Covid-19 reimagined the world’s approach to healthcare. While it put excessive strain on healthcare employees, it urged companies and governments to think outside the box and develop a more sustainable system for the post-pandemic world. Of course, that looked different for everyone.
For countries like Estonia and the US, it entailed boosting telehealth services. For Queensland, the focus has been on realising the full potential of medical practitioners and improving access to healthcare through the Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot.
The Pilot will enable prescribing pharmacists in a community pharmacy to diagnose and treat up to 23 everyday health conditions across acute care, chronic conditions and medication management. About 300 pharmacists are completing the required education and training for the Pilot, with services due to commence first in North Queensland in March 2024.
What’s more, the medication management app MedAdvisor (ASX: MDR) has won a contract to support the 2024-2025 iteration of the Pilot. MedAdvisor’s advanced PlusOne software platform will be used to deliver in-pharmacy services.
CEO Rick Ratliff noted, “The awarding of this contract is testament to the Company’s enduring reputation amongst its 5,700+ pharmacy customers nationwide. It also speaks to the successful outcomes that MedAdvisor Solutions has assisted in delivering, through timely clinical consultations for urinary tract infection and oral contraception programs, now prescribed by ~2150 registered pharmacies throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria.”
The contract follows a competitive tender process and the MedTech company’s prior success across Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, and Victoria, where MedAdvisor enabled successful in-pharmacy clinical consultations for urinary tract infections and oral contraception.
The pilot is expected to launch on February 1, 2024, and operate for 16 months, concluding on May 31, 2025. Currently, about 135 community pharmacies in North Queensland have registered to participate in the program.
MedAdvisor Solutions’ role will be developing a sophisticated software platform with a patient portal, clinical information system, prescribing functionality, secure communications, and data analytics. This includes integration with national digital health infrastructure. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia will partially fund the cost of delivering the program.
On behalf of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, National President Trent Twomey shared, “With timely primary care becoming less accessible for patients in addressing their healthcare needs across Australia, we anticipate that community pharmacies can play a key role in bridging this gap. With the help of MedAdvisor Solutions, we believe that the services will demonstrate to our state and federal regulators that community pharmacies can be an effective platform for delivering additional clinical services that achieve positive health outcomes to patients nationwide.”
MedAdvisor is not expecting to generate any revenue from the pilot program. However, following a successful pilot, ending in 2025, and the necessary regulatory approvals, it expects that its clinical services will be accessible to all pharmacies nationally. At this time, MedAdvisor Solutions expects to generate future revenue streams from assisting in delivering these expanded services.
In Q1 FY24, the Company had $9.8 million cash on hand, with cash receipts down 10%. Its net operating cash outflow stood at $4.2 million, an improvement of $700k on Q1 FY23’s $4.9 million. It is yet to be determined whether the initial lack of revenue from this contract is reasoned since the Company did not reveal the development costs for its OnePlus platform.
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