ACCESS to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) should not exclude community pharmacies, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia believes.
In its submission to the Federal Government's Allied Health Reference Group inquiry into the Primary Care Reference Groups Consultation - MBS Taskforce Reports, the Guild called for pharmacists to be given access to the MBS when delivering services irrespective of the setting.
"We do not believe that the concept of 'non-dispensing pharmacists' accessing MBS should exclude community pharmacy, or be exclusive to GP surgeries," the Guild said.
"Pharmacists practising in community pharmacies are an integral member of a patient's multidisciplinary healthcare team and should be involved in, and remunerated for activities consistent with other members of the team, such as case conferencing.
"A patient accessing health services should not be disadvantaged by where they choose to access those services, or by which health professional delivers them.
"Pharmacists currently have no option but to charge the patient a service fee for items that other health practitioners may be claiming an MBS item for."
The Guild noted that pharmacy has often been categorised as an "allied health profession", which it said created confusion about the role of the pharmacist within the health system, claiming it had "implications on pharmacists' ability to be seen for their unique expertise as medicine management experts and their access to funds specific to our role and activities in the health system".
With one-in-four pharmacies reporting they employ pharmacists specifically to work in non-dispensing roles the Guild said "there is no reason why these pharmacists could not access MBS for the services they provide to consumers".
The Guild added that while it supported the integration of pharmacists into general practice, it was concerned that it would "exacerbate existing workforce pressures and the sustainability of the community pharmacy network".
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