B.C. doctors billed medical plan for 50,000 Swine Flu consultations
Tamiflu prescriptions decline in B.C.
By Salim Jiwa
VANCOUVER, B.C. - Doctors billed the medical services plan for nearly 50,000 patient consultations for symptoms of Swine Flu, the government has revealed.
MSP billing information released to Vancouverite shows doctors billed the government for 32,172 patient visits to their offices and 16,632 consultations which occurred over the phone.
“As of Nov. 13, – 32,172 doctor visits related to H1N1 were billed to MSP,” said Cindy MacDougall in an emailed response. “16, 632 H1N1-related doctor phone consults were billed to MSP.”
MacDougall said there have been 755 admissions to hospitals in B.C. since April for severe Swine Flu with 144 in the past week and 202 in the week prior – statistics that tend to show that the worst period of the pandemic occurred in the past two weeks with 346 hospitalizations in total.
So far 30 B.C. resident have died from complications caused by the novel virus. 23 had underlying conditions such as asthma and seven did not.
Some B.C. hospitals are still working at capacity or over capacity because of the number of severe cases that have been admitted.
But there are also signs pointing to the fact that B.C. largest vaccination program is starting to cut down on illness.
One of the key indicators is that prescriptions for Tamiflu – which has been the front-line anti-viral drug used to treat an infection in the early stages – have dropped dramatically in the past few days.
On Oct. 1, as the second wave of Swine Flu hit B.C., the provincial pandemic stockpile released 1.757 million doses of Tamiflu to pharmacies, hospitals and First Nations communities.
The doses released by the government constituted 15.7 per cent of government emergency stocks of the drug.
” As of yesterday, 112,434 prescriptions have been filled, which translates to 1.124 million doses dispensed (each prescription is 10 doses),” said MacDougall.
“Antiviral use in B.C. for influenza treatment declined almost by half during week 45 (Nov 8-14, 2009) across all age groups and health regions. The average prescription rate in BC for week 45 declined by 46% from previous week from 739 to 397 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week (from 32891 to 17647 prescriptions/week),” she said.
“The decline was seen in all Health Authorities across the province. The highest decline (-52%) was seen in Interior Health Authority from 681 to 324 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week, while Northern Health Authority experienced the least decline (-32%) in usage from 611 to 417 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week.
“Assuming the rate of decline remains, we project that antiviral usage will decrease from 17647 to 8179 total prescriptions in week 46,” she said.
“Children from 6-17 years experienced the highest decline (-56%) in antiviral usage for week 45 from 1495 to 655 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week (from 8789 to 3848 prescriptions/week).
“For adults from 18-64 years and children from 1-5 years, antiviral use declined by 44% (from 622 to 351 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week) and 43% (from 1664 to 941 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week), respectively.
“Usage for seniors also declined by 36% from 290 to 187 prescriptions per 100,000 population per week,” said MacDougall.
The government considers the decline in Tamiflu prescriptions to be an important marker in the possibility that Swine Flu sickness has crested.
Copyright 2009, Vancouverite News Service. Use this article on your blog or website for just $5. News organizations pay $25. To reproduce or distribute, click: http://vancouverite.icopyright.com
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