Guild supports PHARMAC’s 15 Factors for Consideration

4 December 2014

Guild supports criteria of PHARMAC’s 15 Factors for Consideration

The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (the Guild) supports the criteria of PHARMAC’s new ‘15 Factors for Consideration’ announced last week. The Factors for Consideration will replace PHARMAC’s nine Decision Criteria from late 2015.

Lee Hohaia, Guild Chief Executive, says “The Guild made a submission on PHARMAC’s funding decision process earlier this year, requesting that consideration was given to the quality of life of a patient as well as to environmental impacts. For example, we requested medicines come in smaller pack sizes or have minimal packaging to minimise waste, as there are significant costs associated with the collection and destruction of medical waste from community pharmacies. We supported PHARMAC’s proposal suggestion to broaden the health disparity factor.

“We are pleased to see that as part of their ‘15 Factors for Consideration’, PHARMAC has said they will take into account costs such as distribution costs when considering cost and savings to the rest of the health system. It is not clear to us how wholesaler costs and medicine margin, which contribute to the true cost of providing medicine in the community, will be considered as part of this. As this is a very real cost to the health system, there needs to be mechanisms in place to ensure this impact is considered.

“Community pharmacy has been signalling for the past several years that funding for the cost of getting medicine on to pharmacy shelves and for the risk of stockholding is insufficient. Every day pharmacies face situations where they lose money by providing medicine to their patients as a direct consequence of PHARMAC’s effective purchase decisions.

“As PHARMAC drives down the price of medicine, the funding made available to get these medicines into community pharmacies, and readily available to patients, is also driven down. This creates scenarios where for low cost medicines the funding to pharmacy is less than the cost of ordering medicines for patients, therefore creating a loss for the pharmacy. This threatens the very sustainability of community pharmacy services and we hope that PHARMAC will work with us to minimise this risk.

“The Guild is also pleased to see that PHARMAC will be considering the health impact on a broader group of populations that are facing health disparities and that this consideration will improve access to medicine and health care for these patients.”

The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (Inc) is a national membership organisation representing community pharmacy owners. We provide leadership on all issues affecting members and advocate for the business and professional interests of members.

For additional information on the Guild and community pharmacy, visit www.pgnz.org.nz.

ENDS

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