Page 17 - Federal Budget Submission 2016-17

Equitable eHealth incentives to promote uptake
As the health system’s medication experts, pharmacists will need to play a prominent and consistent role in the Government’s eHealth initiatives in order to maximise the anticipated benefits, such as improvements in medication safety.118 Early data indicates that community pharmacies are eager to participate in this initiative.119
Only 11% of the Australian population is currently registered for a My Health Record.120 Clearly there is much to do to facilitate widespread understanding and adoption of the My Health Record platform.
To ensure this technology is used in an effective and meaningful way by health professionals, there needs to be an implementation strategy to address any barriers to the adoption of the technology. A critical element of this will be supporting health practitioners with appropriate
information, training and incentives. However, at present, only GPs are incentivised to upload information onto the shared health record.
PSA urges Government to establish a similar incentive scheme to maximise the opportunity for pharmacists to assist in providing information to consumers and facilitate their registration process
as well as uploading relevant data. The network of community pharmacies in Australia and the accessibility of pharmacists to consumers are vital resources that should be supported appropriately.
In order to ensure the success of the My Health Record the Government must establish equitable incentives for all health professionals to participate in eHealth initiatives and My Health Record.
Solutions for a stronger, more sustainable primary care system
“ Primary care is the foundation of our health care system.121
The delivery of successful primary care in Australia is determined by the provision of continuous, co-ordinated and patient centred care by all health care providers working in collaboration and with patient needs being paramount.122 Importantly, primary care acts as the interface between costly, more complex health care services and the wider community. In Australia, primary health care endeavours to provide for most needs most of the time, to be universally available and to be accessible for all patients.123
The Government has much to gain from investing in initiatives that improve coordination and management of chronic conditions.
There is growing evidence that this results in improved utilisation of resources, including medicines and ancillary health services, leading to improved health outcomes.124
Yet structurally, the health system is effectively working against these goals. Currently almost all funding for pharmacist-delivered services comes not from within the MBS where the other programs sit,
but from the PBS as part of the Community Pharmacy Agreements. This leaves the pharmacy programs largely isolated from other programs administered by different sections within the Department of Health. This is the current situation, and without change,
will continue into the future.
The breadth of locations in which pharmacists work, and their important contribution in each of these settings, is well aligned with the shift towards more collaborative and patient-centred models of health care designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health system, particularly for consumers with chronic disease.125
This is a key focus of the Government’s reform agenda through mechanisms such as the Primary Health Care Advisory Group (PHCAG) and the Inquiry into Chronic Disease Prevention and Management in Primary Health Care.126 However, the role for Australian pharmacists
in these collaborative, consumer-centred models has thus far been described in very limited and peripheral terms127, in contrast to international models.128
This unfortunately leaves Australia lagging behind in terms of applying the evidence; the models in which significant benefits have been demonstrated internationally are GP-led, but use an expanded staffing model in which nurses, pharmacists and others assume greater care management roles.129
Without collaborative and integrated arrangements, a large number of Australians with chronic diseases are missing out, and an opportunity to improve their health is being lost.
Emerging evidence suggests that ensuring the sustainability of the health system will be more about reducing wasteful spending than imposing cuts on critical elements of primary care – including pharmacists.130 There is room in the system to make these smarter investments if the right structural changes are made.131
There is clearly much more that can be done to optimise the contribution of pharmacists who can work within a collaborative framework to provide medication management and self-care support and education for consumers with chronic and complex conditions. There is great potential to positively impact the health outcomes and quality of lives of all Australians, while reducing costs. Pharmacists are critical to the Government’s efforts to achieve sustainable, efficient and quality healthcare.
Federal Budget Submission 2016-17 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd. 17
“