MS Health

11/07/2023

Access to medical abortions will be dramatically expanded in Australia under major changes that will allow all doctors to prescribe the pregnancy termination pill, and all pharmacies to stock it.

Philip Goldstone, the medical director of MS Health, said previous restrictions controlling who was certified had created “huge logistical barriers for patients wanting to access medical abortion services”.

“We’re hoping this will broaden access for patients in Australia. More GPs will immediately be able to prescribe medical abortion, rather than the current limited one in 10. When a patient is prescribed, they’ll be able to take it to any pharmacist, like any other medicine that’s registered in Australia,” he said.

Goldstone said the certification process was not the only problem with access. “We also know that there still exists a lot of stigma around abortion provision and abortion care, which contributes to GPs not taking up provision of medical abortion. We just hope to remove as many barriers as we are able to, this being one of them,” he said.

Read the full story “Medical abortion pill access expanded in landmark move” via https://lnkd.in/g9RSkw4M.

Further legislative and regulatory change is still required by state and territory governments before they are able to prescribe but there is now no restriction at the federal level.

18/01/2023

MS Health is leading a game-changing plan to make medical abortion more accessible across Australia by cutting down the regulatory barriers around who can prescribe the pill combination and where it can be stocked.

To achieve this goal, we lodged applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee that proposed:
1. 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This will remove any restriction by pharma and the TGA on who can prescribe the medical abortion pills, allowing States and Territories to decide who can prescribe. This could include nurses, midwives and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander healthcare workers and will require legislative change across most states and territories.
2. 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝, meaning women and pregnant people will be able to go to any pharmacist and order the drugs — just like any other medicine. At the moment individual pharmacists have to register and it can be onerous to find a pharmacist who will dispense the medical abortion pills.
3. In terms of the education package MS Health providers, through our consultation, we received feedback that it was an informative and important course to take as abortion still sits within ethics subjects in most universities. What we have proposed is to 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞. Additionally, MS Health’s training program is the only free one on medical abortion in Australia.

MS Health must now wait for the TGA to consider the applications – which could happen any time between February and May – but Jamal Hakim CPA GAICD, MS Health’s Managing Director, says he hopes to see movement within the first half of this year.

“These changes remove barriers so more pregnant people can access medical abortion, and they can access it earlier. The earlier they can get it, the safer it is.”

Read more via the link below. https://lnkd.in/gY7za6B2

The Therapeutic Goods Administration is considering an application that would make it easier for more doctors to prescribe abortion medication.

07/07/2021

Our July 2021 update is now live. To view the latest data on metro, regional & remote prescriber & dispenser comparisons, download the report here: https://bit.ly/36eVdDz

[ID: white tile with cyan blue text reading “Medical abortion prescriber and dispenser update – July 2021”. At the top of the tile there is a portrait of a woman with long strawberry blonde hair, wearing a green shirt and gold earrings.]

19/04/2021

Today we celebrate the launch of our first ever MS Health Impact Report! Last year we were met with immense challenges, however this year is a chance for our organisation to refocus on what comes next. Read the full report here https://bit.ly/3v4IzRE

To stay informed of our future publications, sign up to our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/huxMwb

[ID: White tile with cyan blue text reading “Impact Report 2020”. On the right side of the tile there are 3 portraits of 3 different women on colourful backgrounds, smiling at the camera. In the bottom left corner there is a cyan logo reading “MS Health”.]