RACGP to take part in bilateral 8CPA discussions

The college will take part in bilateral discussions with the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoH) about the 8th Community Pharmacy Agreement (8CPA), it has been confirmed.
 
This week, the college accepted an invitation to participate in confidential talks and will be represented by RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins.  
 
While the 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA) is set to run until 30 June 2025, Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said last week that preparations for the 8CPA will commence early, as long as the 60-day dispensing policy passed through Senate.
 
After a dramatic day in Parliament last Thursday, the Government succeeded in ensuring the policy – which is strongly supported by the RACGP – will start on 1 September as originally planned.
 
The Consumer Health Forum is also among supporters, but the move has been fiercely opposed by pharmacy groups. While Minister Butler has said all savings will be reinvested into community pharmacies, both the Pharmacy Guild and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) say the policy will exacerbate financial pressures, particularly in rural and remote areas.
 
Both groups have welcomed early negotiations for the 8CPA.
 
Consultation will also include patient groups, wholesalers and distributors and ‘others who have a stake in the growth and development of pharmacy services that benefit all Australians’, according to Minister Butler.
 
This week, the DoH confirmed the RACGP will be consulted at an early stage of the process.
 
‘We very much welcome the chance to have a voice in these discussions,’ Dr Higgins told newsGP.
 
‘Patients and GPs are directly impacted by the outcome of the community pharmacy agreements, and we want to ensure that safe, patient-centred care is at the heart of all the talks.
 
‘Any agreement has to be in the best interests of primary care as a whole and be fit for purpose for the way our healthcare system operates.
 
‘Quality health outcomes for patients must come first.’
 
Negotiations for the 7CPA began in 2019, with the five-year agreement coming into force in 2020.
 
Its purpose, according to the DoH, is to allow Australians to ‘access safe, affordable life-saving medicines and services through community pharmacies’, as well as provide stable payment for pharmacists dispensing PBS medicines.
 
Prior to that agreement, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) recommended dispensing times for many common medicines should double. However, that was not acted upon by the previous Government following pressure from the Pharmacy Guild, a decision that was sharply criticised by the RACGP at the time.  
 
The 8CPA is due to start on the 1 July 2025, but Minister Butler has raised the possibility of an earlier start date.
 
‘Bringing forward those negotiations, obviously, indicates that we would like to see a negotiation successfully conclude a new agreement, which would almost certainly see that new agreement start early,’ he told reporters in Canberra last week.
 
‘But we’re not going to lock ourselves into a rigid, short timeframe. That’s not a good position in which to negotiate with taxpayers’ money.’
 
He has said any new agreement will include analysis of how programs have functioned under the current 7CPA, with a focus on the impact of programs on patients and consumers. He also said discussions will take note of recommendations from prior reviews.
 
In a speech to the PSA last month, Minister Butler said enabling pharmacists to work to their full scope is ‘a key Government commitment’.
 
He also drew attention to the National Scope of Practice Review, which is due to be completed by midway through next year, and said pharmacist prescribing is likely to be included in the analysis.
 
Negotiations for the 8CPA will begin ‘as soon as possible’, Minister Butler said last week. 
 
They are expected to end by 30 June next year.
 
The Federal Government, the Pharmacy Guild and the PSA will be the signatories as per previous agreements.
 
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