THE Society of Hospital Pharmacists has reiterated its position that funding for services provided by pharmacists should be patient-centred, and strive towards better health outcomes.
SHPA ceo Kristin Michaels has outlined a vision for the health system to shift away from "process-centred" pharmacy funding.
"Moving the focus from dispensing processes is crucial in order to support Australia's population and the growth of chronic disease," she said.
SHPA is proposing a single funder for all medicines, which would decrease the current complexity and difficulty of accessing Commonwealth-subsidised drugs.
Writing in the latest edition of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association journal The Health Advocate, Michaels noted that many government-funded clinical pharmacy services, such as the Home Medicines Review program, had been scaled up from hospital-led innovations.
Other similar evolutions are occurring such as smoking cessation, anti-coagulation and opioid de-escalation clinics in the outpatient setting, she said - requiring hospital pharmacists to navigate complex multiple funding programs and rules.
"It is only through the implementation of a new paradigm of pharmacy that we can improve the quality use of medicines, and make inroads into the 230,000 medicines-related hospital admissions each year," she said.
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