Anton Hutchinson, whose family has owned 114-bed Canberra Aged Care for more than 30 years, told The SOURCE that since 60-day dispensing came in on 1 September this year, they are being charged $3-$4 per Webster pack – or about $2,000-3,000 per month.
These are costs that were previously included in their pharmacy expenses, and that can’t be passed on to consumers.
In an op-ed in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy, by Gerard Stevens AM, founder, and Managing Director of Webstercare, said 60-day dispensing has “very real potential of dire consequences for medication management in residential aged care”.
“For many years RACF tenders for medication management services have insisted on free medication supply," he writes.
The introduction of 60-day dispensing is likely to mean providers will have to pay pharmacists for medication packaging.
The graphic above, from the article, shows the decline in pharmacists' fees over the phased in introduction of 60-day dispensing, necessitating the need to pass on expenses to providers.
A spokesperson for WA family-owned aged care provider Hall & Prior said they have not experienced any changes in charges for medication packaging since the introduction of 60-day dispensing.
“Any charges we do receive for medication packages are not passed on to the residents. This is a cost that the aged care provider and not the resident is responsible for. Our residents only pay for charges associated with the medication itself,” they said.
The SOURCE: In a sector facing financial sustainability challenges, any new charges are significant.
