THE new Pharmacy Programs Administrator website, Registration and Claiming Portal, and Support Centre went live at 9am today, meaning there are new processes for all claims associated with 6th Community Pharmacy Agreement programs effective immediately.
Previously managed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the administration is being taken over by AHA Consulting which was awarded the services agreement following a competitive tender process undertaken by the Dept of Health (PD 29 Oct 2018).
AHA already administers the Community Service Obligation (CSO) funding pool and the Chemotherapy Compounding Payment Scheme (CCPS).
The company is operating the 6CPA portal under the new Pharmacy Programs Administrator brand, which will now look after the 23 Community Pharmacy Programs funded under the 6CPA.
From today all claims must be submitted via the new portal which is available at ppaonline.com.au.
All users previously registered with the Pharmacy Guild will have had an account automatically created, and will receive a "welcome" email today with info about logging in for the first time.
For most major programs the new portal will check and validate claims in real-time, meaning they will be approved immediately with payments made within three business days of submission.
Currently these fast-tracked payment arrangements are in place for Dose Administration Aids, MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck, Staged Supply, Home Medicines Reviews and Quality Use of Medicines, and will be extended to other programs in due course.
Chay Boss-Walker, Director of the Pharmacy Programs Administrator, said today's launch followed three months of intensive work.
"We've worked closely with pharmacists to build an entirely new and streamlined Registration and Claiming Portal, and to train our Support Centre Team," he said.
"We'll be drawing on feedback and input from pharmacies and other stakeholders to continuously improve users' claiming experience," Boss-Walker promised.
The dedicated Support Centre can be contacted 9am-8pm AEDT on 1800 951 285 or via email at support@ppaonline.com.au.
An introductory video can also be viewed by CLICKING HERE.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 01 Feb 19
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