Assessing the Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial
The AMA’s submission to the Medical Services Advisory Committee argued there was a lack of evidence that such diabetes screening programs in pharmacies are in the best interests of patients.
The AMA welcomes the MSAC assessment for the Pharmacy Diabetes Screening Trial. This is the first time pharmacy health services are being assessed for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness by the same process that assesses all other health services.
The AMA has several concerns if pharmacy diabetes screening programs are to receive future government funding, due to the lack of high-quality evidence that these programs are in the patients’ best interest, in the context of wider public health and existing primary care services.
The AMA values pharmacists as experts in medicines and there are more pressing and useful models of care involving pharmacists that should be considered as part of a patient-centred medical home model rather than further fragmenting care.
You can read the submission here.
