National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1) 1998 No. 374
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1998 NO. 374
Issued by Authority of the Minister for Health and Aged Care
National Health Act 1953
National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1)
Section 140 of the National Health Act 1953 ("'the Act") provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Paragraph 105(b) of the Act provides that the regulations may make provision for or in relation to the writing of prescriptions.
The National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations have been amended to allow for the introduction of new style prescription forms; and to allow the supply of a pharmaceutical benefit up to and including the first anniversary of the date on which the prescription was written.
The prescription form currently on issue comprises a two-part no-carbon required form. The original of the form is signed as a receipt by the patient or agent at the time of first supply of the pharmaceutical benefit and is used by the approved pharmacist in making a claim for payment. The carbon copy (preprinted with the word "Duplicate") is successively attached to any deferred supply authorisation or repeat authorisations until the last occasion of supply of the benefit, when it is retained by the approved pharmacist.
The quality of the carbon copies can deteriorate over time and thus they can become difficult to read. To enhance patient safety, new forms are to be introduced whereby the above functions are reversed - the original (to be preprinted with "pharmacist/patient copy") will circulate with any allowable repeats and be retained by the approved pharmacist making the last supply of the benefit, and the carbon copy (to be preprinted with "HIC/DVA copy") will be used by the approved pharmacist in making claims for payment. These arrangements will apply only to the new forms; the current procedures will continue to apply in respect of prescription forms already on issue to medical practitioners and participating dental practitioners.
Consultations on this change have been held with the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
Currently a pharmaceutical benefit can be supplied if the prescription is presented for first dispensing up to the day before the first anniversary of the date of prescribing. However, a prescription presented for repeat dispensing up to and including the first anniversary of the date of prescribing is valid.
The regulations standardise these provisions allowing the supply of a pharmaceutical benefit, whether it is a first dispensing or a repeat dispensing, up to and including the first anniversary of the date of prescribing. This brings the provisions into fine with the Health Insurance Commission's processing system, which tests the date of validity of prescriptions by comparing the date the prescription was written with the date of supply of the benefit.
Details of the Regulations are in the Attachment.
The Regulations commenced on 1 January 1999.
ATTACHMENT
Regulation 1 of the amending regulations provides that the name of the amending regulations is the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1).
Regulation 2 of the amending regulations provides that the amending regulations commence on 1 January 1999.
Regulation 3 of the amending regulations provides that the National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Regulations are amended as set out in the Schedule.
Item 1 of the Schedule amends regulation 1 of the Regulations by including in the name of the Regulations the year in which they were first made, in accordance with current drafting practice.
Item 2 of the Schedule renumbers existing regulation 4 of the Regulations as regulation 3.
Item 3 of the Schedule inserts new regulation 4. This is a transitional provision by which the Regulations as in force immediately before this amendment takes effect, will continue to apply to prescription forms currently on issue.
Item 4 inserts in Regulation 5 of the Regulations definitions of "HIC/DVA copy" and "pharmacist/patient copy", in relation to prescriptions.
Items 5 to 9 amend regulation 19 of the Regulations by moving the requirement for a prescription to be written in duplicate from paragraph 19(1)(b) to paragraph 19(1)(a), and by providing for the new labels of "pharmacist/patient copy" to be printed on the originals of prescriptions and "HIC/DVA copy" to be printed on the duplicates of prescriptions.
Items 12 to 15 amend regulation 25 of the Regulations by making it clear that when a repeat supply of a pharmaceutical benefit is made before 4 or 20 clear days, as the case may be, have expired since the previous supply, the endorsement of the words "immediate supply required" and the accompanying signature by the approved supplier are to appear on the "HIC/DVA copy of the prescription, the copy which will be used in making the claim for payment.
Items 10, 11 and 17 amend regulations 21 and 26 of the Regulations by making them consistent in that a pharmaceutical benefit, irrespective of whether it is supplied on presentation of a new prescription or of a repeat authorisation or deferred supply authorisation attached to a prescription, may be supplied up to and including the first anniversary of the date on which the prescription was written. Item 17 also provides that a pharmaceutical benefit may not be supplied on presentation of only the pharmacist/patient copy of the prescription unless it is accompanied by a related repeat authorisation or deferred supply authorisation.
Items 18 and 19 amend a number of provisions of the Regulations by substituting references to the pharmacist/patient copy of the prescription for references to the duplicate of the prescription.