Information for pharmacists
Page last updated: 4 September 2024
- Supplying Medicine – What Pharmacists Need To Know
- How Pharmacists Claim Reimbursement: Information Required
- How Pharmacists Claim Reimbursement: Documents to be Submitted
- Pricing PBS Prescriptions
- Patient Charges for PBS Prescriptions: Example Calculations
- Pharmaceutical Services Federal Committee of Inquiry
- Standard Packs and Prices
- Container Prices, Fees, Standard Packs and Prices for Ready Prepared Pharmaceutical Benefits
- Standard Packs and Prices for Ready Prepared Pharmaceutical Benefits - Emergency Drug Items
- Standard Packs and Prices for Ready Prepared Pharmaceutical Benefits - General Pharmaceutical Benefits
- Standard Packs and Prices for Ready Prepared Pharmaceutical Benefits - Palliative care
- Extemporaneously-prepared pharmaceutical benefits
New payments under the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement
From 1 April 2024, s90 Approved Pharmacists are entitled to the new Additional Community Supply Support (ACSS) payment for the supply of section 85 PBS and Repatriation PBS medicines.
The ACSS has been legislated in the National Health Act 1953, and has two components:
- A base level payment of $0.78 (in 2024-25) per dispense for all eligible section 85 items provided to a patient; and
- An additional payment of $4.79 (in 2024-25) per dispense for all eligible increased Maximum Dispensed Quantity (MDQ) items when supplied in the full maximum dispensing quantity on a single occasion.
The first payments will be processed by Services Australia via a quarterly manual
bulk adjustment process from late October 2024. Pharmacists will need to certify and close their claims to receive these payments, as ACSS payments can only be made for supplies in claim
periods that have been closed and certified during the manual processing period. It
is anticipated that ACSS payments will be automated by 1 July 2025.
More information on the ACSS payment is available on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.
PBS Patient Discounts
The Australian Government is committed to easing cost of living pressures and ensuring that all Australians have access to high quality health care. This includes subsidising the cost of medicines through the PBS.
Since 1 January 2023, pharmacists have had the choice to further reduce the cost of PBS medicines for patients. This can only be done by applying both the pre‑existing $1 ‘allowable discount’ and the newer ‘discretionary discount’. Pharmacists are not permitted to reduce the charge for an over co‑payment prescription any further under any other PBS arrangement.
New discretionary discount for some medicines
From 1 January 2023, pharmacists have had the option to offer general patients an additional discount on prescriptions for specific eligible medicines.
This additional discretionary discount (referred to as ‘increased discount’ under the National Health Act 1953) can be applied when supplying a PBS prescription to a general patient, where the Commonwealth price of the medicine is in the range above the co‑payment amount and the increased discounting upper Commonwealth price. In 2024, the lower threshold will be $31.60 and the increased discounting upper Commonwealth price will be $48.10. Both of these amounts are indexed on 1 January each year.
This discount is not mandatory and is applied at the discretion of the pharmacist.
The discretionary discount is not able to be applied for concessional scripts.
