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The APLF – a very quiet organisation
The Australian Pharmacy Liaison Forum (APLF) is a pharmacy umbrella organisation that was born in 2008 amidst political tension between major pharmacy organisations. The fact that it was not needed until that point is testament to the goodwill and collegiality that existed between pharmacists and the various organisations that represented them. Something happened to alter…
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Homeopathy – a Political Diversion Rather than a Valid Issue
The spotlight has recently been shone on Homeopathy with GP commentators saying that if pharmacist collaboration is to occur with GP’s then homeopathy should be banned within pharmacies. Then we have had some pharmacy commentators echoing the call mainly from the HMR accredited sector- the pharmacists from NHP pharmacology actually seeking collaboration with GP’s. Given…
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Walmart Is Rolling out a Primary Health Care “whole of store” Concept
It’s not just pharmacy expansion that US retail giant Walmart is changing the face of, but the entire scope of primary health care. This brings them into direct conflict with medical centres and given the massive resources and scale of operations, they are in a position to alter the primary health care market significantly and…
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Biased Reporting on the ABC Breakfast Program
To the ABC Breakfast Presenters: Virginia Trioli and Michael Rowland On 29 May 2015 you interviewed the popular cartoonist Michael Leunig about his cartoons advocating freedom of speech and informed consent in vaccination. You dismissed the right of individuals to choose how many vaccines they use by claiming that the ‘science is proven’ and that anti-vaccination…
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Pharmacy Nemesis Roger Corbett – Back to the Future
Influential shareholders of Woolworths are seeking to invite Roger Corbett, the nemesis of Australian pharmacy, back into the fold as chairman. They say: “Woolworths needs a circuit breaker. Given the way Woolworths has lost direction and given the loss of shareholder value, there needs to be accountability – what’s needed is a circuit breaker to sort out the…
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PBS Co-Pays…Come out Swinging!
When something does not make sense and defies commonsense and logic- then it is political. The decision to enable pharmacists to discount the PBS co-pay by up to $1.00 is one such decision. The logic is that it will create more competition, but the reality is that it will cause erosion to the profit base…
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The Tipping Point for PBS Has Arrived
The tipping point is the point at which a dominant technology or player defines the standard for an industry-resulting in “winner-take-all” economies of scale and scope. It is generally disruptive in nature. The tipping point is the critical point in an evolving situation that leads to a new and irreversible development. The term is said…
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How pharmaceutical marketing is harming us, and the seven reforms we need now
“I may sound like a conspiracy theorist nut when I say this but the pharmaceutical companies are master manipulators…” begins Dr Martin Whitely, Senior Advocate for the WA based Health Consumers Council. “… They rip off Australian taxpayers via the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and pull the wool over the eyes of drug safety regulators everywhere.”…
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Why the Business World Feels so Different
The major global management consultancies have, until very recently, been operating in uncharted territory and feeling very uncomfortable, because they were unable to give clients a sense of direction. This was a direct result of having lost their own sense of direction. With the passage of time and the collection of sufficient data, there is…
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The Value Curve Aligns
Given the opportunity to start with a clean slate, a blank sheet of paper and be unencumbered with tradition, what would a new model for pharmacy look like? In the previous article, we looked at (i) The Service Continuum and (ii) competitive advantage theory to create an initial macro path forward. We summarized that a…