The PharmagoraPlus team is delighted to have had the opportunity to speak with Pierre-Olivier VARIOT, President of the USPO. 

 

2023 was a challenging year for community pharmacies. 2024 promises to be a year of significant changes for the sector. Could you share with our readers your concerns and hopes for the coming year?

2023 was indeed a difficult year for pharmacists, with drug shortages, administrative harassment from the national health insurance system, and significant economic hardship for all pharmacies.

The threat of deregulating the pharmacy network—a move sought by some lawmakers—also looms.

As always, the USPO has taken numerous steps to protect the interests of pharmacists and ensure patients’ access to care. In particular, we proposed a commitment charter to resolve supply chain issues and release drug stocks held back by pharmaceutical companies, which has already begun to bear fruit.

In 2023, ahead of the contract negotiations with the National Health Insurance Agency that began in late December, the USPO launched an inter-union mobilization campaign aimed at securing an ambitious economic reform for all pharmacists.  

Finally, in 2023, several key initiatives that we had been calling for over the past several years came to fruition. I am thinking in particular of the requirement to prescribe antibiotics only after a rapid antigen test has been performed, which will take effect in early 2024.

 

Last week, you outlined the USPO’s priority for 2024—strengthening the pharmacy sector to ensure continued access to care. Could you provide more details on the steps the USPO is taking to achieve this goal?

Our pharmacies are facing severe economic hardship. Inflation remains stubbornly high, operating costs are rising, and, at the same time, the dispensing fee has not been adjusted and is not compensated at its fair value.

Without this increase, the very survival of pharmacies is at risk.

In addition, I want pharmacies to receive compensation commensurate with their investment in prevention, screening, and patient support.

If pharmacies cannot be fairly compensated, it will become increasingly difficult to prevent the financialization of our sector, to the great detriment of patients and the general public.

Finally, if pharmacies cannot be fairly compensated, there is a risk of financialization

 

Let’s get back to the topic of prescriptions written by community pharmacists: why do you consider this development “necessary and desirable”?

Community pharmacists can now prescribe all vaccines on the national immunization schedule and, in the near future, certain antibiotics following a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for strep throat or cystitis. This measure addresses the growing challenges patients face in accessing care, such as a shortage of healthcare providers and difficulty in securing a prompt appointment.

Certain situations require prompt intervention by a healthcare professional. This is particularly true for unscheduled care that does not require a physical examination, as well as for preventive care. With 21,000 pharmacies located throughout the country, available 24/7 without an appointment, the pharmacy is the one-stop solution for meeting these needs. We have already won some significant victories, and it is high time to expand this prescribing authority, particularly for treating dental pain or prescribing nicotine replacement therapies.

https://uspo.fr/