Pharmacies respond to script change

WHILE the Federal Government’s recent Budget confirmed medicines for a wide range of chronic conditions will soon be available on 60-day scripts, with the stated aim of saving patients money, the Pharmacy Guild and many pharmacists have expressed dismay.

They argue that new funding measures for pharmacies announced in the Budget don’t make up for the loss of income that will result from a vast drop in script fees, with only half as many scripts needed for many medicines.

The Budget includes funding of $79.5 million over 4 years from 2023–24, and $19.9 million ongoing, to double the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance to ensure ongoing viability of pharmacies by helping compensate them for reduced dispensing income.

However, while the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance takes account of not only the level of remoteness of a pharmacy, but also its script volume, paying a higher rate for those who fall into lower script number ranges, Ailu Liu, owner of Terry White Chemmart in Leongatha, argues it won’t adequately compensate for script fee losses.

“The amount that’s coming back is still not equivalent to what we’ll be losing,” she said.

“They’re doubling it, but it’s not a lot of money.”

$377.3 million over 4 years from 2023–24, and $98.4 million ongoing, has been allocated in the Federal Budget to make patient access more affordable under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Opioid Dependence Treatment program.

Ailu said that while her pharmacy will receive some benefit from that change, the monetary boost is minimal, and she noted not all pharmacies are involved in that program.

$111.8 million over 4 years from 2023–24, and $24.2 million ongoing, has been budgeted to provide electronic-prescription delivery infrastructure and services, including mandating the use of e-prescribing for high-risk and high-cost medicines subsidised under the PBS.

“That money will be paid straight to the software developers,” Ailu said.

The administration of eligible National Immunisation Program vaccines by pharmacies will be subsidised to the tune of $114.1 million over four years, and $31 million ongoing.

The Pharmacy Guild has calculated that will fund 1.5 million vaccines, equating to about five per pharmacy each week.

National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Trent Twomey said the new dispensing policy will impact patients and their ability to get medicine, advice and services from their local pharmacist.“

“The Government’s $3.5 billion cut will unfortunately mean pharmacists will need to make tough decisions that will see some shut their doors and others shut on weekends, opening later in the morning or closing early in the evening, and it will mean patients miss out on vital medicines and health services,” he said.

The $3.5 billion cuts calculated by the Pharmacy Guild are comprised of $1.2 billion savings to the Federal Government on dispensing fees and a further $2.3 billion that the Guild argues community pharmacies are expected to pay in patient fees for the policy.

Brett Nagel of Amcal Pharmacy in Leongatha expressed strong opposition to the intended change of policy ahead of the budget but is adopting a philosophical approach now the move has been confirmed.

He spoke of the Federal Government having committed to returning savings made through a reduction in the script fees it pays to pharmacies.

“We’ll see how it all plays out,” he said, hoping for further details in coming weeks.

The Pharmacy Guild continues to call on the Federal Government to guarantee that no patient and no community pharmacy will be worse off under its new medicine policy.