January 2018
News
In this issue
| How to Run the End-of-Year Process |
|
| Fred Help Christmas and New Year Hours |
|
| Fee Changes From 1 January 2018 |
|
| Coming Soon: International Harmonisation of Ingredient Names |
|
| End-of-Year Process in Fred Dispense |
|
| When to Run the January Monthly Drug Update |
|
| This Month's PBS Changes |
|
Fred Help Christmas and New Year Hours
Fred Help will be available on 1300 731 888 during Christmas and New Year.
We suggest that you print out this calendar and display it prominently in your dispensary during the festive season. This will ensure that all of your staff are aware of the hours they can contact us, should they require support.
| DATE | FRED HELP OFFICE HOURS (AEDT) |
|---|---|
| Sunday 24 December 2017 (Christmas Eve) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Monday 25 December 2017 (Christmas Day) | Closed |
| Tuesday 26 December 2017 (Boxing Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Wednesday 27 December 2017 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Thursday 28 December 2017 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Friday 29 December 2017 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Saturday 30 December 2017 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Sunday 31 December 2017 (New Year's Eve) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Monday 1 January 2018 (New Year's Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| From Tuesday 2 January 2018 |
Normal support hours Weekdays: 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM Weekends: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
Fee Changes From 1 January 2018
The following PBS fee changes are effective from 1 January 2018:
| Category | Fees | 2017 | From 1 January 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dispensing fees | Allowable additional patient charge | $4.38 | $4.45 |
| Patient co-payment |
General Concessional |
$38.80 $6.30 |
$39.50 $6.40 |
| Safety Net threshold |
General Concessional |
$1494.90 $378.00 |
$1521.80 $384.00 |
Coming Soon: International Harmonisation of Ingredient Names
Fred Dispense will soon be ready for the Therapeutic Goods Administration's program to update medicine ingredient names to their current international names.
To help you and your patients through the changeover, we are working to enable the display of original drug names alongside their new names in Fred Dispense, as well as on script labels, repeat forms, receipts, and reports.
Our plan to release IHIN compatibility in September has been delayed, as there are flow-on effects to Fred Pak. Because of this, there will be a Fred Pak release in the near future, which will enable IHIN and also deliver enhancements requested by our customers.
End-of-Year Process in Fred Dispense
The end-of-year process must be run at the end of trading on 31 December. This process removes the previous year's Safety Net entitlement details, and prepares a “clean slate” for the new year. For details, see End-of-Year Process
When to Run the January Monthly Drug Update
The best time to run the first monthly drug update of the new year is immediately before or after running the end-of-year process.
If you do not run the drug update before the end of December, Fred Dispense will remind you to run it at the start of your first trading day in January.
Checking your NHS fees for the new year
NHS fees and markups are updated automatically in your monthly drug update, but we recommend you check your NHS fees table after running the update, to familiarise yourself with the new fees and ensure they have been updated correctly.
- In Fred Dispense, click the Setup menu (or press [Alt+S]).
- Press [N], or click NHS Fees.
Non-standard fees
- If you select No, a blue message reminds you to check and adjust the fees manually.
- If you select Yes, the Drug Update continues with the standard fees.
This Month's 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.
For your convenience, we've also uploaded a printable summary of this month's important PBS changes to this site: