THE Federal Government is extending the grace period for honouring prescriptions for eligible patients through the Closing the Gap (CTG) Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Relief Program until 31 Jan 2022.
The decision follows the introduction of wide-ranging IT changes to the program (PD 17 Jun), which left many Indigenous-identifying patients who previously had years of access to the scheme out of the database, with pharmacists forced to deal with multiple problems since the updates were introduced on 01 Jul.
With a significant number of eligible patients yet to be registered correctly, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia issued an alert to members this morning confirming that the grace period will continue into the new year.
"The grace period will continue to prevent CTG annotated PBS prescriptions being rejected at the time of dispensing if the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is not formally registered for the program through Services Australia," the Guild said.
"It is imperative while the registration grace period is in effect for PBS Prescribers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners to ensure eligible patients are correctly registered for the Program.
"Registration must be done via Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) by these health professionals.
"PBS prescribers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners, and pharmacists can confirm Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are registered for the Program via HPOS.
"If they are not, the system will indicate that the person is 'inactive'.
"Pharmacists may consider contacting the prescriber or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner on their behalf to ensure eligible patients will continue to access CTG benefits after 31 Jan 2022."
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