PHARMACIES are being locked out of COVID-19 financial support programs for dispensing high-cost, low-volume medications that skew stores' turnover, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Queensland Branch President, Trent Twomey, reports.
Addressing a Queensland Parliament Economics and Governance Committee hearing last week, Twomey raised concerns about the rules governing JobKeeper and eligibility for rental relief.
"The mandatory code of conduct nationally relies on two particular measures," he said.
"One is a reduced turnover of 30% and the second is being eligible for JobKeeper.
"The Guild has made recommendations to the Australian Taxation Office because we believe this is too much of a blunt instrument to truly assess whether or not a tenancy in the community pharmacy space is under undue pressure.
"What we mean specifically here is the fact that many of the molecules we dispense, which traditionally may only have been made available through the hospital network, are high-cost, low-volume drugs.
"We have HIV medicine and Hep C medication that can cost $22,000 a month.
"This is skewing the turnover of community pharmacy.
"We are paid $99 for dispensing something that may cost $22,000.
"If we removed these from our turnover figures, which would normalise our profit-and-loss statements, it would show that we would be eligible in any other circumstances for rental relief.
"What we are seeing is community pharmacists being placed in an awkward position.
"We do not want to say no to these patients who are presenting to our pharmacies for this important treatment.
"We do not want to send people back unnecessarily for potentially preventable hospital presentations when they can receive this treatment from the community pharmacy network.
"Unfortunately, our members are being unduly penalised financially because they are ineligible for things like JobKeeper or even rental relief."
Twomey added pharmacy staff have the skills and knowledge to perform more tasks to support the primary care network in reducing pressure on secondary and tertiary health systems.
"We stand here not with an arm out asking for a handout but with an arm extended in partnership to ensure that you know we are not asking for any world firsts or any Australian firsts; we are just asking for you to remove all the unnecessary red tape and regulatory burdens that prohibit us from practising to our full scope of practice," he said.
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