HEALTH Minister Greg Hunt (pictured) has given timely reassurance to pharmacies across Australia to provide additional certainty for community pharmacy small businesses in his key address to the Pharmacy Guild of Australia's national conference APP2019.
The Guild welcomed the new measures he announced especially referencing the Government's commitment to retaining the current level of the prescription Administration, Handling and Infrastructure (AHI) fee indexed through to mid-2023, at a cost of around $200 million.
In other measures to support community pharmacy Hunt also:
* Announced a significant improvement in PBS payment timeframes that, from Apr, will see pharmacies reimbursed for PBS prescriptions within two to nine days of dispensing, rather than the current nine to 16 days.
* Committed a re-elected Morrison Government to an early negotiation of the next Community Pharmacy Agreement by the end of this year.
* Committed to working through COAG to ensure pharmacies are given access to National Immunisation Program vaccination stocks in all States and Territories.
* Announced a $5 million mental health pharmacy trial across three States.
The AHI commitment means that the one-off AHI supplement introduced as part of the Pharmacy Compact in 2017 will not expire when the current Agreement ends in Jun 2020.
The AHI, currently $4.04 per prescription, includes the supplementary amount of 36 cents.
Guild National President George Tambassis, said the announcements were particularly welcome for community pharmacies and would provide additional certainty and improved cashflow, building on the Government's welcome removal of the sunset clause in the Location Rules.
Tambassis also welcomed the Minister's assurance that under his watch there would be no change to the moratorium on locating pharmacies within supermarkets.
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