THE Pharmacy Guild says it remains "very concerned" about the true intentions of the Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation for the future of community pharmacy, warning that if options for dispensing fee changes are adopted "a large number of community pharmacies would be unable to continue operating as viable businesses".
After being briefed by the Review Panel, executive director David Quilty said, "there is no doubt this Review is causing uncertainty in the sector, and nowhere is this more evident than in relation to dispensing, the core clinical function of any community pharmacy".
Writing in Forefront yesterday, Quilty said the report acknowledged advice from Treasury that the most profitable pharmacies were "only earning normal rates of return on their investments" - but then proceeds to suggest a total dispensing remuneration benchmark of $9 to $11.50, along with modelling a flat $10 dispensing fee that would replace all current dispensing related payments.
"Such an approach would constitute a serious reduction in core pharmacy revenues," he said.
Cutting the dispensing fee to this level would save the government almost $1.5 billion over the life of the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement, "considerably more than the entire 6CPA budget for patient services," Quilty said.
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