Increased number of medicines available via Online PBS Authorities system

Services Australia has announced that an increased number of Authority Required Drugs, which are medicines that require PBS approval before they can be dispensed to a patient, are being added to the self-service Online PBS Authorities system.

This comes with a requirement that dentists, doctors, and other authorised health practitioners must demonstrate a patient’s eligibility for continuing treatment.

To prepare for the changes, authorised health practitioners such as dentists must start documenting their patients’ baseline values and previous treatment failures in their medical records now.

While records already in the system will continue to be accessible by Service Australia, it may not have all patient records available, so authorised health practitioners are encouraged to document the baseline values in medical records to “avoid any administration delays in proving patient care.”

For further information about these changes, contact Services Australia on 1800 700 270.