June 2016

News

In this issue

Ranitidine Tablet 150mg and Ranitidine Tablet, Effervescent 150mg

Pharmaceutical benefits that have the form Ranitidine tablet 150 mg (as hydrochloride) and pharmaceutical benefits that have the form Ranitidine tablet, effervescent, 150 mg (as hydrochloride) are equivalent for the purposes of substitution.

Pharmacists are advised that when substituting between the two forms for PBS item numbers 1978D and 1937Y that they will need to manually substitute the products in the Fred Dispense selection window.

Due to the complexity of differences between the products, the automatic generic substitution facility will not be available for these products.

Five steps to closing a claim

Prior to closing a claim electronically make sure you review and organise the scripts included in the claim period.

• Reconcile each prescription contained in the claim against the missing script report.
• Delete prescription serial numbers that correspond to uncollected or missing prescriptions.
• Re-serialise prescriptions that are present but listed as missing.
• Ensure that both the approval number and claim period number are valid.
• The certification of supply statement is completed by an authorised person.

The quick reference guide to Closing a claim (on the Fred Help Centre) explains how to generate reports in Fred Dispense that will assist you in preparing a claim.

Co-payment discounting

Fred Dispense functionality enables you to apply the desired discount to specific patient types while remaining compliant with the terms of the 6CPA.

Discounting rules can be applied and set by the pharmacy within the Co-payment discount rules screen. Rules are customisable using specific parameters.

Setting up the Discounting Functionality

Setting up Discounting Mail Categories

Changing Approval Number?

To avoid any interruption in trading at full capacity, it is important you give us plenty of advanced notice.

New Owners

• Notify Fred well in advance, so a booking with a Fred Consultant can be made.
• Apply to Medicare Australia for new PKI certificates.
• Register with www.erx.com.au for electronic prescription functionality.
• Consult with your telephone and internet service providers.

Current Owners

• Claim any outstanding Owing scripts and scripts on hold.
• The final PBS claim must be closed before the change of Approval Number.
• Download any outstanding PBS Online statements.

Advanced notice is required to mitigate the impact on trade on Day 1.

Impact on Day 1 with the new Approval Number
No advance notice	With advance notice
You cannot dispense until the last claim with your old Approval Number has been finalised.	You can dispense without delay on day 1.
If the change of approval number coincides with the start of the month, this is a busy time for Fred Help. Responses may be delayed due to call volume.	The last claim is completed before the change, so there is no hindrance the next morning.
If PKIs have not been received from Medicare, the PBS Online service must be turned off until they are received and loaded.	Fred Help Staff provide you pre-printed codes, so you can add the new Approval Number yourself without logging a support call.
If the new Approval Number has not been registered with eRx, we have to turn eRx off until the new registration is completed.	PKIs and eRx details can be updated with one call to Fred Support, so these services are immediately available.

All contacts with Fred Help staff are treated as confidential. There is no risk of early pubic notification.

Protect your pharmacy with strong passwords

With the ever increasing incidence and variance of attacks from hackers and malicious software it is more important than ever to ensure your pharmacy is using strong passwords to better protect your systems and customer data. Strong passwords need to be used for all accounts and systems on all of your computers.

A strong password must:

• Be at least eight characters long;
• Not contain your user name, real name, company name, or a complete word;
• Be significantly different from previous passwords;
• Contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols or spaces.

Strong passwords should form a part of robust security measures in your pharmacy including off-site backups, reliable antivirus software, and firewalls.

For more advice, contact the Fred sales team on 1800 888 828.

Streamlining your pharmacy to save time and money

Sometimes it pays to take time out to ensure you are working as productively as possible. Here’s a brief guide on some simple measures to take to increase your efficiencies.

Read the guide

Priceline Pharmacy Franchise Conference

Fred will again be attending the annual Priceline Pharmacy Franchise Conference on 5-8 June 2016 at the Adelaide Convention Centre, SA.

We look forward to sharing the latest from Fred and eRx Script Exchange with all of our Priceline customers.

PBS Changes effective June 2016

For your convenience, this newsletter includes a summary of this month's important PBS changes.

For the full Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits, go to the PBS website at http://www.pbs.gov.au/ where you can search the schedule by drug name.

View the PBS Summary of Changes - June 2016