THE amount paid out by the Health Department under the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck programs doubled over the two-year period between 2015/16 and 2017/18.
The figures were revealed in a recently released answer to a question which was taken "on notice" during a Senate Community Affairs Committee budget estimates hearing in late May this year.
Senator Stirling Griff asked a Health Department official about the annual expenditure on the program, with the answer confirming that in 2015/16 the programs cost $9.13 million.
The following year that increased to $12.3 million, and then for the 10 months to 30 Apr 2018 the figure was $17.7 million.
The Department noted that from 01 Jul 2017 the number of MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck services able to be claimed by community pharmacies doubled to a total of 20 per calendar month.
"In addition, from 1 February 2018, participating pharmacies were also able to claim additional fees for the collection and provision of health outcomes data on patients receiving these services," the answer stated.
The Department also confirmed that as at 08 Jun 2018 there were 5,410 pharmacies registered to provide services under the MedsCheck program.
Of that total, 5,392 were registered to provide the standard MedsCheck, and 5,399 were registered to provide the Diabetes MedsCheck.
Senator Griff asked what information was being collected to enable an assessment of the effectiveness of the program, with the answer saying that providers must collect health outcomes information for all patients receiving the services, with data collection starting on 01 Feb 2018.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 31 Oct 18
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