Pharmacy Daily | Chemo threat remains

The threat to community pharmacy from the Government seeking to fund the shortfall in chemotherapy remuneration from the Community Pharmacy Agreement has not gone away. A recent Department of Health and Ageing discussion paper for its “Review of funding arrangements for chemotherapy services” does not rule out this shortfall being funded out of the Agreement. The Guild has clear and unequivocal legal advice that this is not part of the Agreement which is a standalone document and makes no mention of chemotherapy. This shortfall cannot be sourced from the Agreement without the Guild’s approval as a signatory. At $60 per infusion, which is the level of interim funding the Government is providing until the end of this year from outside the Agreement, the impact would be $11,500 per pharmacy. We call on politicians from all sides to give a clear commitment that the shortfall in chemotherapy funding cannot and will not be sourced from the Agreement. Both sides of politics must recognise that a relatively small proportion of the budget savings from price disclosure – savings estimated to be $220 million for chemotherapy this year alone – needs to be reinvested to address this shortfall.

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