IN ANTICIPATION of the probable success of the TerryWhite Chemmart-BUPA strategic partnership announced yesterday (PD breaking news), AMA President Tony Bartone has come out all guns blazing in a vehement reaction.
Clearly threatened by the arrangement, Bartone slammed the deal saying it was a "direct attack on general practice that could lead to patients receiving inappropriate primary health care and advice."
By contrast, the announcement from the two strategic partners yesterday focused on the benefits to consumers' needs, saying they will have "access to a range of health services and benefits" as well as "helping them feel rewarded and valued for staying healthy".
Bupa Health Insurance Managing Director Dr Dwayne Crombie said the partnership is intended to deliver more value for money for customers and make healthcare easier to access for Bupa's four million health insurance customers.
"Health insurance has traditionally had limited involvement in pharmacy," Crombie said.
"This partnership will provide customers with an opportunity to reduce costs on medication and pharmaceutical supplies and have ready access to healthcare advice and preventative care."
TerryWhite Chemmart CEO Anthony White said the partnership was an important strategic alliance aligned with its vision to be customers' choice for health and value to become Australia's favourite pharmacy.
"We have a reputation for delivering professional trusted advice, great value prices and highly accessible frontline healthcare," White said.
"Our partnership with Bupa will allow us to offer that service to more Australians."
Bartone strongly defended his GPs' turf saying, "General practice is the foundation of quality primary health care in Australia, and any threats to undermine it or replace it with inferior models of care must be rejected".
"It is outrageous that a large health insurer like Bupa would endeavour to undermine general practice, especially after a thorough Government review of private health insurance to ensure that policyholders received high quality and value for money for their significant investment in insurance."
Speaking of duplicated effort and fragmented care, Bartone concluded his enthusiastic defence with, "This Bupa partnership is an insult to GPs and a dud deal for Bupa customers".
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