Home · What is a MedsCheck?
A free, one-on-one review of everything you take.
The MedsCheck program, in plain language: what it is, who qualifies, what happens during the consultation, and what the research says it does for patients.
What is a MedsCheck?
In Ontario, a MedsCheck is a government-funded medication review program designed to help people who are taking multiple medications manage them more effectively.
It is a one-on-one consultation with a pharmacist, who reviews all of the medications you take — prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and herbal products. During the consultation, the pharmacist discusses your medication regimen with you, checks for potential drug interactions, and gives recommendations on how to optimize the effectiveness and safety of your medications.
The program is intended to promote safe and effective medication use, and to help you better understand your medications and how to take them correctly. The consultation is free of charge to you — it is funded by the Ontario government.
Who is eligible?
You may be eligible for a MedsCheck if you are:
- An Ontario resident with a valid Ontario health card
- Taking three or more prescription medications for a chronic condition, or recently discharged from hospital with three or more prescription medications
- Able to communicate with the pharmacist effectively — in person, or through a caregiver or translator if necessary
There are also MedsCheck services for people living with diabetes, follow-up MedsChecks after an initial review, and reviews for residents of long-term care homes.
What happens during a MedsCheck?
The pharmacist goes through your complete medication list with you — what each medication is for, when and how you take it, and how it's working for you. They look for drug interactions, duplications, side effects and other drug therapy problems, talk through anything that could be simplified, and — where something should change — make recommendations and communicate with your physician. You leave with a clearer picture of your own regimen and an up-to-date medication list.
The short version
- Free for eligible Ontario residents
- One-on-one with a pharmacist
- Covers everything — prescriptions, over-the-counter products and herbals
- At the pharmacy, at home, or in long-term care
Own a pharmacy?
Your patients are eligible — and most pharmacies never book them. Rxperts runs the whole program for you, at no upfront cost.
For pharmaciesWhy it matters
What the evidence shows.
Medication reviews have been studied in Canada and internationally. The consistent finding: people on complex regimens do better when a pharmacist reviews the whole list.
Better adherence, fewer emergencies
A Canadian study comparing 474 patients who received MedsChecks with 389 who did not found significantly higher medication adherence in the MedsCheck group — along with fewer emergency department visits and lower healthcare costs.
Inappropriate medications: 13.4% → 4.4%
In an Ontario study spanning 151 community pharmacies and more than 25,000 patients, the proportion of patients taking inappropriate medications fell from 13.4% before their MedsCheck to 4.4% after it.
Safer deprescribing
Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that MedsChecks help identify medications that can be safely deprescribed — reducing the number of medications a patient takes and decreasing medication-related problems.
Lighter burden, better quality of life
A study in the Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy found MedsChecks reduced the number of medications patients were taking and improved their quality of life — the daily payoff of a regimen that's been properly reviewed.