The AMA has been advocating for needed updates to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriber bag - also known as doctors' bags - to ensure patient access to priority and emergency medicines is supported and the benefits included in the bag are responsive to contemporary clinical need.
The AMA is pleased calls for a review of the current list of medicines included in the bag are being addressed. We welcome the Department of Health and Aged Care's review of prescriber bags in response to advocacy from key stakeholders, including our recent letter to Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler.
Making priority medicines available to patients when they need them can be challenging. At times practitioners are driven to inefficient methods such as posting medicines directly to a patient's residence. The prescriber bag remains a highly appropriate and necessary expedient to ensure patients have ready access to urgent medicines.
We have provided a shortlist of items for the review to consider, informed by clinical consultation and aligned with recommendations from other key stakeholders.
In addition to addressing medicine availability to some degree, prescriber bags should only carry medicines which demonstrate appropriate application in emergency front-line care, while also providing the additional benefit of lowering hospital presentations and hospitalisations.
Regular review is essential, and we expect the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will build an effective, consolidated list that reflects broad clinical agreement from the healthcare sector.
We recommend ongoing consultation and look forward to participating in further reviews to ensure the prescriber bag remains fit-for-purpose.
