YESTERDAY'S release of the much-anticipated interim report from the Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation (PD breaking news) has attracted mixed feedback, with the Guild, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and wholesalers all expressing concerns about the document.
The Pharmacy Guild has warned that some of the options canvassed, if implemented, could "put at risk one of the most trusted, sustainable and best performing parts of Australia's health system," lacking an evidence base and doing little to allay previously expressed concerns (PD 10 Mar).
Key issues include requiring pharmacies to provide detailed accounts to the government, which has "no legal basis and would be an unprecedented regulatory impost on 5,600 small businesses".
The Guild is also concerned about options which would see dispensing remuneration calculated on the basis of an "efficient cost per unit of production," the suggested breaking up of the Community Pharmacy Agreement, and including the Consumer Health Forum in future agreements.
However some options in the report received the Guild thumbs up including abolition of the optional $1 patient co-payment discount, electronic safety net management, integration of e-scripts with medicine records, better managing hospital discharge and price caps to limit the cash flow impact of high cost medicines.
Guild president George Tambassis said the review should be "enhancing, rather than threatening, one of the most strongly supported parts of Australia's health system".
Meanwhile the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia also expressed concerns about aspects of the report, in particular an implication that $1.9 billion in savings could be generated over four years by the option of a flat dispensing fee of between $9 and $11.50.
"We are seriously concerned about the flow-on effects of this for pharmacists' wages - the main cause of dissatisfaction in the profession," said outgoing PSA national president Joe Demarte.
PSA said there were many positive options in the interim report and particularly agreed with the Review Panel that all parties responsible for the major components of the delivery of PBS medicines should be signatories to future Community Pharmacy Agreements.
Wholesaler peak body the National Pharmaceutical Services Association (NPSA) said options canvassed for removing, retaining or replacing the Community Service Obligation "lack rigour".
NPSA chair Mark Hooper said the document was "extremely disappointing" in that it failed to identify any consequences of its recommendations.
He said it was perplexing that the Review had appeared to ignore the "considerable input" made by the NPSA in its submissions.
The Review Panel is now seeking further input, with public submissions on the interim report open until 23 Jul 2017 at health.gov.au/pharmacyreview.
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