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Pharmacy location rules – Post–implementation Review – Department of Health

The Department of Health has completed a Post-implementation Review (PIR) on the 2010 decision to renew the pharmacy location rules. These rules prescribe location-based criteria that must be satisfied in order to establish a new pharmacy or relocate an existing pharmacy. A RIS was required to be prepared for the renewal or retention of pharmacy location rules as these could entail a restriction on competition, and were assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as likely to have a measurable impact on the economy. Because an adequate RIS was not prepared at the decision-making stage, a PIR was required to be prepared within 1-2 years of the implementation of the decision to renew the rules. The review noted that the costs of extending the location rules include the potential for higher cost of non-subsidised medicines; possibly reduced geographical access to pharmacies in urban areas; and an administrative impost for pharmacists who want to relocate or expand (estimated at $1 million per year). However it found that these costs were outweighed by the benefits of the rules, which maintain a reasonably well-distributed geographical spread of pharmacies in Australia, including (and especially) in rural and remote areas. The review also noted that targeted easing of the rules could provide for greater benefits to the community. The PIR was completed by the Department of Health in October 2014 and was assessed as adequate by the OBPR.