The so-called "distribution on behalf" of drugs included in the hospital-territorial handbook - i.e. those that guarantee continuity between hospital care and territorial assistance - by pharmacies will make its debut on 1 March in Piedmont. Objective: to offer patients a double access route. The distribution on behalf - reads the website of the Region - is based on the direct purchase of medicines by the healthcare companies at greater discounts and on the distribution through the affiliated pharmacies open to the public with remuneration only for the service rendered. On the one hand, the provision will enhance the role of the pharmacy as a garrison of the regional health service and a point of reference for the various aspects connected to the management of the drug, on the other it proposes to eliminate the uneven distribution on the territory. The use of direct distribution by the regional health authorities, in fact, while proving to be effective above all in terms of patient adherence to medical indications and verification of prescriptive appropriateness - observes the Region - can sometimes lead to different situations of access to medicines, compromising the uniformity of pharmaceutical assistance on the territory. The experimentation will last six months and the lead partner of the project will be the ASL of Asti. At the conclusion of a work process shared with the trade union associations of the public and private affiliated pharmacies, the methods for distribution on behalf will be defined in detail, which will have to be monitored to assess the impact on regional pharmaceutical expenditure.
DoctorNews – 17 February 2010 – Year 8, Number 27
