Pharmacy Daily | No one-size-fits-all for 60DD

RURAL pharmacists are likely to face greater challenges compensating for financial losses resulting from the introduction of 60-day dispensing than city and regional counterparts, according to the Remote and Isolated Pharmacist Association Australia (RIPAA).

While city pharmacists can move to maximise professional services, such as vaccinations and medication management services, and potentially add new ones, RIPAA suggests this would be considerably more difficult for rural pharmacies - especially those run by a sole operator - without financial and workforcesupport.

"There is only so much you can manage with one pharmacist; growth opportunities are limited in locations where the population is not increasing; and in lower socio-economic communities, patients cannot and will not pay for additional services," said a RIPAA spokesperson.

"Providing additional services in rural areas often means providing them at a loss, which will only accelerate our demise," they continued.

"You can't be in a consult room with a patient for 20-30 minutes while also overseeing dispensing activities, you cannot be outside the pharmacy at the aged care facility, or undertaking a Home Medicine Review, and at the same time keep the pharmacy open."

RIPAA pointed out that despite increases in the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance (RPMA), the cost of hiring an additional pharmacist in rural areas, including wages and other costs such as travel and accommodation, can far exceed the revenue that new services can bring in.

"The increased RPMA may help to ensure dispensaries stay open in rural areas - for now - but it simply isn't adequate to enable significant expansion of pharmacy services that are crucial for future sustainability," said the spokesperson.

According to RIPAA, the only path for the future is a properly funded service model that is viable and sustainable in rural locations - a model that supports the crucial role of pharmacists as part of the primary health care team - and under current funding structures and arrangements, there is not much scope for rural pharmacies to reposition themselves for the future.

Without such changes, said RIPAA, pharmacy risks going down the same path as rural general practice, which is facing its own crises with GP shortages and practice closures.

"Right now, rural Australians still enjoy relatively good access to pharmacies, but we cannot take that for granted," RIPAA warned. KB