Flagship programs neglected
May 13, 2010
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PROMINENT pharmacists from
universities across Australia have
expressed their disappointment at
the scrapping of two flagship
professional pharmacy programs
covering chronic disease from the
Fifth Community Pharmacy
Agreement.
According to Professor Carol
Armour of the University of Sydney,
the two key programs, the Diabetes
Medication Assistance Service
(DMAS) and Pharmacy Asthma
Management Service (PAMS) were
developed by pharmacists for
community pharmacy and
represented significant investment
by the sector.
PAMS was developed from the
Second through the to the Fourth
Agreement, while DMAS was
developed through the Third and
Fourth Agreements, and both have
now been left high and dry without
any ongoing funding.
An open letter from Armour and
other colleagues including Gregory
Peterson of the University of
Tasmania, Lynne Emmerton from
the University of Queensland, Kay
Stewart from Monash University
and Jeff Hughes of the Curtin
University of Technology, slams the
move, saying “How can this be?
“The absence of ongoing
funding for these two programs
was announced at the end of a
series of pilot and randomised
controlled implementation trials,
all of which demonstrated positive
improvements in patient health in
primary care as a result of
structured pharmacist
interventions.”
According to the programs’
development teams, until funding
was cut off both schemes had
produced significant mprovements
in patient health outcomes
“equivalent to adding [a] new
therapy, at a much lower cost than
adding new drugs to the PBS.
“Indeed, the services are highly
cost effective. Importantly, patients
have appreciated the value of
these services and how they fill a
gap in, or complement diabetes or
asthma care delivered by other
health care professionals,” the
statement said.
The two programs included
pharmacist remuneration, which
according to the group, was in
keeping with modern trends of
moving pharmacy away from a
purely product focus to a more
intergrated model of medication
management.
“At a time when we are so
worried about not only costs, but
also the increased burden of
chronic disease, it would seem that
these services should be integral to
our primary care strategy,” they said.
“The scrapping of these
professional services represents a
lost opportunity for both the
profession and the community to
make better use of its health care
workforce in combating and
managing chronic disease.
“In addition, it contradicts the
recommendations of the Australia’s
Health Workforce Research report,”
the statement added.
The pharmacist academics are
urging their colleagues from across
the industry to “take any
opportunity to lobby decision
makers and advocate for the need
to integrate pharmacists into the
health-care team in delivering
chronic disease management for
the benefit of the community, the
government and the profession”.
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