Drug-dispensing fees are one of the hottest targets in the battle to decrease health insurance costs.

Some insurance providers are currently advising employers to alert staff to the widely varying fees charged by drugstores to fill prescriptions.

For example, in 2005, Nova Scotia pharmacies charged among $4.42 and $11.74 to fill a instruction, a Manulife Financial survey found. The fees also diverse within chains such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Sobeys.

A dispensing fee covers professional services such as patient counseling, monitoring drug therapy, providing drug information to physicians and dispensing pharmaceuticals.

It also covers stocking of medication, preserving patient medication records and general operating costs such as taxes, salaries and rent.

Pat King, spokesman for the Nova Scotia Pharmaceutical Society, said those costs clarify why fees vary so much.

"They might be lower in a high-traffic area where sales are greater. But if rents are higher, that could affect it (the charge) as well."