The language used to describe medications is confusing, with multiple names for the same drug. A change to prescribing rules from today should go a long way to addressing this issue.
The new Community Pharmacy Agreement will make it easier for Australia’s pharmacists to spend time providing expert health advice to customers rather than focusing on retail revenues.
The Pharmacy Guild represents the owners of community pharmacies around the country. Their reach into every community and large political donations make them more powerful than other lobby groups.
John Jackson, Monash University and Ben Urick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Pharmacies are paid a set amount to dispense most medicines, so the more they dispense, the greater their income. But there’s a better way to pay pharmacists and improve health care at the same time.
You no longer have to go to your GP to get your flu shot or catch up on vaccinations you missed earlier in life or have waning immunity to. But they’re unlikely to be free.
If Australia follows international trends and allows supermarkets to open pharmacies, what are the effects on neighbouring pharmacies? And when does running a business mean health care suffers?
Some Canadians go without heat and food to buy their medications. Others simply don’t take them because they can’t afford to. This is why we need a national pharmacare plan.
The medication landscape is complicated and error-riddled, with very few care providers knowing all the drugs you are taking. Here’s how pharmacists could be the solution.
A review into pharmacy practices last year recommended pharmacies stop selling ineffective remedies such as homeopathy. The government didn’t support the recommendation.
Drug companies funded more than 116,000 educational events for doctors over four years. Now you can find out exactly which companies footed the bills and how much they paid.
A push towards prescribing generic medications rather than their branded equivalents, as flagged in the budget, may have benefits beyond simple cost savings.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne