conditions was identified as a rapidly emerging policy issue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Targeted research and knowledge translation activities can help address key policy issues and, importantly, challenges of policy coordination in Canada and thereby reduce inequity and inefficiency in policy approaches and outcomes.
authors: Associate Professor & Associate Director, Centre for Health Services Research, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
authors: Steve
authors: S
authors: Morgan
authors: Colleen M
authors: CM
authors: Cunningham