January 2020
News
In this issue
| Upcoming Changes to PBS Online |
|
| Changed PBS Payment Schedule for 27 Dec 2019 |
|
| Fee Changes From 1 January 2020 |
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| End-of-Year Process in Fred Dispense |
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| When to Run the January Monthly Drug Update |
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| Fred Help Christmas and New Year Hours |
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| Don’t be a Victim of Phishing this Festive Season! |
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| SafeScript and Fred Dispense for Victorian Pharmacies |
|
| This Month's PBS Changes |
|
Upcoming Changes to PBS Online
As you will see in the letter accompanying your 2020 Safety Net Kits, PBS Online is scheduled for transitioning over to newer technology of Web Services and Provider Digital Access (PRODA).
These new technologies will replace your current solution of online claiming client adaptor and PKI certificates. Please rest assured that from a Fred perspective we are aware of these changes and will schedule the necessary changes for this transition to enable a seamless transition from your end. There is no need to contact Customer Support regarding this. We will communicate more in future newsletters to keep you updated.
Changed PBS Payment Schedule for 27 Dec 2019
The Department of Human Services has advised on their website that there will be a change in payment date for online claims that would have been received on 27 Dec 2019.
See Changes to PBS payment dates over the holiday period for their advice.
Fee Changes From 1 January 2020
The following PBS fee changes are effective from 1 January 2020:
| Category | Fees | 2019 | From 1 January 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dispensing fees | Allowable additional patient charge | $4.53 | $4.60 |
| Patient co-payment |
General Concessional |
$40.30 $6.50 |
$41.00 $6.60 |
| Safety Net threshold |
General Concessional |
$1550.70 $390.00 |
$1486.80 $316.80 |
End-of-Year Process in Fred Dispense
The end-of-year process must be run on your last trading day of the year after closing, or before opening on your first trading day of the new year. 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.
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) |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 24 December 2019 (Christmas Eve) | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Wednesday 25 December 2019 (Christmas Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Emergencies Only) |
| Thursday 26 December 2019 (Boxing Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Friday 27 December 2019 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Saturday 28 December 2019 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Sunday 29 December 2019 | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Monday 30 December 2019 | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Tuesday 31 December 2019 (New Year's Eve) | 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM |
| Wednesday 1 January 2020 (New Year's Day) | 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
| From Thursday 2 January 2020 |
Normal support hours Weekdays: 8:30 AM – 9:00 PM Weekends: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM |
Don’t be a Victim of Phishing this Festive Season!
Did you know that 90% of cyber-attacks in Australia start with a fake email? Protect your pharmacy from phishing as you head into the busiest week of the dispensing year. Don’t click until you are sure, and stay alert to cybercrime.
SafeScript and Fred Dispense for Victorian Pharmacies
SafeScript real-time prescription monitoring system is already saving lives and keeping patients with prescription medication addictions safe from harm.
From April 2020, it will be mandatory to check SafeScript prior to writing or dispensing a prescription for a medicine monitored through the system. For more information, refer to SafeScript on the health.vic website.
Get Started with SafeScript
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 and Fred Dispense in Victorian Hospitals
In preparation for state wide rollout, Victorian pharmacies providing services to hospitals (specifically inpatient) will be able to flag a script as being dispensed as an inpatient script with the keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+I. See Dispense a script for an inpatient for more details.
This information is important for future rules to be implemented in SafeScript. All monitored drug dispensing history is forwarded to SafeScript with this inpatient information included.
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 January 2020.