A pharmacy chain has been forced to suspend a controversial screening program, after its pathology partner pulled out following heavy criticism by doctors’ groups.
Sonic Healthcare yesterday announced its decision to withdraw as pathology provider for Amcal’s Pathology Health Screening Service in response to “feedback from the GP community”.
The program offers six screening packages including for ‘fatigue’ and ‘general health’ was panned by the AMA and RACGP, which claimed it would lead to unnecessary testing, fragmentation of care and potential conflict of interest concerns.
Sonic broke the news in a statement on Thursday, only weeks after the program was launched.
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“The program was developed in line with the Health Department’s initiative to promote in-pharmacy health screening services, with the common goal of identifying at-risk patients not in treatment and referring them into the primary health care system,” the company said.