Medicines

Submission: Regulation of medical devices

mzygmunt — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:49:40 +1000

The AMA considers there is a critical need for device registries to be established in Australia, as highlighted by the PIP breast implant incident. Such registries should be funded by government.

Submission: NPS Prescribing Competencies Framework Project

mzygmunt — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:07:52 +1100

The AMA submission to the National Prescribing Service (NPS) Prescribing Competencies Project highlights the need for greater emphasis on:

adequate level of training to meet competency requirements to prescribe;
practitioners prescribing within their scope of practice;
being competent in using knowledge and making judgments on when not to prescribe;
referring a person to another health professional when that person’s clinical condition is outside scope of practice;
referring a person to a medical practitioner if they fail to improve within a specified period of time;
keeping prescribing and dispensing separate; and
effectively communicating in English.

Therapeutic Goods Administration seeking EOI for Membership of Advisory Committees

mzygmunt — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:49:34 +1100

TGA is seeking expressions of interest from experts for various positions on five statutory advisory committees by Wednesday 29 February 2012.

These committees provide advice and make recommendations to the Minister for Health and Ageing and to the TGA regarding complementary medicines, prescription medicines, medical devices and the safety of medicines.

Terms of appointment are for a period of up to three years, commencing in 2012 and 2013. Applications to the TGA must be received by close of business Wednesday 29 February 2012.

Submission: Guidelines for continued dispensing of eligible prescribed medicines by pharmacists

mzygmunt — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:09:29 +1100

The AMA wrote to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia on 15 November 2011 opposing the continued dispensing proposal under the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement. Continued dispensing will represent a significant change in the professional role of pharmacists and their role within the health care team. The draft guidelines circulated by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia heighten the AMA's concerns that continued dispensing will undermine the collaboration between pharmacists and medical practitioners.

Submission: Inquiry on section 100 pharmaceutical arrangements for Indigenous Australians - 2011

shabib — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:47:14 +1000

This submission to the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee makes recommendations to improve the access of Indigenous people across Australia to affordable medicines.

Submission: Government administration of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

mzygmunt — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:55:11 +1000

The AMA opposes Government decisions to defer listing of medicines on the PBS that have been recommended by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). The Government is leaving itself open to accusations of political interference by ignoring the PBAC assessment and pricing process which is fair, equitable, evidence-based and transparent.

Submission: Continued dispensing consultation

shabib — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:17:27 +1000

The AMA made a submission to the Department of Health and Ageing on 13 April 2011 responding to a proposal that pharmacists could continue prescription medicines to a patient under defined circumstances. The AMA is strongly opposed to pharmacists dispensing prescription medication without a valid prescription and without reference to the patient’s treating medical practitioner. Only medical practitioners are adequately trained to make assessments about a patient’s clinical condition, the need to begin treatment with a prescription medication, and consequently to continue, adjust or cease that treatment.

AMA Response to Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists on Accreditation Standards for Naturopathy and Western Herbal Medicine

cmoylan — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:56:50 +1100

The AMA responded to an invitation from the Australian Register of Naturopaths and Herbalists to comment on the development of practice, registration and accreditation standards for naturopathy and western herbal medicine in Australia. The AMA advised that it could not provide comments until the proposals had legal standing and a board for naturopaths and herbal medicine practitioners is established under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009.

Submission: to Podiatry Board of Australia on Guidelines for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines

cmoylan — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:21:08 +1100

The AMA has made a submission to the Podiatry Board of Australia's consultation process on proposed revisions to their prescribing standards for podiatrists. This submission, which is consistent with previous AMA submissions on this issue to the Podiatry Board, highlights the deficiencies in the Guidelines with respect to course content and accreditation, shared care arrangements and expansion of the national drugs list.

Collaborative Arrangements - What you need to know

amclennan — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:04:12 +1000

The Commonwealth Government is implementing reforms to allow nurse practitioners and midwives to provide Medicare-funded services to patients and to prescribe medications listed on the PBS. These changes are scheduled to commence on 1 November 2010.

The AMA has prepared a guide "Collaborative Arrangements - What you need to know" to help answer many of the questions doctors will have about collaborative arrangements and how they should be structured, as well as identify key issues that doctors should take into account when considering being part of a collaborative arrangement.

AMA response to nurse practitioner and midwife legislation

swilliams — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:00:25 +1000

AMA response to nurse practitioner and midwife legislation that the Government announced in the 2009/10 Federal Budget.

In the 2009/10 Federal Budget, the Government announced that it would move to allow some nurse practitioners and midwives to provide services funded under the Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and to prescribe medications that are subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). It also announced that the Commonwealth would subsidise indemnity insurance for midwives, although it decided not to extend this cover to home births.

The Government recently introduced three Bills into the Parliament to implement its Budget announcements. These are the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009, the Midwife Professional Indemnity (Commonwealth Contribution) Scheme Bill 2009 and the Midwife Professional Indemnity (Run-off Cover Support Payment) Bill 2009.

These Bills have been referred to a Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry and the AMA has provided a detailed submission to this Inquiry. The AMA submission highlights that, if implemented carefully, the legislation may help address unmet community health needs - provided it is done in a coordinated way and medical practitioners are still involved in the overall care of the patient. The AMA has warned the Committee that if the legislation is not implemented carefully, it will fragment care, increase the risks of inadvertent patient outcomes, cause duplication and increase costs.

The AMA submission outlines detailed recommendations designed to ensure that the ultimate arrangements work in practice and patient safety is safeguarded.

Electronic Prescription Transfer Systems - 2009

shabib — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:59:19 +1000

The AMA Position Statement on Electronic Prescription Transfer Systems – 2009 supports the development of an electronic prescription transfer system as a fundamental building block for a broader eHealth system in Australia. It sets out the high level principles that should underpin an electronic prescription transfer system.

The development of an e system in Australia is supported by:

the National eHealth Strategy
the KPMG Consultancy in Electronic Prescribing and Dispensing Final Report (commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing);
the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) Interim Report, including the supplementary paper on person-controlled electronic health records; and
commercial vendors actively promoting their prescribing systems.

The AMA position on other aspects of eHealth are set out in the following position statements:

AMA Position Statement – Unique Healthcare Identifiers – 2008
AMA Position Statement – Connectivity – 2007
AMA Position Statement – Safety and Quality of E-Health Systems – 2006

Unique Healthcare Identifiers - 2008

shabib — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:32:55 +1000

AMA Position Statement: Unique Healthcare Identifiers - 2008

Medicines - 2008

shabib — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:08:14 +1000

AMA Position Statement: Medicines - 2008

Brand Substitution Survey Results May 2006

mgrybaitis — Fri, 19 May 2006 10:16:02 +1000

Results of AMA's fax poll on brand substitution.

Submission to the Department of Health and Ageing: Pharmacy Wholesaling August 2005

mgrybaitis — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:14:04 +1000

The AMA believes the arrangements promulgated by the Fourth Community Pharmacy Agreement should not stand in the way of improvements in the way medicines are distributed. In that regard, it does expect electronic prescribing to become the normal with electronic transmission of scripts to a pharmacy of the patient's choice. The AMA concurs in the Department's assessment that electronic claiming for benefits will become more popular.

Pharmacy Intranet Scheme - 1997

smorrison — Fri, 04 May 2007 15:40:31 +1000

AMA Position Statement: Pharmacy Intranet Scheme - 1997

The Better Medication Management System

wlorincz — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 13:59:06 +1100

Submission to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care: The Better Medication Management System (BMMS): Draft Exposure Legislation: July 2001

Drugs in Sport - 2000

emijoc — Mon, 04 Nov 2002 11:09:00 +1100

AMA Position Statement: Drugs in Sport - 2000

Complementary Medicine - 2002

smorrison — Thu, 31 Jan 2002 13:21:00 +1100

AMA Position Statement: Complementary Medicine - 2002

AMA Youth Health Brochure on Sex and your health

webmaster — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:49:45 +1100

Youth Health: Sex and your health

Use And Misuse Of Medicines And Drugs - 1998

emijoc — Thu, 01 Jan 1998 13:39:00 +1100

AMA Position Statement: Use And Misuse Of Medicines And Drugs - 1998