NEGOTIATIONS for the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA) will "start in earnest" today, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Annual Parliamentary Dinner last night.
The Minister pledged that the upcoming agreement would deliver certainty for community pharmacy and reduce fluctuations in payments, while strengthening medicines safety.
"We're developing a model to set the remuneration, through negotiations and discussions, which we believe will be fair and reasonable," he said.
"So what [Guild National President] George [Tambassis] has set out and we agree with is agreeing on a trajectory where we will have a real outcome in terms of remuneration you can bank on - it's protected for us, because we know what we'll have to pay, and it's protected for you, because you'll know what you will receive, so you can see over the next five years this is the amount and this time that amount will effectively be guaranteed."
Hunt said the framework would also ensure the simplification of the payment system through the 7CPA.
He added that the Government planned to introduce new legislation to adjust the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) safety net, over the next two days.
"We will be reducing the number of concessional scripts from 60 to 48 before someone is eligible to qualify for the safety net," he said.
"It means people will get free medicines earlier, but without detriment to any of the pharmacies involved.
"It's an investment of over $300 million, but it's an investment in pharmacy and in patient medicine affordability."
At the dinner, Hunt also took the opportunity to highlight the positive impact pharmacists working to their full scope will have on the healthcare system, reporting that a record number of Australians had received an influenza vaccine this year.
"Over the last two years we've gone from eight million flu vaccinations in Australia to 13.2 million vaccinations, with two million of those now being delivered in pharmacy on the latest figures," he said.
"What that says is you're helping to expand health services in Australia."
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