Funding Continues for Home Medicines..

Home Medicines Reviews (HMR) and Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMR) continue to be funded under the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement.

Pharmacists should continue working with general practitioners in the usual manner to provide the HMR service to their patients. The HMR service optimises Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) and consumer understanding of medicines delivered in the community setting.

In line with annual indexation, the HMR service fee for pharmacists will be $194.07 for claims paid after 1 August 2010.

There are some changes being proposed to the HMR service and they may include:

˙Improved targeting of HMR services. The proposed introduction of the Medication Use Review (MUR), and the complementary nature of this service with HMR service may mean that some patients eligible for HMRs may find a MUR more suitable.

˙A direct referral model. The Fifth Agreement may lead to the development of a HMR model that allows the GP to send the referral directly to the accredited pharmacist of the patient’s choice.

˙An emphasis on improved access to HMR for patients deemed most at risk, such as immediately after discharge from hospital. There may also be opportunity to develop a model of HMR that allows patients who have been recently discharged to access an urgent HMR, which is provided within a short period of time.