Page 12 - Federal Budget Submission 2016-17

• be accredited or registered against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ (RACGP) Standards for general practices
• maintain practice accreditation
• have public liability insurance and GPs must have professional indemnity cover
• employ or retain services of a GP
• employ or retain services of a registered pharmacist/s.
To be eligible for the PGPIP, a practice must:
Demonstrated benefits
A recent systematic review indicated co-location of pharmacists in general practice clinics resulted in interventions which significantly improved blood pressure, glycosylated haemoglobin (diabetes), cholesterol, osteoporosis management and cardiovascular risk.76 Patient consultations resulted in significant reductions in medication-related problems and improvements in medication adherence.77
Co-location also enabled greater communication, collaboration and relationship building among the health professionals.78,79 Unsurprisingly, there was a significantly higher rate of uptake of a practice pharmacist medication review recommendations by the GP.80
Moreover, the 2010 UK PINCER and PRACtICE studies81,82 found that pharmacists play a critical role in reducing medicine errors in general practice.
GP-based practice pharmacists in the
UK have been said to “contribute hugely
to patient care and support the medicines optimisation agenda. Patient empowerment is enabled and patients have a forum whereby complex medicines-related queries can be answered, thus supporting adherence and improvement in health outcomes.”83
In addition to this existing evidence, a 2015 report by Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) demonstrated that the integration of pharmacists in general practice has
the potential to generate $1.56 in health system savings for every $1 invested in the program.84
The DAE financial analysis was undertaken using the PGPIP model proposed by both the PSA and AMA. The analysis estimated that investment in the program would cost the Government $969.5 million over four years, however, this investment is more than offset by the broader heath savings at a federal, state and consumer level.85
Integrating pharmacists in general practice is expected to yield a net saving of
$544.87 million to the health system over four years. Specifically, these savings are expected to result from86;
• Hospital savings of $1.266 billion
– due to reduced number of hospital admissions following a severe ADE;
• PBS savings of $180.6 million – due to the reduced number of prescriptions from better prescribing and medication compliance;
• Individual savings of $49.8 million
– reduced co-payments for medical consultations and medicines; and
• MBS savings of $18.1 million – due to reduced number of GP attendances following a moderate or severe ADE.
Therefore in addition to positively contributing to the Government’s QUM objectives, this initiative will contribute to a more sustainable PBS and MBS as well
as minimising upward pressure on patient co-payments, improving future access and affordability for Australians.
PSA welcomes the Government’s interest in the integration of pharmacists into general practice and urges the Government to consider
the implementation of this model of practice as a priority in its reform of the primary care system.
12 Federal Budget Submission 2016-17 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd.