It Looks Like All Is Not Entirely Kosher With The Way The Pharmacy Guild Has Involved Itself In Pharmacy IT.

This appeared last week:

Pharmacy lobby in conflict row over IT firm’s windfall

• REBECCA URBAN
• The Australian
• April 25, 2015 12:00AM

A struggling technology business backed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has reaped millions of dollars in government grants intended for pharmacists, fuelling concerns that the lobby group is beset by conflicts of interest as it heads into battle over the next round of funding for the industry.

Fred IT, which was 50 per cent-owned by the pharmacy guild when the federal government’s $15.6 billion Community Pharmacy Agreement was struck in 2010, was one of two private companies to share in a $9.7 million windfall after key funding for pharmacies was later redirected.

The handout was not approved under the original agreement and was made despite the guild previously agreeing that the funding in question — $75.5m to offset pharmacists’ costs of switching to processing prescriptions electronically — be made only to pharmacies.

It also came as Fred IT, which had recently launched a new Prescription Exchange Service for the transfer of electronic prescriptions, known as e-scripts, which was billed as a breakthrough in the fight against prescription forgery, was struggling financially.

The revelation comes as the Community Pharmacy Agreement — a contract between the government and the guild that sets out how much pharmacies are paid to dispense drugs — has ­attracted scrutiny, after an audit report questioned its “value for money’’, potential conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency.

As The Australian reported on Monday, the group has amassed a $6.2m fighting fund ahead of what are widely tipped to be tough negotiations with the government, which wants savings under the next agreement. The current agreement ends on June 30.

Industry groups including the Consumer Health Forum and Professional Pharmacists Australia are concerned about the guild’s roles in the arrangement.

As well as negotiating the Community Pharmacy Agreement, the guild administers programs for the Health Department and receives funds to run professional programs.

Lots more here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/pharmacy-lobby-in-conflict-row-over-it-firms-windfall/story-e6frg6n6-1227319665110

All this fills in rather more of the story with it becoming apparent that the development and implementation of e-prescribing has not gone as well, or been as transparent, as one might expect of an initiative receiving Government funds.

All this follows revelations a week or so ago regarding pharmacists selling patient prescription data. See here:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/it-seems-some-pharmacists-are.html

Additionally we have an Audit report from a month ago regarding how IT usage  payments for e-prescriptions did not seem to go to the pharmacists where it was intended to go - rather than to the Pharmacy Guild for a range of promotional activities and technical interoperability updates.

Here are the detail of what the Auditor General found about six weeks ago.

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/looks-like-some-extreme-dodgyness.html

Overall it looks to me that there is a concerted campaign being run to have the Pharmacy Guild’s horns clipped a bit and to do something about the rather restrictive business practices Pharmacy has been forcing on the public for many years. The Harper review of competition  which was recently released has made it clear they at least think Community Pharmacy is a rather inefficient and provides overly costly service provides in the community. People can make up their own minds about how they view all this, but I certainly get the feeling there is at least some sense that the Pharmacy Guild has used its very considerable background political influence to seek outcomes that may have not totally been in the public interest.

I reckon we might well see some changes in the Budget and in the new (sixth) Community Pharmacy Agreement as a result of the Audit and subsequent publicity.  For more see the commentary in next Thursday’s Budget blog on all this.

David.

Update 9am 27 April, 2015.

According to Fairfax Ms Sussan Ley (Health Minister) has confirmed major changes to the PBS in the 2016 Budget.

See here:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/sussan-ley-confirms-pharmaceutical-benefits-scheme-crackdown-in-may-budget-20150426-1mtxx9.html

D.