Funding to help patients manage their medication

Older patients and people taking multiple medications are set to benefit from better packaging of their medicines by pharmacists.

The Commonwealth Government has provided up to $72.9 million to the Pharmacy Guild of Australia through the Fourth Pharmacy Agreement for the Dose Administration Aids program.

The program provides support to community pharmacists to help patients manage their medication by packaging it into individual doses that are arranged according to the dose schedule throughout the day. The packaging can be either a unit-dose pack (one single type of medication per compartment) or a multi-dose pack (different types of medication per compartment).

Participation in the program will be open to all community pharmacies nationally. Information and registration forms will be available on the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s web site during September 2007. All community pharmacies should also receive the kit in the mail during September and October.

Pharmacies can be eligible for payments totaling up to $13,700 over the course of the program (to the end of the Fourth Agreement in June 2010). To be eligible for payment, pharmacies need to register with the Department of Health and Ageing and provide complete and timely data during the course of the program.