Restricting the sale of retail products in community pharmacies is one reform mooted for the sector set to be discussed in a forum on Monday.
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The panel leading a review into pharmacy regulation and remuneration will continue its national consultation tour with a public forum in Canberra.
Led by the Productivity Commission's Dr Stephen King, the panel has produced a discussion paper raising possible reforms to the industry.
The paper has examined the potential conflicts of interest pharmacists face in "up-selling" unnecessary products due to the disparity between revenue from prescription medication and over-the-counter products.
"It was put to the panel that community pharmacists face conflicts of interest between their role as retailers and as health care professionals," the paper said.
"It was also claimed that many complementary products do not have evidence-based health benefits and as such, the sale of these products in a pharmacy setting may misinform consumers of their effectiveness and undermine the professional integrity of community pharmacists."
The report said the "predominantly" retail setting of pharmacies risked reducing the value of medicine to "the same as any other retail product" and suggested replicating some clinical-looking hospital pharmacies could improve health outcomes.
"Alternatively, pharmacy could become more closely aligned with reforms occurring in primary care," the report said.
"This could take the form of collaboration with primary health networks to identify local health service needs and PHNs could contract certain pharmacies to deliver services of particular value to that community."
Professor King said some parts of the paper could be seen as "contentious and provocative", but said every approach needed to be critically examined.
"While many parts of the system will stand up to such close scrutiny, other parts may be revealed as inadequate and in need of reform," he said.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia welcomed the paper and said it raised many "thought-provoking questions", but defended the current community pharmacy model.
In a statement, a guild spokesman said a formal response would be submitted to the panel.
"The delivery of PBS medicines through the network of community pharmacies is an outstanding success story within our health system," the statement read.
"It is a model which should be built on for the benefit of patients – not dismantled in the name of deregulation and economic theories."
The public consultation forum will be held on Monday at the Hellenic Club on Matilda Street, Phillip. Registration to the event is required on the review's website.
A live national webcast will also be held from Canberra on September 7.
