EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
NATIONAL HEALTH ACT 1953
National Health (Supplies of out-patient medication) Amendment Determination 2012 (No.1)
PB 88 of 2012
Authority
Subsection 84BA(2) of the National Health Act 1953 (the Act) provides that the Minister must determine the amount that will be taken to have been paid to a public hospital for supplies of out-patient medication for the purposes of safety net.
Purpose
The purpose of this legislative instrument, made under subsection 84BA(2) of the Act, is to amend the National Health (Supplies of out-patient medication) Determination 2011 (PB 103 of 2011) (the Determination), to make changes to the determination of the amounts taken to have been paid to a public hospital for supplies of out-patient medication.
Division 1A of Part VII of the Act provides for a ‘safety net scheme’ in relation to pharmaceutical benefits. The safety net scheme is designed to provide financial protection for those patients and their families who require a large number of pharmaceutical benefits.
Subsection 84BA(1) of the Act provides that the purpose of section 84BA of the Act is to make provision so that account may be taken of payments made by a person to a public hospital authority for supplies of out-patient medication, when it is being ascertained whether the person is eligible to be issued with a safety net concession card or a safety net entitlement card.
This Instrument amends the Determination to remove references to ‘approved price to pharmacists’ and replace those references with ‘approved ex-manufacturer price or proportional ex-manufacturer price’. This amendment makes technical consequential changes to reflect amendments made to the Act by the National Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) Act 2012 (the Amending Act), which commences 1 October 2012. The Amending Act removes ‘approved price to pharmacists’ as the PBS base price under the Act and replaces it with ‘approved ex-manufacturer price’.
This Instrument also amends the Determination to replace references to the ‘National Healthcare Agreement’ and with references to the ‘National Health Reform Agreement’. This amendment reflects amendments to the Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 that commenced 25 June 2012. The Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 refers to the National Health Reform Agreement as agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments on 2 August 2011 as amended from time to time. A copy of the National Health Reform Agreement can be obtained at the Council of Australian Governments (“COAG”) website at http://www.coag.gov.au.
The amendments do not alter the amount that, under the Determination, is taken to have been paid to the hospitals for the supply of out-patient medication. These amounts are determined each year, before the entitlement period (calendar year), for the entitlement period.
Consultation
The changes made by this Amendment Determination are consequential to changes to the Act and are technical and machinery in nature. No consultation was undertaken.
This instrument commences on 1 October 2012.
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purpose of the Legislative Instrument Act 2003.