IYB.NOV_11.PG030.pdf
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PPI/ PAID SErVICES
“Obviously you can’t claim these incentives and do nothing,” he said.
Support available With that in mind, the PSA launched its Pharmacy Support Program last year to help pharmacists assess their local demographics and help them to identify opportunities where they could make the most of providing services included in the 5CPA and others. Speaking at the Pharmacy Australia Congress 2011, Grant Kardachi, PSA national president, urged pharmacists to use the program to help build sustainable services. The paid service provides up to six months of business support including analysis of the pharmacist’s local area, business and marketing planning services and financial planning tools to help build the right services. “The PSA has a Pharmacy Support Program and we’ve got field officers out there who are keen to help,” Mr Kardachi said. “It’s really about helping [pharmacists] to get their head around implementing practice change, because if you do it once you can roll out other services in the future.” Since the program was launched at PAC10, Mr Kardachi said the number of people using the service had not been high, “but enough for us to be encouraged that the program is important to keep going.” While pharmacists can pay for support from the PSA’s program, Mr Kardachi stressed the importance of “getting involved with their GP” to build a successful business around professional services. “Let them know what programs you’re running,” he said. “A lot of these programs are about collaboration, and clearly for a lot of programs to be successful you’ve got to have GPs knowing what’s going on, because consumers will go to GPs and talk about issues.” The service was designed to assist pharmacists in overcoming barriers to professional service delivery and provide education and motivation to pharmacy staff about the services.
Standing out Mal Leith, proprietor of the Palms Pharmacy in Coffs Harbour, NSW, has already built a clinically
30 | IT’S YOUR BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 2011
The five Professional Practice Incentives Dose Administration Aids (DAAs)
DAAs are a pharmacy service that will assist consumers in the community to better manage their medicines, with the objective of avoiding medication misadventure and associated hospitalisation. This incentive specifically relates to service delivery to patients living within the community [and excludes patients who reside in a government funded Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) or correctional facilities]. Pharmacies will be paid a periodic incentive payment for meeting the program requirements when delivering DAAs and recording the number of communityliving patients per week receiving DAAs for each eligible claiming period.
Clinical Interventions
A clinical intervention is a professional activity by the pharmacist directed towards improving the quality use of medicines by patients. It may result in a recommendation for a change in the patient’s medication therapy, means of administration or medication-taking behaviour. It does NOT include generic medicine substitution, routine prescription-related counselling or CMI provision. Pharmacies will be paid a periodic incentive for meeting the program requirements when delivering a clinical intervention and recording these interventions using the D.O.C.U.M.E.N.T. classification system for each eligible claiming period. Interventions under the M.E.N. components of the classification system cannot be claimed.
Staged Supply
Staged Supply is the process by which pharmacists supply medicines to consumers in periodic instalments of less than the total required or prescribed quantity at agreed intervals. The service is of particular value to patients with a mental illness, drug dependency or who are otherwise unable to manage their medicines safely. Pharmacies will be paid an annual incentive payment for meeting the program requirements for delivering a Staged Supply service.
Primary Health Care Includes five pharmacy health services: • Diabetes; • Respiratory disease; • Cardiovascular disease; • Mental health conditions; and • Health promotion.
Community Services Support (CSS) Includes five elements focused on medicine safety and harm minimisation: • Needle and Syringe Programs; • Opioid Substitution Programs; • Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM); • Staff Training; and • E-health.
For both primary health care and CSS, pharmacies will be paid an annual incentive for meeting the program requirements and delivering at least two of the five elements. It is expected that the number of elements to be delivered will increase over the 5CPA. Source: Pharmacy Guild of Australia