E-drug: Prescription fees (cont)
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Dear Colleagues,
Sanri Terblanche asked, "I am interested to find out how prescription items
are priced in community pharmacies in other countries."
The situation in Australia:
The Third Community Pharmacy Agreement between The Commonwealth of
Australia and The Pharmacy Guild of Australia (1 July 2000 to 30 June
2005) can be found at:
http://www.health.gov.au/haf/docs/pharmagreement.htm
It contains:
Section 12: Prescription-based Remuneration for 2001-02 to 2004-05
"In respect of Pharmaceutical Benefit items supplied from 1 July 2001 to 30
June 2005 the Commonwealth price will, subject to clauses 13 and 14 be
calculated in the same manner as the price in respect of items dispensed in
2000-01 except that the dispensing fee will be indexed with effect from 1
July of each year in accordance with the following formula:
Fn = Fn-1 + (Fn-1 x I)
Where:
Fn is the dispensing fee for the relevant year
Fn-1 is the dispensing fee for the year prior to the relevant year
I is the greater of:
a) Zero; or
b) An amount determined by the formula:
WCI_9 - 0.75 percentage points
where WCI �9 means the percentage movement of the Commonwealth - A
New Tax System (ANTS) -exclusive Wage Cost Index 9 (WCI_9) in respect
of the year ending in March prior to the relevant year, or, if WCI_9
is discontinued,
the percentage movement of the substitute index agreed by the parties.
Information on the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme can be found
at:
http://www1.health.gov.au/pbs/contents/contents.htm
Cheers
Ken
Dr. Ken Harvey, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health,
Room 221, Building HS1 (NW9),
La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086, Australia,
Telephone +61 3 9479 5773, Facsimile +61 3 9479 1783,
Personal mobile 0419 181910,
Internet: http://www-sph.health.latrobe.edu.au/kharvey/
"Ken Harvey" <k.harvey@latrobe.edu.au>
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