Chemist Warehouse director cautiously backs proposed prescribing and dispensing changes

The director of Chemist Warehouse has cautiously backed changes to prescribing and dispensing rules being pushed by doctors.

The head of Australia’s largest discount pharmacy retail chain has cautiously backed changing prescribing and dispensing rules as long as chemists are given enough time to stockpile medicines.

Chemist Warehouse director Mario Tascone has broken ranks with the powerful pharmacy lobby by saying he is open to a push from doctors to double both prescription lengths and the amount of medicine Australians can get with a single script.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association have called on the federal government ahead of the May federal budget to allow them to prescribe 12-month scripts and chemists to dispense 60 days’ supply for 143 medicines used to treat chronic conditions.

But Mr Tascone said pharmacists would need up to three years to prepare, warning they wouldn’t be able to dispense more than one month’s supply at the moment because the demand would worsen existing supply shortages.

“We’re all for the doctors prescribing 12 months’ supply of the medicines but as long as it’s done (in a) one month at a time when it’s dispensed,” he told Today on Tuesday.

“Doing a double lot of dispensing each time will cause shortages.

“Not saying ‘no’ to double dispensing, but we need about two or three years to build up levels.”

The Consumer Health Forum and paediatric neurologist turned independent MP Monique Ryan have thrown their support behind the changes, which were recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in 2018 but never implemented.

Dr Ryan has said that changes would take pressure off GPs by saving unnecessary routine visits to get repeat scripts and save Australians living with chronic disease up to $180 a year per medication.

Chemist Warehouse director Mario Tascone has weighed in on the proposed change to prescribing and dispensing rules. NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Mr Tascone told 3AW Radio on Monday the proposal was a good idea “in principle” as long as the medicines supply chain could be shored up in advance.

His position puts him at odds with the Pharmacy Guild — which Chemist Warehouse is not a member of.

The guild is in a war of words with the RACGP and AMA over the proposal, with its president Trent Twomey recently writing to every federal MP including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to urge them not to introduce the changes.

“In recent weeks, the usual vested interests in the powerful medical lobby have written to politicians seeking to double the quantity of prescription medicines available in the community,” Mr Twomey wrote on April 2.

“While this proposal may be well-intentioned, it has some potentially dangerous consequences.”

Mr Twomey said providing 30 days of medication to patients was already challenging, citing figures from the Therapeutic Goods Administration that showed Australia currently has a shortage of 377 medicines.

The Pharmacy Guild is instead campaigning for a further reduction in the maximum Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicine co-payment from $30 — which Labor introduced after last year’s federal election — down to $19.

Proponents of the changes say they would save patients and doctors time. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The reduction would mean Medicare card holders would only pay up to $19 at the chemist for drugs that the government subsidises through the PBS, which the Pharmacy Guild estimates would cost the federal budget an additional $920m over four years.

The dispute between the doctors’ and pharmacists’ lobby groups comes amid a broader debate over the future of Medicare and how the commonwealth can ensure public health funding is sustainable as it grapples with inflation and a shortage of general practitioners.

The Pharmacy Guild has also clashed with Chemist Warehouse in the past because it places strict competition rules on the sector including restricting how many pharmacies can be set up near each other.

Chemist Warehouse wants these location rules to be removed so it can open its discount outlets in more places.

Originally published as Chemist Warehouse director cautiously backs proposed prescribing and dispensing changes