MOVING away from the community pharmacy model of dispensing to a centralised supplier could cut healthcare costs, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) believes.
In its submission to the Review of the National Medicines Policy (NMP), the RACGP noted "there are alternative models to community pharmacy dispensing that offer efficiencies and reduced costs to the consumer and the broader health system that should be considered", to improve access to medicines.
"For example, a central supplier would take on the role of drug storage and supply of drugs for non-urgent illness medication, rather than pharmacies as is now the case, and medication delivery would utilise IT and transport systems taking the drugs straight to the patient's door," the RACGP said.
"In such models, computer decision support, quality use of medicine (QUM) with practice-based pharmacist support could be effective mechanisms for patient education and safety monitoring."
The College also called for the NMP to support the removal of the Authority Prescription System, saying the move would "increase efficiency and productivity without any impact on safety".
While the RACGP has recommended shifting away from the community pharmacy network for dispensing medicines, it has called on the NMP to advocate for investment in GP-pharmacist services to support quality use of medicines.
"As a key component of a multidisciplinary team, practice-based pharmacists allow general practices to increase their capacity to offer medication management and education services to patients. Increasing capacity for these services will reduce fragmentation of care and increase medication safety," the RACGP said.
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