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Australia’s Health Care System Funding Needs Fixing
Australia’s health system funding is beginning to exhibit signs of stress. Is this by accident or by deliberate design? Health out of pocket expenses are beginning to climb and many common medical procedures are now funded by drawing down from a patient’s superannuation fund -sufficient monies to cover costs. Health advocates are concerned about the…
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Australia is Number Two in Global Health Rankings – But for How Long?
Periodically, the US-based Commonwealth Fund organisation compares the US health system to that of other countries, including Australia. The Australian health system ranks very high in its performance and i2P believes there are two major reasons for this outside of the criteria established by the Commonwealth Fund. The first is the diversity of health practitioners…
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The King and I – Shall we Dance?
Speculation is growing that the King Review – a review of future pharmacy options for the federal government – has been asked to consider two additional options: * Open ownership including supermarkets and foreign operators. * A government-owned franchise model involving full nationalisation of the pharmacy sector. The reasons given for the investigation of these…
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Why is there a need for the Health Australia Party (HAP)?
Many Australians rely every day on natural medicines and/or the services of a natural health practitioner to maintain their health. Yet this significant contribution to the well-being of grateful ordinary Australians goes largely unacknowledged by politicians, the news media and mainstream medicine. Rather instead we see an extraordinary bias against these therapies, to the point…
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Switzerland Gets it Right
Switzerland is a country known for its precision and its ability to keep its transport system “on time”. It is a landlocked country so when it decides how it could survive, it basically chose financial services and manufacturing industries that are “light” in weight but high value. Drug manufacture fitted that requirement, as was watch-making.…
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The Lessons From History – From Someone Who Has Lived It
Two weeks ago we published an article called Make the Right Turn at the Next Crossroads . It was based on a story written by a senior US pharmacist named Truman Lastinger and published in the US magazine, Drug Topics. Because Truman Lastinger and I are of similar vintage I could strongly identify with the period…
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Understanding the Impacts of a Global Pharmacy Invasion
Recently, i2P ran some articles postulating the expansion strategies of global supermarket and pharmacy groups. It is a story of consolidation of the pharmacy industry, both horizontally and vertically to form up massive conglomerates that concentrate purchasing power and market share of retail pharmacy goods and services. And it is a story that is mostly…
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The Move Towards PBS Privatisation – It is a Possibility and Could Provide a Wrecking Ball for Community Pharmacy
I am always suspicious of government motivation when they move the chess pieces around the board without an appropriate explanation. Dating back to the start of the Coalition taking power there was discussion that highlighted the poorly defined role private health insurance plays in the funding and delivery of Australian health care, and how government…
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Danish Malpractice System Provides Integrity, Safety, and an Education Resource
It is depressingly common and it has recently happened here in Australia. A patient leaves hospital, or a doctor’s surgery or from a pharmacy with a medication such as Methotrexate with instructions stating “one tablet daily” instead of “one tablet weekly”. The patient is damaged or dies, and there begins the problem of who to…
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Health Fund Managed Care – Will it be a short-term positive or a long-term negative for Pharmacy
There seems little doubt that the Australian government is setting out to introduce a US style of healthcare management using health funds to “front” for some of their objectives. Despite the fact that the US has the worst health system in the world (as well as the most expensive), government seems to think that by…