June 2017
News
In this issue
| Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday |
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| Continuity of Therapy Access for Fluticasone/Vilanterol Powder for inhalation |
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| Salbutamol Nebules Substitution |
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| New in June 2017: See what the patient paid for a drug last time it was dispensed |
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| Keep your valuable data safe from ransomware attacks |
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| Fred Help Centre featured articles and documents |
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| International Harmonisation of Ingredient Names – PBS changes |
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| MedView Paperless |
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| PBS changes effective June 2017 |
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| Running the monthly update for Fred Dispense |
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Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday
Monday 12 June 2017 is a public holiday in most Australian states and territories.
The Fred help desk will be available from 8:30am to 5pm AEST on the usual contact number 1300 731 888.
Continuity of Therapy Access for Fluticasone/Vilanterol Powder for inhalation
The PBS has advised that they will honour scripts written before 1 June 2017, for a period of 12 months, for the following deleted PBS item codes:
- 10199T Fluticasone 100 microgram/actuation + vilanterol 25 microgram/actuation powder for inhalation, 30 actuations
- 10167D Fluticasone 100 microgram/actuation + vilanterol 25 microgram/actuation powder for inhalation, 30 actuations
This also applies to any repeats associated with these scripts.
Scripts written from 1 June 2017 will be approved against the new PBS item codes 11124L and 11129R respectively.
Salbutamol Nebules Substitution
The Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits for June 2017 new item addition of 11130T, corresponding to the product salbutamol 2.5mg/2.5 mL inhalation solution, 20 x 2.5 mL ampoules, is substitutable with item 2000G, corresponding to product, salbutamol 2.5mg/2.5 mL inhalation solution, 30 x 2.5 mL ampoules.
As per the Schedule for June 2017:
“Pharmaceutical benefits that have a 30 x 2 pack size and a 20 x 3 pack size are equivalent for the purposes of substitution.”
Due to the complexity of substituting different pack sizes, and to prevent quantity errors, substituting between items 11130T and 2000G will not be available in Fred Dispense via the usual ‘GS’ shortcut. Users are advised to manually search for and select the brand/pack size required when dispensing under these PBS codes.
New in June 2017: See what the patient paid for a drug last time it was dispensed
When Discounting PBS Scripts was introduced, pharmacists asked for an easy way to see the last price that a patient paid for a drug, without having to review the patient's history.
Now, when you select a drug that the patient has had dispensed before, the most recent price the patient paid is displayed in blue in the Drug Details box, on both the Wait screen and the main dispensing screen.
For more details, see the June 2017
Keep your valuable data safe from ransomware attacks
Following on from the recent WannaCry ransomware attacks reported by AJP, it is now more important than ever to ensure your business is protected against future threats. Potential risks to your business include:
- Loss of customer data
- Loss of prescription and commercial data
- Loss of POS data including accounts
Fred Backup Gold is a managed service which stores your backups securely off-site, so you are always protected with an up-to-date copy of your data.
What can I do to avoid scams and virus infection? What do I do if I suspect my computer is infected?
Read the full quick reference guide: Identify and Avoid Malicious Emails
Fred Help Centre featured articles and documents
End of Financial Year stocktake
Fred Mobility is a wireless laser terminal that communicates directly with your computer. Any task that you perform at the shelf, such as counting stock, go directly into your point-of-sale system.
This troubleshooting guide explains how to solve common problems when using Fred Mobility on any hand-held device.
Download the Fred Mobility Troubleshooting Guide.
Set up Fred Office to email statements
If you want to email statements to your customers, you must first configure Fred Office.
This voice-over tutorial has been created to assist you: Set up Fred Office to email statements.
International Harmonisation of Ingredient Names – PBS changes
Some active ingredient names used in Australia differ from those used internationally. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has updated over 200 active ingredient names used in Australia as part of their International Harmonisation of Ingredient Names (IHIN) reform. A full list is available on the TGA website. The active ingredient name changes you will see most commonly in your pharmacy are listed in this document. Note that some active ingredient name changes will see both the old and new names used on labels (‘dual labelled’) until 2023.
We will update Fred Dispense and Fred NXT Dispense to enable a seamless transition to the international names, and will provide further information before implementing the changes.
MedView Paperless
We recently released an update to the Windows client uploader. Now, when you scan a script, you are no longer prompted to enter the claim period. Instead, your scripts are automatically uploaded to Paperless.
Scripts that can be matched to eRx are put into the claim period specified. Scripts that cannot be matched to eRx are put into the current claim period.
PBS changes effective June 2017
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.
For your convenience, we've also uploaded a printable summary of this month's important PBS changes to this site: