THE Victorian Pharmacy Authority (VPA) has revised its audit arrangements, advising that in the future it intends to undertake pharmacy ownership audits on the basis of notifications or intelligence from its regulatory activities.
The change means the VPA will discontinue auditing on the basis of annual targets, having just completed a three year program of risk-based ownership audits introduced in 2020 "to address the perception among pharmacists that there are breaches of the Pharmacy Regulation Act 2010 in regard to undeclared interests".
The VPA said it had conducted 140 ownership and 21 financial audits over the last three years, finding just two instances of non-compliance - one where profit was being distributed to trust beneficiaries not eligible to have a proprietary interest, and the other where the owner had not applied for a new licence when they switched to a corporate structure for their pharmacy.
As well as continuing audits based on notifications, the VPA said it would "continue its comprehensive reviews of franchise and other complex commercial agreements to ensure compliance with the ownership and undue influence provisions of the Act".
"These initiatives, along with the VPA's comprehensive licence application processes, will help detect and deter unlawful pharmacy ownership arrangements," the VPA said.
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