Department of Health’s administration of 5CPA “mixed”.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has recommended the Department of Health report annually on the actual cost of each major component of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA) and the Sixth Agreement.
The ANAO released its audit of the administration of the 5CPA to the public today with eight recommendations made.
To improve transparency and the quality of program performance reporting, one recommendation was for the annual reporting of the CPA components, including pharmacy remuneration, CSO wholesaler payments and professional programs.
Overall, the Department of Health’s administration of the 5CPA had been “mixed”, the ANAO said, and there was a “limited basis” for assessing the extent to which the Agreement had met its key objectives.
While the Department had developed and negotiated a complex agreement and contracts in a timely manner, a number of government negotiating objectives for the 5CPA were “only partially realised” and there had been shortcomings in key aspects of its administration at the development, negotiation and implementation phases, the ANAO said.
Net savings from initiatives covered by the 5CPA were estimated to be $0.6b in the 2010-11 Budget Papers, but ANAO analysis had indicated the net savings estimated before the agreement was signed were closer to $0.4b, “due to shortcomings in the Department’s 5CPA estimation methodology”, the ANAO said.
The Department of Health said it agreed with the recommendations and had already implemented improvements relating to issues identified in the report and previous draft reports, including enhancing financial modelling processes to separately report on cost impacts to government and patients.
“The Department acknowledges there is scope to realise further improvement in the effective and efficient administration of these agreements and welcomes the recommendations as a platform for ongoing development of future community pharmacy agreements and transparent engagement with the pharmacy sector.”
For more, see tomorrow’s Pharmacy Daily.
