The Community Pharmacy Agreement is a five-year agreement (now in its fifth cycle) that governs how pharmacies supply medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). While the average Australian makes more than 14 visits to a community pharmacy every year, not many know about how this agreement impacts pharmacy in Australia. Pharmacies buy medication from wholesalers, sell them to people who bring in prescriptions and are reimbursed by the government for drugs listed on the PBS. They’re also paid for the professional advice they provide when dispensing those medicines. Patients pay a contribution towards the cost of their medication to the pharmacist, who then claims from the government the difference between what they paid the wholesaler and the patient contribution. In the financial year ending June 30 2014, the government spent $9.1 billion on PBS-listed drugs. Exactly what this money went to was governed by the Community Pharmacy Agreement
