Will 60-day dispensing inflict the same catastrophic damage on pharmacies as the Medicare freeze did on general practice?
The new embrace of 60-day dispensing and the damage it will inflict has generated fierce debate among pharmacists as well various doctor and patient groups.
The views diverge, but one thing remains true: even by the Commonwealth’s own estimates, some $3 billion in savings over four years will be generated.
As a pharmacist working with GPs, and as vice president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, I do know what happened with the GP indexation freeze and that such volumes of health spending can’t be ripped out of a sector without serious ramifications.
A few years ago, the AMA analysis of the effects of the freeze revealed that it effectively removed some $3.8 billion from primary care over a period of nine years.
