PRESCRIPTION CRACKDOWN CUTS PHARMACY ABUSE BILL BU $8M

A FEDERAL crackdown has slashed the bill for abuse of prescription
drugs by up to a third and is likely to be extended in the May 11
Budget, the Government says.

The three-year crackdown on so-called "doctor-shoppers", by the
Government's Health Insurance Commission, has saved an estimated $8
million and resulted in 36 prosecutions.

The project has seen the number of identified doctor-shoppers fall
from more than 13,000 to 9500 over three years.

Doctor-shoppers are identified as people who visit 15 or more general
practitioners a year, obtaining more than 50 prescriptions.

Most prosecutions have been for people misusing Medicare cards,
including racketeers who "shop" to smuggle the prescription drugs overseas.

The national bill for purchase abuse was estimated to be at least $25
million. It included those who inadvertently became dependent on
prescription drugs and "shop around" to support their habit and the
actions of organised crime syndicates.

So far, the program has targeted abusers of benzodiazepines,
painkillers such as codeine and morphine and pethidine, but the
program is under review and could be extended to cover other drugs.

Health Minister Michael Wooldridge told an information technology
seminar in Melbourne yesterday the project had been recently linked to
an online pharmacy trial that enabled pharmacists to check patient
entitlements instantly.

This would enable the Government to identify more people putting
themselves at risk. "It's an approach that's working and there are
clear and positive signs that this problem is easing," Dr Wooldridge
said.

"A possible next stage in this approach is to trial the use of a
national online drug dispensing system linked to consumer Medicare
cards."

Dr Wooldridge also outlined progress on a new approach to managing
healthcare that shows it can cut hospitalisation rates for some
illnesses by as much as 25 per cent.

He was referring to 13 co-ordinated care trials in operation around
the country