63% HMRs by non-pharm
March 14, 2014
Sixty three percent of Home
Medicines Reviews (HMRs) are
currently delivered by business
entities other than community
pharmacy.
That’s according to the most
recent figures quoted by Pharmacy
Guild of Australia national president
George Tambassis, speaking at APP
2014 yesterday about the changes
to the Fifth Agreement programs,
including the controversial service
caps for HMRs and MedsCheck
programs (PD 13 Feb).
Tambassis said from the most
recent figures, the provision of
HMRs was currently dominated by
non-pharmacy entities; this comes
in the wake of the Guild’s call for an
audit of the MedsCheck program,
following reports that Chemist
Warehouse had been heavily
promoting the service within its
pharmacies (PD 06 Mar).
He described the caps as a
“tough decision” brought about
by government fiscal pressure, but
stressed that the budget for such
programs had not been cut, and
that HMRS would receive double
the original funding by the end of
the Fifth Community Pharmacy
Agreement, because of overspend
and the budget increase agreed to
12 months ago (PD 26 Mar 13).
“The caps are intended to
ensure the services can continue
to be provided, albeit with those
necessary restrictions.”
The Guild estimated that a small
number of service providers,
around 97, were performing
more than 20 HMRs per month
and regretted the impact this
would have on some pharmacists’
incomes.
Tambassis said figures showed
the vast majority of pharmacies
were performing fewer than 10
MedsChecks a month, and so the
majority would not be affected by
the cap, although he emphasised
that the Guild strongly supported
the transition to remunerate
professional programs.
MEANWHILE Tambassis said the
availability of online registration
and claiming for the professional
service had proven popular, with
3000 pharmacists having already
registered online giving them real
time data to better manage their
budgets, and with more certainty.
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