THE first article describing the protocol for Australia's Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial was published in BMJ Open late last month, detailing the "pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial to compare three screening methods for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in Australian community pharmacy".
Co-authored by pharmacists from the University of Sydney and Deakin University, the paper describes the trial conducted in 363 community pharmacies across metropolitan, regional and remote areas of Australia.
The trial formally launched just over a year ago (PD 16 Nov 2016) as a key feature of the Pharmacy Trial Program under the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement.
Both clinical and economic hypotheses are being tested, including the cost-effectiveness impact of additional HbA1c testing undertaken in the pharmacies.
Eligible participating pharmacies receive per-patient payments, via a payment file in GuildCare NG, for each component of the screening service they complete, plus a $750 bonus on successful completion.
Approval has been obtained from the Department of Human Services to obtain screening participants' Medicare Benefit Scheme items relating to claimed fees for health service provision during the trial, with the results to be published on the 6CPA website as well as in peer-reviewed journals.
A comparative analysis will establish whether an elevated AUSDRISK score combined with an elevated POC test result is more clinically- and cost-effective than the AUSDRISK score alone at detecting type 2 diabetes in the community.
See bmjopen.bmj.com.
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