NSW health check funding
June 28, 2012
THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia
has hit back at claims of pharmacist
double dipping made in the SMH.
The claims related to the recently
announced $7.26 million in funding
for pharmacies to provide the
Community Pharmacy Health Checks
Know Your Numbers programadministered
by the National
Stroke Foundation and the Guild.
The article suggested that the
funds would mean pharmacists are
double dipping on check-ups, with
funding for health checks now
coming at both NSW State and
Federal levels.
“The Community Pharmacy
Health Checks “Know Your
Numbers” program encourages and
supports pharmacies to identify
people at risk of chronic disease
[and are] funded by the NSW
government with a specific focus of
preventative health,” the Guild said.
“This differs from the Primary
Health Care incentives paid through
the 5CPA which is funded by the
Commonwealth, whereby
incentives are paid for specific
activities which may be short term
and require pharmacies to have
prior registration with 5CPA.
“Pharmacy Practice Incentives
under 5CPA is a start up incentive
to help pharmacies prepare for
providing the health promotion/
screening, which is generally short
term.
“It is not a payment for service,
and pharmacies are still able to
charge for those services they
provide if they wish,” the Guild
added.
MEANWILE the funding will be
dished out over the next four years,
and will provide $1,000 per
pharmacy per year to participate in
the Know Your Numbers campaign.
The program will restrict the
number of participating pharmacies
to 300 in the first year, 500 in the
second year and 750 in the third
and fourth years of operation.
In addition the funds will be
contingent on pharmacies
conducting a minimum of 100
Know Your Numbers checks on
patients in the first year, and then
200 checks per annum for
subsequent years.
The funding will also cover
development and distribution of
resources to consumers; health
promotion resources; blood
pressure monitoring devices; social
marketing; program staff;
evaluation and infrastructure; as
well as the development of
partnerships and integration of this
program with General Practice.
The National Stroke Foundation’s
program encourages Australians to
reduce their risk of stroke by having
a ‘Know Your Numbers’ free health
check at a participating pharmacy.
The health check involves
pharmacists taking patients’ blood
pressure, and having the patient
complete a questionnaire to
identify whether they are at risk of
stroke, heart disease and diabetes.
Patients who are identified as “at
risk” are then referred to their GP
for advice on how to lower the risk
and to stay healthy.
When the program launched in
May, 470 community pharmacies
had registered to participate in the
Know Your Numbers May Campaign,
300 of which committed to
continuing the service through 2012.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 Jun 12To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 28 Jun 12
