Charge for ‘free’ tests

CHEMISTS are charging patients up to $220 for blood tests they can get for free with a GP.

About 100 Amcal chemists around the nation this week began to offer a new Smarthealth program where they order blood tests for diabetes, heart and kidney disease, fatigue and vitamin D deficiency.

The chemists urging patients to take the tests earn an undisclosed “administrative fee” built into the cost of the test.

Sonic Healthcare, which runs the pathology lab that do the tests, gets extra business but does not pay the pharmacist.

Amcal senior pharmacist James Neville said many people, particularly men, did not make time to see a doctor and the tests were a way of screening to find the 500,000 people with undiagnosed conditions.