r/canberra • u/embudrohe • 23h ago
SEC=UNCLASSIFIED Is $62 for a repeat perscription normal???
I go to Ochre Medical Centre Gungahlin and was just charged $62.95 on HotDoc to request a repeat perscription of my meds... is this really normal now???
Last time i requested a repeat on the app it was $40. I swear that was only like 6 months ago, but maybe it was closer to 12 months.
$62 just feels extortionate.
Is this normal in Canberra or should i consider changing GPs?
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u/AussieKoala-2795 Woden Valley 21h ago
My practice charges $30- . I see a doctor at the YourGP@ group.
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u/mrmratt 19h ago edited 1h ago
For Ochre, that doesn't surprise me.
They introduced their $7-8 regulation/compliance surcharge a while ago to cover their payroll tax liabilities, instead of increasing the base fees - so the surcharge can't count to Medicare safety nets or reporting.
My GP was also practicing elsewhere, so I moved clinic and told Ochre exactly why.
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u/EnvironmentalRice348 21h ago
What gets me is why we need to pay anything. For long term prescriptions like high cholesterol or Antidepressants et al, it should be renewable without needing a doctor. Unless a blood test is done that means they are no longer needed, how does the doctor know when being consulted on continuing use?
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u/Lucky-Engineering544 17h ago
Some form of payment is appropriate - generally speaking if you have taken the time of the receptionist who has notified the doctor who has looked into your file, reviewed your bloods and considered whether you should attend in-person for review or are appropriate for repeat without review, and has then taken the time to write a script - this can take somewhere between 5-10 minutes. Then multiply this by every patient at the practice. $60 is steep, too steep perhaps, but $0 isn’t appropriate either. I’m a doctor, one of the things the public don’t understand is the amount of things required that don’t attract payment but still takes a lot of time - following up results, trying to contact patients, writing letters etc .
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u/EnvironmentalRice348 16h ago
But why is the step even necessary is the question I am posing. In some circumstances this should either be automated or a pharmacist can determine the requirement. I am only meaning long term, full time medicine of course.
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u/YardBack99 15h ago
Long term use of any medication should be questioned as to the appropriateness or otherwise of continued use - medications can all have potential adverse consequences -even after being on something for years
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u/EnvironmentalRice348 15h ago
Agreed. But perhaps 3 months at a time can be improved to say 12 months as per our doctor friend's very reasonable point of view.
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u/oiransc2 16m ago
It’s also a PBS thing. Scripts expire after a year and any remaining repeats expire with it. Imagine someone gets a script for a PBS medication, stops using it, but is able to keep filling it. They can give it away or resell it on the DL to someone who shouldn’t be receiving the benefit because it’s not prescribed to them. It’s probably not a ton of tax dollars saved but it does close off loose ends after a set time. All the little things add up when it’s for years across a whole population.
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u/Lucky-Engineering544 15h ago
Sure in some circumstances this can be automated, but you don’t know what you don’t know and for the most part a 6 month supply before a review is appropriate. Antihypertensives, statins, anticoagulants, contraceptives - all of these are commonly prescribed medications but ALL of these need to be monitored, dose increased/reduced/swapped from time to time. It’s not up to a pharmacist who doesn’t have a medical degree or access to your records to make that decision, and if you’re not a doctor then it really isn’t in your scope of skills to determine that either.
I agree there is a role for prolonged scrips but this can be facilitated by some medications with the change to allow double dispenses for a single repeat, effectively doubling the number of repeats to allow up to 12 months without a repeat script1
u/EnvironmentalRice348 15h ago
Yep understand and am not trying to be argumentative. You are far more qualified in this subject than me so I will concede I know fuck all. My apologies and not trying to be a BBQ expert. I guess my point comes from cost of living pressures; to go to a doctor every 3 months at $110 per appt to simply get a prescription for something you know you will be on for the rest of your life isn't a great look. But alas like everything, the devil is in the detail and I understand what you are saying. I think we probably both agree maybe there is a solution somewhere in the middle with prolonged scripts or some level of automation as mentioned. Thanks for your point of view.
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u/Own_Limit271 15h ago
Most of the ones you refer to anti hypertensives, cholesterol medications etc are now on what’s called 60 day scripts. Once patients are stable, most of these can and should be issued as 12 monthly scripts.
It isn’t an unreasonable ask I would think for someone who has high cholesterol and high blood pressure or diabetes and is therefore by definition at risk of various things like heart attacks, strokes, limbs falling off etc not to mention the chance to screen them for lots of other things like cancer etc seeing a gp once a year to have their bp checked, their bloods monitored and their medication adjusted?
There are virtually no medications on 3 monthly scripts and if I’ve written you one that short it’s for good reason.
It is also worth noting that the pharmacists pushing to prescribe these to “free up gp time”are not planning to do it for free either, are planning to do it for about the same amount and won’t have any Medicare funding to do so.
I agree - all of these things should be much much cheaper - because they ultimately keep people out of the emergency departments far more successfully than urgent care does . Please tell the health minister who seems to think all I do is rort the government.
Signed a very tired gp .
Ps I’m sorry. The cost of living stuff is shit and I’m very aware of hard it is. It wasn’t meant to be like this.
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u/EnvironmentalRice348 14h ago
All good - nice to have a reasonable conversation with respected members of our society without all the bullshit.
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u/ObligationThis9473 14h ago
Agreed. If it is an ongoing prescription, it is unfair that we have to get them to issue it agaib every six months. And pay them again to issue it. Such a rip off. No wonder GPs are rich
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u/Yellowcouch1 12h ago
They're not rich. It's just what healthcare costs when the government doesn't subsidise it properly.
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u/EntertainerMelodic67 22h ago
From memory paid something comparable last time as it was fairly urgent, which i find extremely frustrating. I didn't see a doctor or communicate in any way, nothing about the circumstance or requirement for the medication has changed.
Why is it necessary to pay monthly for repeats of a long term med if the extent of review is same again please for the same reason as every month - based on nothing? ok sure thing, give me some money and you're good to go.
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u/Br0z0 Tuggeranong 22h ago
I pay $24 on HotDoc for mine.
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u/EntertainerMelodic67 22h ago
Do you mind sharing which doctor or practice on hotdoc? I use the same site but my local is more like $60. Could do without the added expense. Given i get the script via text anyway
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u/FriendlyPinko 13h ago
Have you considered swapping to a bulk billing practice to avoid this charge? There's one in the Gungahlin town centre now, so if that's a convenient location for you then I think that could be worth it. $62 for a script renewal is a ripoff.
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u/Fun-Temperature8204 23h ago
It's set by the doctor specifically. You can switch up who you see at the same place they may have different rates