A decision by the Alberta College of Pharmacists to stop the practice of allowing patients to collect rewards on medication rewards has resulted in Safeway, the grocery store chain which is now owned by Sobey’s, taking the college to court.

According to the college, patients should not consider incentives, including Air Miles, when selecting where to purchase their medication. There is fear among some pharmacists that patients may attempt to purchase more medication than they require in order to obtain reward miles.

Safeway claims they’re providing a valuable service with Air Miles. The reward program brings people into their pharmacies which is a positive step in ensuring people receive the medication they require.

“What we've found is patients are generally more adherent, they actually build stronger relationships with our pharmacists when these types of benefits are in place,” explains Chad Rieger of Safeway. “We found with Air Miles that we’ve actually seen an increase in frequency of fills, so patients are more adherent to their prescriptions or filling them when they should.”

The decision by the Alberta College of Pharmacists follows similar decisions by several other provinces to remove the use of reward programs.

“It’s very important that we have an ethical framework and standards that support objective decision making that focuses very much on the appropriate use of drugs and, in some cases, making decisions where people should not be taking drugs,” said Greg Eberhart, Alberta College of Pharmacists.

The removal of reward programs and incentives was scheduled to begin on May 1, 2014, but the change has been delayed to June 10, 2014. A court decision could further delay the ending of rewards.

With files from CTV's Chris Epp