Exams in the pharmacy, after the outcry from the medical association and some trade unions, all except Fimmg Piemonte, comes the reply from Federfarma.
We are talking about the agreement with the Region which, from May 1st, will allow eligible Piedmontese citizens to carry out blood pressure Holter, cardiac Holter and electrocardiogram tests free of charge directly at participating pharmacies in Piedmont.
The investment by the Region, as part of the Services Pharmacy, is 2 and a half million euros, until 31 December 2024, with the possibility of refinancing as part of the next national agreement.
“Restricted funds”
«This agreement is part of the experimentation of the so-called “service pharmacy”, financed with specific funds allocated at national level and linked to the execution of specific health services (therefore not usable for other purposes), approved by the State-Regions Conference in the autumn of 2019 but mostly not started due to the Covid emergency that occurred which concentrated the use of anti-Covid-19 vaccines in pharmacies – Federfarma stated -.
Now phase two of this experiment begins, with the Region’s meritorious objective of carrying out a screening of unaware or unstabilized patients in two particularly insidious pathologies: cardiovascular risk through telecardiology, which will start at the beginning of May, and subsequently the hypertension by monitoring the relative subjects’ adherence to therapy. It is also specified that emerging subjects at risk will be promptly sent to the referring doctors.”
“Remote reports”
«The telemedicine project, in particular, provides that Piedmontese citizens at cardiovascular risk will be able to use pharmacies to have electrocardiograms, cardiac Holter tests and blood pressure Holter tests reported remotely by cardiologist specialists. The ministerial guidelines do not refer to a medical prescription.”
The questionnaire
«At the moment, therefore, the citizen who goes to the pharmacy for these tests will be asked to fill in a specific questionnaire developed by a research group from the University of Turin and shared by the cardiologist responsible for this activity as part of the experimentation itself: in this questionnaire indicates that if at least 3 of the risk factors reported therein emerge, the citizen will be able to undergo a cardiac or blood pressure ECG or Holter test free of charge in the pharmacy.
For the purposes of eligibility for free, therefore, the pharmacist “records” what is declared by the citizen regarding the presence of the expected number of risk factors, consistently with the objective of carrying out the secondary prevention indicated by the relevant ministerial guidelines”.
“The word to the specialists”
«In reiterating that in all cases the aforementioned services are reported by cardiologist specialists and without any diagnostic evaluation by the pharmacy, Federfarma Piemonte is firmly convinced that citizens will also appreciate on this occasion the professional commitment, efficiency and the effectiveness of the network of pharmacies, present in a widespread manner throughout the territory, and that the experimentation will confirm the importance – even in this context – of the pharmacies themselves in protecting the health of the population”.
Tags: Pharmacy exams Federfarma responds criticism Initiative financed national resources replacing specialists
