Australian Healthcare Associates was engaged to review the existing supply and remuneration arrangements relating to programs delivered through community pharmacies under Section 100 of the National Health Act 1953, including how these arrangements impact on community pharmacy. The review was funded by the Australian Government and forms part of the Fourth Community Pharmacy Agreement, being implemented by the Agreement Consultative Committee (ACC). The ACC comprises four members from each of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Department of Health and Ageing.
The objectives of the project were to:
- Review the existing supply and remuneration arrangements for drugs listed under Section 100 of the National Health Act 1953 programs and provided through community pharmacies
- Assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the current arrangements as they relate to community pharmacy
- Identify the impact of the supply and remuneration arrangements on community pharmacy and
- Develop options to address any identified impact of the current supply and remuneration arrangements on community pharmacy.
The review included the following programs:
- Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) Program
- Aboriginal Health Services Remote Access (AHSRA) Program
- Opiate Dependence Treatment (ODT) Program
- Special Authority (SA) Program and
- Continuing Medication (CM) Program.
The review involved extensive consultation and involvement of stakeholders to identify the key issues for each program and to formulate options to address these issues – refer review process diagram.
AHA developed a report outlining the set of options to improve delivery arrangements for the five programs. The options were prioritised by the stakeholders according to their feasibility ("do-ability”), acceptability and impact (“value for money”).
This report is available to download from the
Department of Health and Ageing website.