PHARMACISTS should be paid for their service skills rather than the speed at which they can dispense medicines, researchers believe.
In an article published on The Conversation, Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences researcher, John Jackson, and University of North Carolina Research Assistant Professor, Ben Urick, said the current pharmacy remuneration model encouraged pharmacies to maximise their revenue by focusing on dispensing volumes ahead of patient care.
"Rather than fast dispensing, it would be better for patients and the health-care system if the funding model paid pharmacists for improving the use of medicines, not just for supplying them," they said.
Jackson and Urick noted that dispensing was more complicated than some mainstream commentators may believe, with pharmacists required to review prescriptions to ensure they are legal and appropriate, and to provide counselling about the medicines they dispense.
"For the vast majority of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriptions, a pharmacy receives the same basic dispensing fee, currently $7.39," they said.
"If you have a medicine dispensed for the first time, if it has a complicated dose, or it carries particular risks such as side effects or interactions, a pharmacist is professionally obliged to provide counselling matched to the risk.
"The more detailed the counselling, the greater the time needed.
"However, at present, the dispensing fee to the pharmacy does not change depending on the level of counselling you need.
"Indeed, the current funding model is a disincentive for the pharmacist to spend time with you explaining your medicine.
"That's because the longer they spend counselling, the fewer prescriptions they can dispense, and the fewer dispensing fees they receive.
"We propose dispensing fees should be linked to the effort pharmacists make to promote improved use of medicines.
"This is based on the principle that counselling means people are more likely to take their medications as prescribed, which improves their health.
"In other words, pharmacists would receive higher dispensing fees when more counselling is required or if counselling leads to patients taking their medications as prescribed."
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