Guild to minimise impacts
March 12, 2013
THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia
has said that it is doing “absolutely
everything within its powers” to
minimise the impact on its
members of the cost blowout in
the Home Medicines Review (HMR)
program.
The comments follow industry
concern over speculation that Guild
members might be required to
cross-subsidise the cost of a rorted
system, and a statement from the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
which suggested that the HMR
controversy highlights failures in
the Community Pharmacy
Agreement negotiations.
“It is grossly unfair that
community pharmacies now face
having remuneration cuts in this
financial year because the Guild's
repeated calls to bring the HMR
program under control have gone
unheeded for so long,” the Guild
said in a statement.
“Worst of all, some of the 200%
blowout in the $8.6 million HMR
program is a direct result of
business practices by a small
number of consultant pharmacists
that are nothing short of rorting the
public purse,” the Guild added.
In addition, the Guild went on to
state that there is fairly clear
evidence of consultant pharmacists
churning through very large
numbers of HMRs outside of
patients' homes in a cosy
relationship with medical corporate
groups.
“At least one large medical
corporation has been flying
consultant pharmacists around the
country, to regional locations, to
their clinics to maximise their
revenue from conducting 'assembly
line' HMRs in medical centres,” the
Guild said.
“Up to 100 HMRs have been done
in a week and the pharmacist did
not even meet the local practice
doctor nor the local community
pharmacist,” the Guild added.
According to the Guild, there is
also evidence of medical practices
seeking commissions (disguised as
rent) from consultant pharmacists
in return for HMR referrals.
“The Guild warned the
Department before the 2011
decision to introduce direct
referrals for HMRs that it would put
the future sustainability of the
program at risk.
“We have been highlighting
examples of questionable HMR
practices for at least six months,”
the Guild said.
“Under the terms of the Agreement,
it is clear that the blowout in the
HMR budget must be funded from
within the Agreement.
“Unfortunately this means that
innocent community pharmacists
will bear some of the burden of this
cost overrun.
“The Guild is doing everything in
its powers to minimise this burden.
First, we are targeting programs
that are underspent.
“Second, we are doing all we can
to minimise the impact on the
bottom line of community,” the
Guild added.
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