PHARMACY Guild of Australia negotiators are pushing for the Federal Government to expedite payments to participants in the provision of free rapid antigen tests (RATs) to concession cardholders.
Speaking during a Guild webinar on Wed, the organisation's Health Economics and Policy Committee Chair, Anthony Tassone, acknowledged the requirement for pharmacies to procure stock for the program was a burden on store cashflows.
Tassone confirmed pharmacies will be paid $10 plus GST per test, with an administrative handling and infrastructure fee of $4.30 for each transaction, with initial payments to be made by the Pharmacy Programs Administrator (PPA) before the end of Feb.
"We are advocating and pushing as hard as we can to have that payment as soon as possible," he said.
"We know in many, if not all, cases, we're basically having to pay upfront for these orders to get stock for the end of the month or early Feb.
"That is a cashflow impost, we get it, we know it, and we're putting that forward to the Federal Government and the Department of Health.
"In terms of from thereafter, we're pushing as hard as we can to get these payments on a fortnightly basis."
Tassone noted that while the business rules for the program have yet to be finalised, pharmacies will be required to hold Section 90 approval, QCPP accreditation, supply RATs in packs of two or five, and record all transactions for concessional RATs through GuildCare's new Project COVID real-time monitoring system.
He said that Project COVID will be available to all pharmacies, to ensure patients have not exceeded monthly allocations, while also reporting transactions to the PPA for payment.
Meanwhile Guild National President, Trent Twomey, told the webinar that the Guild was extending its findapharmacy.com.au site to enable pharmacies to record that they are participating in the concessional RAT program.
The update will include a function to enable stores to change their status twice a day depending on whether or not they have RATs available for concessional patients.
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