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Pharma - Goss - with Rollo Manning
* 5,000 pharmacies is 2K too many |
* Medical centre pharmacy a big step forward |
* Say what you mean and stick with it |
* Direct to consumer advertising a no no |
*There’s something in a name |
5,000 pharmacies is 2K too many
Here’s a new spin on the “doing things for nothing” debate; the why sell Xenical without counseling; the low return paid to locums; the secret nature of Guild breakfasts at APP;
There are 2,000 too many pharmacies in Australia.
Why is it that so many pharmacies do the following?
· Fail to provide counseling as is required by all professional and legal standards
· Websterpaks for nothing just to get the business
· Cut price of generic dispensing to get a jump on the opposition
· Pay a pittance to locums of say $35 an hour maximum
· No more delivering of medicines to people who need such a service
Could it be that the competitive nature of the pharmacy business is so acute from the pharmacy down the road that commercial interests are over-powering professional practice standards?
The answer does not lie in the government paying more money but rather the profession regulating itself in the best interests of the public.
This Column believes there should be action taken by the government as the holder of all things protective of consumer interests to bring about a means whereby the PBS can be supplied to the Australian public through a network of pharmacies that are bound by contract to supply a professional service in ALL respects.
The government of the day is too concerned with pandering to private practice vested interests to ever do something that may lose votes from middle of the road Australians.
The salaried pharmacists stood up and made public comments about pharmacy “break-ins” and attracted intense media interest. Makes one wonder how much interest there would be if the salaried pharmacists spoke out about the sheer number of pharmacies that the Australian PBS system is asked to support through the $5.15 dispensing fee. A reduction in number for better service will not diminish the employment opportunities but rather it would ensure the full range of pharmaceutical care is available to consumers through a smaller number of outlets.
Medical centre pharmacy a big step forward
The award of Telstra Business Women's Award to Dr Jennifer Smiley of the Illawarra Family Medical Centre in Wollongong is recognition of an initiative that many should be inspired by. The inclusion of a pharmacy in a medical practice is a trend that must be encouraged so the consumers of the health service have ready access to pharmaceutical care.
Consumers will “…often has coffee or a sandwich downstairs while they are waiting for their script.” Dr Smiley told the Illawarra Mercury.
“The Wollongong GP was recognised for her achievements in establishing the innovative Illawarra Family Medical Centre in Crown St where doctors continue to run their own practices and see their own patients in a large centre with its own administration and management team. The centre brought together four GP businesses under one roof, along with range of allied health facilities, to reduce the administrative burden on the individual doctors and provide more convenience for patients and improved diagnosis and treatment of complex health problems.” The Illawarra Mercury added.
Say what you mean and stick with it
Drug Barons rip off sick Aussies
So reads the headline in the (8 February) Sydney Daily Telegraph. The story accuses pharmaceutical companies of 'deliberately creating shortages of generic medicines to force sick Australians to pay top dollar for identical brand-name medication'. It quotes Guild President Kos Sclavos as saying, 'Some drug companies make both the generic and the original brand drug. They deliberately manipulate the system so you can't actually get a supply of the generic brand. At any one time we'd have 40 shorts (shortages of supply) a day.
Some of these are legitimate because the raw ingredients have to come from overseas “but how come the premiums brands never have shortages?'
There was a classic example of a pharmacy leader bowing to industry pressure while trying to support an action that was imposing an unfair pricing on consumers. That was in the afternoon and on the current affairs early evening television. You know the ones.
But by morning when the slagging of manufacturers was more widely known and being picked up by the morning talk back radio shows the story had changed and their had been a “misunderstanding” and there were not really any out of stocks and all stakeholders were working harmoniously to make sure the consumer got the product the doctor had ordered in all cases.
Why not blast all over the screens, airwaves and front pages the fact that the following is the pricing of the SAME product (Item 1394J) in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule:
And it is also shown by following the links that this is just two companies marketing both forms of the same product – Wyeth and Schering AG.
Direct to consumer advertising a no no
In the United States a new study has shown that the $4.5 billion direct-to-consumer drug ad (DTC) industry produces ads that are more emotional than informational, and may be convincing Americans that they're sicker than they really are.
The Advertising Age. Lead author Dominick Frosch said, "DTC ads send the message that you need drugs for problems that many people used to manage without prescription drugs. The article went on to say that advertising drugs "based on their emotional appeal is something that has great risks."
The study found that 95 percent of DTC ads made "emotional appeals," 78 percent “implied that use of the medication would result in social approval," and only 25 percent included information about illness prevalence.
In Australia there is no DTC as such and manufacturers are only permitted to advertise the background information without mentioning the product name. This requires a far greater challenge to advertisers. And yet who could fail to miss the powerful messages that come across in the areas of hay fever, weight loss, male impotence and mental health.
The pharmacist should be the watchdog for the consumer between the adverting and the reality.
There’s something in a name
When that name is “Choice” the pharmacists hairs on the back of the neck stand up – blood rushes to the head – and a fear of terror comes to the fore expecting the worst.
How to tackle this ogre of the night that sneaks up and casts doubts over the credibility and reputation of this noblest of professions pharmacists.
Imagine if it was the other way around. The conversation could go something like this:
Choice: Hi pharmacist – its Choice here.
Phcist: G’day Choice – great to hear from you and what have you to tell me today?
Choice: Well we have done another mystery shop and it does not come out too good for your pharmacies.
Phcist: Great – thanks for, letting us know ahead of publication date. We have to patch up these gaps and make sure we are all pulling in the same direction before we start talking to the Feds about a 5th Agreement.
Choice: Yes good well we are doing another one next month – anything you want us to look at?
Phcist: Yes check out the pricing on a script for an Oral Contraceptive. I want them all to be offering the cheaper version – save the consumer $10. That would be great if you could find out how often that is happening.
Choice: Okay will do and do not offer us any money – we do not accept any donations that could compromise our accuracy and objectivity.
Phcist: Yes I know – you only work with the interest of the consumer in mind and are not subject to any commercial interests.
Not likely - then why not? There should be room for a retail industry group to work as closely as possible with a consumer advocacy organisation. It is as if the two are poles apart – and maybe that is the truth of it.
Ends
That’s all for now folks….
Comments please on any subjects in this column or suggestions for topics that “Pharma-goss” could address
Rollom@iinet.net.au
Visit my website at
http://www.rollomanning.com/site/home.htm
For a more complete array of recent speeches, presentations and articles.
Rollo Manning
RWM Consultancy
PO Box 98
Parap NT 0804
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