US pharmacists to be paid for reviews
Older Americans will get help paying for drugs |
Pharmacists in the United States are to be reimbursed for providing patient medication reviews under new Medicare legislation that became law in the US on 8 December. It will result in pharmacists in the US receiving payment for a non-supply related function for the first time.
Under the new scheme, pharmacists will be able to provide medication
reviews for selected patients when this is recommended by a patient’s
doctor. Patients eligible will include those with chronic conditions
such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and heart failure.
Pharmacists will compete with other health care professionals to provide
these services. Kathleen Cantwell, director of federal affairs for the
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) said that the next
goal was to achieve federal “provider” status for clinical
services, which would indicate that pharmacists provide a unique service
other professionals cannot deliver.
Dr Dan Ashby, president of ASHP, said: “For the first time, pharmacists — who
are medication use experts — will be paid to manage drug therapies.
This is an incredibly important step in ensuring that [people over the
age of 65 years] who take multiple medications do so safely.”
In the future, ASHP also hopes to see pharmacists being reimbursed for
disease detection and screening for diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
Medicare is the federal health service for people over the age of 65
years (seniors) in the US. One of the main changes of the new legislation
will be to reduce and cap the amount patients have to pay for prescription
medicines. A prescription drug scheme will be established from 2006.
Under this, patients would pay around $250 (£147) for an annual
medicines policy.
The government would cover up to 75 per cent of the cost of medicines
up to an annual limit of around $3,600, beyond which it would cover 95
per cent of the cost. Low-income seniors would pay only a small fee for
each item. This scheme could cost the government up to $400bn over 10
years.
Pressure from the pharmaceutical industry has prevented the federal government
from negotiating lower prices. Increasing parallel importation of cheaper
products from Canada, however, has raised awareness among Americans that
they pay more for their drugs than most other people in the world. — Gareth
Jones, editor, Hospital Pharmacist. |
