December 2018
News
In this issue
| Advice of the amendment to the pricing of eribulin (Halaven®) pharmaceutical items |
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| PBS News Update: Deferasirox (Jadenu / Exjade) equivalence note |
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| Late Erratum to the December 2018 PBS Schedule: Valsartan and Valsartan+Hydrochlorothiazide |
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| SafeScript and Fred Dispense for Victorian Pharmacies |
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| SafeScript status on Quick Scan screen (Victoria only) |
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| Fred Help Christmas and New Year Hours |
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| Changes to the My Health Record view |
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| History merge changes for MyHR patients |
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| Tag a script for an inpatient |
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| Certificate Expiry |
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| This Month's PBS Changes |
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| Running the monthly update for Fred Dispense |
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Advice of the amendment to the pricing of eribulin (Halaven®) pharmaceutical items
10 December 2018: Amendment to the pricing of eribulin pharmaceutical items for 1 December 2018.
Please note the following corrections to the price of eribulin in the 1 December 2018 Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits. The items affected include;
- items 10140Q and 11199K eribulin mesilate 1 mg/2 mL injection, 2 mL vial dispensed price for maximum amount of 3 mg should be $853.74 not $1492.56 as noted in the Schedule, and;
- 10144X and 11212D eribulin mesilate 1 mg/2 mL injection, 2 mL vial dispensed price for maximum amount of 3 mg should be $804.44 not $1434.44 as noted in the Schedule.
These errors will be amended in the 1 January 2019 Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule.
Source http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/news/2018/12/advice-pricing-eribulin-halaven
PBS News Update: Deferasirox (Jadenu / Exjade) equivalence note
The Administrative note for deferasirox tablets stating: “Pharmaceutical benefits that have the form deferasirox ‘N’mg dispersible tablet and pharmaceutical benefits that have the form deferasirox ‘N’mg film coated tablet are equivalent for the purposes of substitution” is intended to clarify the equivalence of the dispersible forms and the film-coated forms for prescribers. It is not intended to indicate that a brand substitution can be made by the dispenser for these items.
Brand substitution is indicated through the use of a brand equivalence flag (“a flag”) which is notably absent here.
To minimise confusion, this Administrative note will be removed and a change will be made to the clinical criteria from “this drug” to “deferasirox”. The change will appear in the PBS Schedule on 1 February 2018.
Source: Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Deferasirox (Jadenu / Exjade) equivalence note, 6 December 2018
Late Erratum to the December 2018 PBS Schedule: Valsartan and Valsartan+Hydrochlorothiazide
In a late errata released on 23 November, the Department of Health advised of late changes to the listings for Valsartan and Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide.
There has been a recall of one brand of Valsartan, and one brand of Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide. There is also a current shortage of another brand of Valsartan/Hydrochlorothiazide.
See Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits Effective 1 December 2018 Errata for details of the affected PBS item codes.
SafeScript and Fred Dispense for Victorian Pharmacies
1. Register
Victorian pharmacies wishing to use SafeScript must first register with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services
2. Activate
Once the registration process is complete, activate SafeScript in Fred Dispense.
- Go to Setup > eHealth Configuration > SafeScript Configuration.
- Select Activate SafeScript .
- Click Save.
3. Dispense
- When you dispense S8 or Victorian monitored drugs, you must enter the patient's Date of Birth.
- SafeScript returns a notification when you navigate to the Pharmacist initials field.
For more information, refer to SafeScript in Fred Dispense.
SafeScript status on Quick Scan screen (Victoria only)
The Quick Scan Screen (CTRL + Q) now includes a column to show the results of SafeScript checks for notifiable drugs.
For more information, see Real Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) and Fred Dispense.
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) |
|---|---|
| Monday 24 December 2018 (Christmas Eve) | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Tuesday 25 December 2018 (Christmas Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Emergencies Only) |
| Wednesday 26 December 2018 (Boxing Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Thursday 27 December 2018 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Friday 28 December 2018 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Saturday 29 December 2018 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Sunday 30 December 2018 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Monday 31 December 2018 (New Year's Eve) | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Tuesday 1 January 2019 (New Year's Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| From Wednesday 2 January 2018 |
Normal support hours Weekdays: 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM Weekends: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
Changes to the My Health Record view
The My Health Record view has been changed to make it easier for you to see a patient's clinical documents without having to perform a search.
The former Document Search tab has been replaced by two new tabs:
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Clinical Documents tab displays a filtered view of the patient's My Health Record documents for the past 12 months.
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Medicines View tab displays medicine related information from the patient's My Health Record.
History merge changes for MyHR patients
History Merge allows you to move one or more scripts from one patient to another—for example, where a script has been dispensed to the wrong patient.
In this update of Fred Dispense, when you do a History Merge, Fred Dispense checks for the following:
- Is an IHI
Individual Healthcare Identifier. A number assigned to every individual who accesses healthcare in Australia. number recorded for the patient? An IHI number generally indicates that they have a My Health Record. - Did the script originate locally at your pharmacy?
- Yes - includes scripts that were manually entered at your pharmacy, or a repeat of a script that you previously scanned.
- No - includes repeats for scripts that were dispensed at a different pharmacy, or eRx scanned scripts.
If the patient has an IHI number and the script did not originate locally at your pharmacy, then you will not be able to move it to another patient.
In the example below, the patient on the left has an IHI number and has a script with 'No' in the Local column. A warning message indicates that the patient has scripts that cannot be merged.
The script with 'No' in the Local column is the only one that cannot be merged. If you try to merge it, you will see the following message prompting you to:
- cancel and re-dispense the script
- contact the My Health Record help line on 1800 723 471.
For more information, see Patient History Merge.
Tag a script for an inpatient
You can tag a script as being for an inpatient while dispensing so that this information can be sent to eRx. The tagging is per script, not per patient.
While dispensing a script, press CTRL+SHIFT+I. The script will be tagged as being for an inpatient.
For more information, see Dispense a script for an inpatient
Certificate Expiry
During the month of November, we released a Fred Connect update to all our sites. Included were replacement certificates for eRx and Real Time Reporting. These were due to expire in December—eRx on 19 December, RTR on 16 December.
In the unlikely event eRx or RTR cease working after these dates, please contact Fred Help.
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:
Please note that the Government provides this information under embargo to Fred IT Group to enable next month’s PBS changes to be incorporated into your drug file. We have provided this information in this newsletter to prepare you for the changes, maximising patient availability/access and enabling you to adjust your stock accordingly. A condition of the embargo and in the interests of the quality use of medicines is that the information must not be released to the public or otherwise distributed prior to 1 December 2018.