Disease state coordination
May 14, 2010
THE Pharmacy Guild says the
demise of the Diabetes Medication
Assistance Service (DMAS) and the
Pharmacy Asthma Medication
Service (PAMS) in the Fifth
Agreement funding (PD yesterday)
reflects a change in the way that
the Government wants to handle
funding for particular conditions.
Responding to yesterday’s PD
story, Guild President Kos Sclavos
said that the govt wants to take a
“whole of disease state” approach
by funding treatment in a “much
more systemised way.
“The Government no longer
wants to have buckets of money in
different areas without a
coordinated strategy and outcomes
set,” he told PD last night.
Sclavos said this means that with
the government taking responsibility
for primary care, pharmacy will
have to compete with other groups
such as doctors or nurses.
“Funding for programs will be
there, but not in the Agreement,”
he said, giving the example of the
$449.2m budget commitment to
deliver coordinated primary health
care for people with diabetes.
Under this scheme patients will
enrol with a GP who will help
organise access to additional
services as set out in a personalised
care plan - and be paid, in part, on
the basis of their performance in
keeping their patients healthier.
The government estimates that
260,000 patients will be part of the
scheme by 2013, providing more
personalised flexible care resulting
in better managed diabetes and
fewer avoidable hospital admissions.
This program starts in July 2012
and payments under the scheme to
allied health such as pharmacists
will amount to up to $120.
Sclavos said that the Medicines
Use Reviews under the Fifth
Agreement will “pick up the slack”
left by the demise of DMAS and
PAMS.
“The key learnings in diabetes
and asthma by pharmacists
involved in the DMAS and PAMS
programs will not be lost - obviously
these pharmacists have a real
interest in these key areas of
practice so I imagine that when it
comes to selecting their patients for
an MUR they will be biased towards
those where their interests and
additional skills lie,” he said.
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