PBS reform opportunity
September 13, 2013
TASMANIAN PSA branch
president Shane Jackson says that
the threat to pharmacy posed
by accelerated price disclosure
can also be seen as a significant
opportunity for the profession.
The changes announced by
former PM Kevin Rudd just before
he called last weekend’s election
have led to a major campaign from
stakeholders across the sector,
pushing for compensation for
reforms which will hit the bottom
lines of pharmacies by an average
of $90,000 each next year.
However Jackson says that any
“restructure package” will give
an opportunity to transform
the remuneration model for
community pharmacy - to remove
the focus on trading terms with
generic medicines and instead
look at remuneration for services
that pharmacies provide through
community pharmacy.
“In my view, we must have a
community pharmacy restructure
package...without this a significant
number of pharmacy jobs will
be lost, pharmacy graduates will
struggle to find intern jobs, and the
services that the community has
expected pharmacists to deliver will
reduce,” Jackson said.
He urged that rather than a
token gesture, any package should
focus on changes that the sector
has been trying to make but has
struggled to realise “because of
the current remuneration structure
of the community pharmacy
agreements”.
Jackson said the Pharmacy
Practice Incentives program should
expand both in terms of the
number of PPI programs available
as well as in remuneration offered.
“Simply, community pharmacy
has been delivering too much
to the community for no
remuneration and this must stop.
“The community must understand
that these services come at a cost...
these services should be funded
and delivered appropriately”.
Jackson said the current
situation creates an opportunity
to have a more transparent
mechanism around community
pharmacy reimbursement for
pharmaceuticals.
“It is this lack of transparency
that has allowed the media to
portray community pharmacists
as greedy, when in essence the
system agreed to by the Guild and
the Government has allowed this to
occur,” he added.
Jackson said pharmacists should
be able to claim a consultation fee
for dealing with minor illnesses,
adding that while PPI programs
provide some funding “it is by no
means sufficient if the government
is going to gouge community
pharmacy remuneration for the
supply of pharmaceuticals”.
Services provided by pharmacists
reduce healthcare system spending
and we “must now be remunerated
appropriately”.
He said the next community
pharmacy agreement should
reflect the new environment, with
the changes an opportunity to
restructure community pharmacy
remuneration that could “futureproof
the profession”.
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