THE Community and Pharmacy Support Group (CAPS) has written to general practitioners, asking them to be "mindful" when prescribing 60-day prescriptions "unless it is in the patient's financial best interests and meets the clinical guidelines to do so".
CAPS, which has been actively engaging with stakeholders across the pharmacy sector in relation to 60DD (PD 12 Sep), noted that most non-concessional patient co-payments are lower than the $30 co-payment "so a 60DD prescription will just mean that the patient pays double, meaning that there is no saving".
The mass mailout also asks GPs to consider not prescribing 60DD items to safety net patients, or those that will reach the safety net, because again it will be of no financial benefit to them.
The letter poses key questions suggesting that prescribing stable medicines via 60DD may "give the Government further impetus to allow pharmacists to prescribe these medicines" and also raises the possibility that 60DD may also allow the Health Department to ultimately reduce the billing fee associated with GP care plans.
"We ask that you as a prescriber speak to your local pharmacist before you make the decision to prescribe 60DD for your patients, to ensure it is in the best interest of the patients now and into the future," the CAPS letter concludes.
The document also includes a 60-day prescription "decision support tool" (pictured) which outlines the "losers" from the initiative. BP
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