Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacies can’t wait for RAT rebate

EFFORTS to rollout free rapid antigen test (RAT) kits to concession cardholders through pharmacies are being hampered by the sluggish reimbursement process, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, believes.

With participating pharmacies required to source their own pre-paid stock, and initial payments not expected to be made by the Federal Government until late Feb, Twomey told The Guardian that "many small pharmacies can't afford to wait this long".

Under the scheme eligible patients will be able to receive a total of 10 RATs over the next three months, which are required to be provided in packs of two or five, with pharmacies receiving $10 plus GST for each test, and an administration handling and infrastructure fee of $4.30 for each transaction - i.e. $26.30 for a two pack, or $59.30 for five.

Twomey noted that the reimbursement fees were set by the Government prior to the surge in wholesale prices, which have seen pharmacies pay up to $17.50 a test in recent weeks.

"The reimbursed price set by the Government has clearly been calculated on the wholesale cost of the tests around early Dec," he said.

"The wholesale prices have gone up because of the demand, and distributors are chartering jets to bring the product in, and then employing staff at weekends and on overtime to process orders which are dispatched by express courier services.

"They are also competing with overseas markets for the product.

"All of these factors come at a cost which is passed along in wholesale prices to pharmacists.

"If the Government wants to improve accessibility they can improve the timeframe they reimburse pharmacies.

"At the moment the Government won't be making the first payments until the end of Feb."

Speaking during a Guild webinar last week, the organisation's Health Economics and Policy Committee Chair, Anthony Tassone, acknowledged the requirement for pharmacies to procure stock for the program was "a cashflow impost" for many stores (PD 21 Jan), adding that efforts were being made to get the Government to pay pharmacies for RATs provided through the program on a fortnightly basis.

In addition to having to wait for payments pharmacies participating in the program are required to record transactions in the Guild's Project COVID real-time monitoring system.