Pharmacy Daily | Chemo change deferred

Hospital pharmacy services have been advised to continue supplying and claiming for chemotherapy compounding under the current interim arrangements for the “foreseeable future”. Changes to chemotherapy payments proposed as part of the government’s PBS Access and Sustainability Package (PD 17 Jun) were to be introduced from today. Health Minister Sussan Ley announced the new “two-tiered” system as part of a five year funding agreement to “recognise the additional cost and regulatory burden” required to have a larger TGA-approved compounding facility which would attract a $60 fee, as opposed to the standard $40. Ley said the $372m package would “provide medicine compounders with the certainty needed to viably continue to deliver chemotherapy drugs on demand to patients and doctors nation-wide”. However yesterday the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia confirmed that it had been advised that “the changes which were to come into effect on 1 September 2015 will NOT be implemented”. The SHPA cited a message from the Health Dept saying “While payments from DHS-Medicare will continue to feature the $40 compounding fee, some pharmacy dispensing systems may feature a lower dispensed price for EFC [Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy] items than anticipated. “All EFC payments from DHSMedicare will feature the $40 fee, until such time as Government’s decision on the CCPS is known and is able to be implemented via an external payment agency...this may not be until sometime in 2016.” The PBS website was last night updated with advice that EFC prices in the 01 Sep schedule should retain the $40 fee, and “where applicable an additional $20 compounding fee will be paid separately in accordance with the 2015 PBS Access & Sustainability measures”.

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