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Nurse practitioner PBS prescribing

PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS WHICH MAY BE PRESCRIBED BY AUTHORISED NURSE PRACTITIONERS

Nurse practitioners endorsed to prescribe under state or territory legislation can apply for approval as PBS prescribers (authorised nurse practitioners).  Information for nurse practitioners to become authorised PBS prescribers is available from Services Australia.

The pharmaceutical benefits listed for prescribing by authorised nurse practitioners are identified by ‘NP’ in the PBS Schedule. Nurse practitioners must not issue PBS prescriptions for pharmaceutical benefits that do not specify ‘NP’ in the listing.

PBS prescribing is limited by a nurse practitioner’s scope of practice, adherence to professional practice standards as set by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, and state or territory prescribing rights. Prescribing of PBS medicines is also contingent on a prescriber being an authorised nurse practitioner as required by the National Health Act 1953.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) is responsible for making recommendations to the Minister for Health and Aged Care regarding which medicines will attract a PBS subsidy when prescribed by authorised nurse practitioners.

Further to prescribing within an individual’s scope of practice, certain medicines have additional conditions for prescribing by nurse practitioners, as recommended by the PBAC. Authorised nurse practitioners should check the details of individual pharmaceutical benefits listings to ensure that all specified circumstances are met.

Some medicines are included in more than one section of the Schedule and for more than one prescriber type. For a prescription to be eligible for subsidy, authorised nurse practitioners must ensure that they prescribe under the PBS listing that specifies ‘NP’, and in accordance with any restrictions specified in that listing. Listing details for the same product may differ between sections of the Schedule and different PBS item codes apply for each prescriber type.

Nurse practitioner PBS prescriptions are identifiable by colour and include the indicator ‘NP’ on personalised forms and a tick box on non-personalised (blank) forms. Prescriptions must include the nurse practitioner’s PBS prescriber number. For unrestricted and restricted PBS medicines, nurse practitioners can use the personalised or non-personalised PBS prescriber forms.  For authority required and authority required (streamlined) PBS medicines, nurse practitioners can use the authority personalised or non-personalised PBS prescriber forms.  Nurse practitioner PBS prescriptions may include repeats. 

Regulation 49 applies for nurse practitioner prescribing. A nurse practitioner can direct that original and repeat supplies of pharmaceutical benefits be supplied at the one time, if certain conditions are satisfied.

Authority prescriptions: Authority prescriptions for authority required items, or for increased quantities or repeats, require prior approval from Services Australia for each prescription. (Refer to Prescribing Medicines — Information for PBS prescribers for more information on authority prescriptions.)

State and territory requirements: Nurse practitioners may prescribe medicines as non-PBS (private) prescriptions provided that any prescribing is within the individual nurse practitioner’s scope of practice and any limitations declared through state or territory law. The medicines which can be prescribed differ between states and territories. It is the nurse practitioner’s responsibility to ensure adherence to state/territory law for all prescriptions (PBS and private) and additionally to all PBS requirements for PBS prescriptions.