SHPA urges governance
August 14, 2015
The Society of Hospital
Pharmacists of Australia says the
abolition of the Program Reference
Group (PRG) under the Sixth
Community Pharmacy Agreement
“will compromise the governance
of the current and future CPAs”.
In a submission to a parliamentary
enquiry looking at the Australian
National Audit Office report into the
Administration of the 5CPA, SHPA
said it is vital that a representative
stakeholder group be in place and
be a “central governance body for
the term of the 6CPA”. The PRG met infrequently during
the 5CPA, SHPA said, and was “not
appropriately consulted on changes
to program funding, access criteria
and payment rules to programs”.
The SHPA also said the ANAO
should have recommended that
rather than just the Guild, the
CPAs be negotiated with all key
stakeholders, “particularly those
in the hospital sector” which
comprises close to 20% of the PBS.
Unintended consequences of
price disclosure which threatened
the viability of chemotherapy
services were a result of the Guild
showing a “lack of understanding of
the practical issues,” SHPA said.
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