Guild DoHA chemo battle
May 13, 2013
THE Pharmacy Guild has slammed
“flawed thinking” in a Senate
Committee report delivered on
Fri, which follows a last minute
submission by the Department
of Health and Ageing over
chemotherapy funding.
The Department argued that
because the Fifth Community
Pharmacy Agreement included
some compensation for the impact
of the 2010 MoU with Medicines
Australia, chemotherapy funding
should be sourced from that money.
The Guild says this is “completely
fallacious” because the funding
of the costs entailed in delivering
specialised chemotherapy
pharmacy services is provided for
completely separately to the 5CPA.
“The Agreement makes absolutely
no mention of chemotherapy and
contains no funding provisions for
these services,” the Guild said in a
communication to members.
The price disclosure MoU
related compensation in the
Fifth Agreement is in the form of
program and incentives funding
and applies across the entire
community pharmacy sector, not
just the 1-2% of pharmacies which
deliver chemotherapy services.
“The overwhelming majority of
the medicines impacted by the
price disclosure MoU have nothing
to do with chemotherapy and if
the Department was being upfront
and transparent, it would break
down the $277 million in MoU
compensation according to the
impacted PBS medicines,” the Guild
communication said.
Reporting of the Senate
Committee report on Sat has
drawn a swift response,with Guild
President Kos Sclavos writing to the
Sydney Morning Herald and the
Canberra Times citing “seriously
muddled thinking” in the report.
He said that while the 5CPA does
provide some funding to help
offset the impact of PBS reforms,
“it was never intended to pay for
the additional costs entailed in
chemotherapy services” which are
funded separately.
“The Guild welcomes the
Government’s responsible
approach,” Sclavos wrote, saying
there would be a serious impact
on the viability of all pharmacies if
if the Senate Committee’s “flawed
thinking” were to become a reality.
The Guild has told members
that it “will not be bullied” on this
matter, with high level legal advice
received that “comprehensively
and definitely” concludes the govt
has no authority to fund the chemo
shortfall from the Agreement.
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