Outsourcing, should I be worried?

[jj99]

Both my brother's job as a programmer and my aunt's job at the local call center have recently been outsourced overseas, to Bulgaria and Bangalore respectively.

Is this something I should worry about as a future pharmacist? I talked to an advisor and he said that aside from emailing x-rays to third world radiologists there hasn't been any widespread interest in outsourcing medical care, but that as the cost of teleconferencing falls it might become more prevelant among the medical professions.

What do you all think?

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[Modnar]

I would *hope* that people in the medical professions would understand that outsourcing makes it very difficult to maintain patient confidentiality. If an employee is half a world away from the supervisor, it can be very difficult to stop him/her from broadcasting a patient's medical records.

 

[baggywrinkle]

Originally posted by jj99
Both my brother's job as a programmer and my aunt's job at the local call center have recently been outsourced overseas, to Bulgaria and Bangalore respectively.

Is this something I should worry about as a future pharmacist? I talked to an advisor and he said that aside from emailing x-rays to third world radiologists there hasn't been any widespread interest in outsourcing medical care, but that as the cost of teleconferencing falls it might become more prevelant among the medical professions.

What do you all think?

Your concern is very timely. The question is being argued at this moment in the courts over the import of Canadian drugs. On the surface, this is simply a cost saving issue, but FDA cannot guarantee the safety of drugs supplied out side it's jurisdiction.

This outsourcing by import of foreign drugs circumvents the entire pharmacy system relegating the consumer to buyer beware. For example, Washington BOP has a law which requires any pharmacy outside it's jurisdiction selling drugs to state residents to register with the BOP and submit to inspection. This law is unenforceable outside the united states national borders and complaints filed with Canadian governing authorities have come to naught.

The Canadian drug system is excellent, but can the same be said about a drug dispensary in Mexico or Colombia? The funny part of this entire argument is when a consumer orders drugs over the internet and receives unidentified capsules loose in a baggy from a drug seller based in Indonesia they complain to their local Board of Pharmacy and expect protection! What a joke!

No, in the short term (your life time), the question of outsourcing will be crushed by FDA to protect the consumer. Watch the lawsuit against Oklahoma based RX Depot. It will be an interesting test case. Only when there is a reliable international system in place with uniform enforcement against adulterated or misbranded drugs will outsourcing become a serious threat.

http://www.rxdepot.com/
http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/g3888d.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/11/06/canada.drugs/
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CANADA_DRUGS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME

 

[jj99]

Would cheaper drugs affect our salaries overmuch? Seems like that would fall mostly on the drug manufacturers. Does anyone know how well Canadian pharmacists are compensated?

 

[baggywrinkle]

Originally posted by jj99
Would cheaper drugs affect our salaries overmuch? Seems like that would fall mostly on the drug manufacturers. Does anyone know how well Canadian pharmacists are compensated?

I think it would be drug manufacterers who would be singing the blues rather than the pharmacies or pharmacists. Rest assured the manufacterers would scream like a mashed cat. But it might be justice served. Many of those cheap Canadian drugs are manufactured in America and exported. The multinational drug corperations charge whatever the market will bear in each country. I'm not sure, but I believe that in Canada the prices are artificially low due to government subsidy. As to pharmacist compensation in Canada I would guess that they are paid proportionally as well as American pharmacists. Their salary only being less when the exchange rate is taken into account. For sure this is the case in Australia. In all three countries the pharmacist shortage is alive and well - especially out in the rural areas and if you are willing to jump through their legal hoops they will welcome you as a skilled labor immigrant with open arms. I was suprised at how easy it would be to go to Canada under the NAFTA agreement. Less so in Australia because their system is British and very different from our own. It would still be easy for someone right out of school and would just cost them some time (about 2 years) acclimating to different drug names and products (paracetamol rather than acetaminophen for example)