Sigma CEO backs calls for pharmacists to be allowed to take on more tasks

Sigma CEO Mark Hooper has backed calls for pharmacists to offer more health services.

Sigma Healthcare CEO Mark Hooper. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The head of the largest pharmacy-led network in Australia, Mark Hooper, has backed calls for pharmacists to increase health services to customers as he also warns of the economic impact of allowing patients to collect double scripts.

The chief executive of Sigma Healthcare (SIG), which reported its half-year result Thursday, said he supported pharmacists being able to deliver in line with their full scope of their training.

The issue is being debated as Health Minister Greg Hunt negotiates a new five-year Community Pharmacy Agreement to govern the sector from mid-2020. The agreement covers rules over who can own a chemist shop, what services they can offer and how medicines are priced.

Debate about the agreement has heated up with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia campaigning for pharmacists to be allowed to take on more GP-like tasks such as giving travel vaccinations and prescribing the contraceptive pill.

That push has been rejected by the Australian Medical Association, who warns of negative impacts on patients.
“I think there is merit in allowing pharmacists to provide a broader range of services, particularly in rural and remote locations and I think the health minister would support that,” Mr Hooper said.

“I know the AMA arcs up on it but the ultimate solution should be about doctors and pharmacists working together so they can provide better patient support.”

How Sigma’s interim profit fell ($m)

Sigma has the largest pharmacy network in Australia with over 1200 branded and independent stores, including Amcal, Chemist King, Discount Drug Stores, Guardian and PharmaSave.

“A focus inside Amcal has been around being a professional services platform,” Mr Hooper said.

The pharmacy agreement will also decide if patients can collect two scripts at once, a plan previously supported by the government.

The measure would halve the cost of more than 143 low-risk medications for pensioners, as the government would pay the pharmacist only once to dispense both packs.

Mr Hooper said he could understand that from an efficiency perspective the government might want to look at two month dispensing occurring in one go but he warned of the impacts.

“You need to be very careful of the patient consequences and it would impact the economics of pharmacies,” he said.

“You can’t make that change and ignore that impact. If anything was to change they would need to factor that in because it would lower the dispense income for pharmacy, which would impact the economics of the pharmacy quite significant.”

Sigma, which also operates a national network of distribution centres, reported Thursday that its profit decreased 80 per cent profit in the first half to $2.52m.

The company said net expenses of $12.4m after tax had been a blow to the company following restructuring, litigation and due diligence largely in relation to redundancies after it cut staff in the aftermath of the loss of the Chemist Warehouse business and closure of its Belmont distribution centre in WA.

Around 75 per cent of the planned 500 redundancy target has been completed, which included a mixture of agency and full time staff.

Sigma revealed in its results that its business transformation program, “Project Pivot”, which aims to target $100m in savings, was well under way.

The company said that by January 2020 it would have generated about 60 per cent of the $100m efficiency gains it was targeting.

The savings program was initiated following the cancellation of Sigma’s contract with MyChemist/Chemist Warehouse Group, which was worth about 40 per cent of Sigma’s annual revenues. That contract expired in June.

Mr Hooper said given the half-year result still included Chemist Warehouse sales for the bulk of the period, the focus for investors should be on the company’s forward looking guidance.

“One of the key messages is the strong growth we are seeing in non-Chemist Warehouse sales, which has grown by 6.9 per cent,” Mr Hooper said.

“We have a strong pipeline of new customers and new brand members who have come into the group.”