Pharmac has released a proposal today to support 12-month prescriptions for community medicines through changes to the Pharmaceutical Schedule and Special Authority Approvals.
These changes support the Government’s proposed amendments to the Medicines Regulations 1984, which will allow prescribers to write prescriptions for up to 12 months.
Pharmac’s Director of Strategy, Policy and Performance Michael Johnson says the proposed changes are designed to make it easier for people to access their medicines while maintaining safe and effective dispensing practices.
“These changes mean people may not need to arrange for a new prescription as often, while still collecting their medicines at regular intervals,” he says.
“Pharmac is proposing updates to the Schedule Rules and Special Authority Approvals to align with the new legislation. This includes allowing funded medicines to be prescribed for up to 12 months and adjusting how repeats are dispensed under Special Authority.”
Currently, if a Special Authority medicine is first dispensed before the expiry date, any remaining repeats on a prescription are funded – even if dispensed after the expiry date. Under the proposal, only dispensings made before the Special Authority expiry date would be funded.
“This change is necessary to prevent prescription repeats from being dispensed for up to eleven months after the Special Authority funding approval has expired,” says Johnson.
Pharmac is also proposing to extend approval periods for some Special Authority medicines to ensure the full course of treatment can be dispensed before the approval expires.
“We want to make sure these changes work well for everyone – people using medicines, prescribers, pharmacists, and software providers,” says Johnson.
“We’re especially interested in what support or resources might be needed to help with the transition.”
Pharmac is proposing changes to the Pharmaceutical Schedule and Special Authority Approvals to support the Government’s proposed amendment to the Medicines Regulations 1984, which will allow prescriptions to be written for up to 12 months.
Specifically, Pharmac is proposing to:
Update the Schedule Rules so that people can be prescribed funded medicines or products for up to 12 months on a single prescription.
Change how repeats are dispensed under Special Authority:
Currently, repeats can be funded even after the Special Authority approval has expired, as long as the first dispensing occurred before expiry.
Under the proposal, only dispensing made before the Special Authority expiry date would be funded.
Extend approval periods for some Special Authority medicines to ensure the full course of treatment can be dispensed before the approval expires.
Change the funding limit for some medicines from being based on the amount per prescription to being based on the dispensing period (or a similar timeframe).
Pharmac is not consulting on the change to prescription length itself – that decision has already been made by the Government. Instead, the focus is on how best to implement these changes in a way that works for patients, prescribers, pharmacists, and software providers.
Currently, if a product with a Special Authority is first dispensed before the expiry date, any remaining repeats up to the three-month limit on a prescription are funded, even if they are dispensed after the expiry date.
Pharmac has funded these repeats in good faith. However, Pharmac is now proposing that only repeat dispensing made before the Special Authority expiry date will be funded, regardless of the prescription length. This would mean that:
prescribers would need to make sure the Special Authority Approval is valid for the duration of the prescription they write.
pharmacists would need to make sure that any repeats they dispense are covered by a valid Special Authority Approval, or they will not be able to claim on it.
consumers, with repeats remaining on a prescription after the Special Authority expiry date, would need to get a new Special Authority approval from their prescriber.
This change needs to happen to prevent prescription repeats continuing to be dispensed for up to eleven months after the Special Authority funding approval has expired.
We recognise that this is a significant change for consumers, pharmacists, and prescribers and appreciate that this may impact workload and processes. We are asking for feedback on this proposal and what activities might be useful to support the proposed change.
