November 2022
News
In this issue
| Your new customer service portal is here! |
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| Intercode substitution for Ondansetron wafers and oral dispersible tables. |
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| Your pharmacy is a target for cybercriminals |
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| New South Wales: S8 and S4 drugs require patient's date of birth |
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| Reminder: Services Australia PRODA B2B Device expiry |
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| This Month's PBS Changes |
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Your new customer service portal is here!
Thanks to your feedback we learnt that more efficient access to support is an important priority, and as a result we are introducing the Fred Customer Portal.
What is the Fred Customer Portal?
The Fred Customer Portal is a browser-based tool providing you with additional ways to seek help.
You will be able to:
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Log requests for help via the Fred Customer Portal icon in Fred Dispense
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Track and update your help request tickets
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Easily find quick steps for troubleshooting questions through our knowledge base
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Live Chat with Fred Customer Service Consultants
The Fred Customer Portal will provide a great platform for delivering faster, more responsive and transparent assistance.
Let's get you started!
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Keep an eye out for your Fred Customer Portal link to be activated in Fred Dispense and Fred Office.*
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Read the Getting Started topic in the portal to familiarise yourself with the navigation and features.
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Provide feedback on your experience using the portal on Fred Customer Portal UserVoice .
*If your customer portal link is not active (or is still orange in Fred Dispense), please complete this quick form and we will sort this out for you - I can't see my Fred Customer Portal link .
Intercode substitution for Ondansetron wafers and oral dispersible tables.
As denoted in the PBS Schedule:
Pharmaceutical benefits that have the form ondansetron tablet (orally disintegrating) 8 mg and pharmaceutical benefits that have the form ondansetron 8 mg wafer are equivalent for the purposes of substitution.
Due to the complexity of achieving the accurate DPMQ across all brands as well as applicable BPP, substitution between the following PBS item codes will no longer be available in Fred Dispense via the usual GS shortcut:
8413T and 5473C
8411Q and 5471Y
Instead, search for and select the brand required when dispensing under these PBS codes.
Your pharmacy is a target for cybercriminals
The recent Optus data breach is a timely reminder of the serious impact a breach can have and that all businesses must do better in protecting customer data.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil recently stated the Medibank breach had the potential to result in more serious harm to customers than Optus, due to the nature of the health information stolen. This positions pharmacies at the same elevated risk.
So what does this mean for your pharmacy and what measures do you need to protect your business and patient data?
New South Wales: S8 and S4 drugs require patient's date of birth
From 1 November 2022, pharmacists in New South Wales must record the patient's date of birth for all S8 and S4 Drugs.
Fred Dispense now prompts for date of birth when an S8 or S4 drug is dispensed in New South Wales. See Providing Date of Birth when Dispensing S8 Drugs for more details.
See also Requirement for patient date of birth on prescriptions and in dispensing records on the NSW Health website.
Reminder: Services Australia PRODA B2B Device expiry
To avoid disruption to your Services Australia PBS Online claiming, you’ll need to extend your B2B Device in your PRODA account before it expires.
You’ll need to extend your B2B device with PRODA at least every 6 months.
Fred Dispense will warn you of the impending expiry at the following time intervals:
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30 days from expiry
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14 days from expiry
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Every day from 7 days to the expiry day.
For more information on how to do this, refer to: Managing B2B Devices in PRODA - PRODA (Provider Digital Access) on the Services Australia website or call Services Australia on 1800 700 199.
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.
For Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) items (CAR and non-CAR), please refer to the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits as well as Services Australia to confirm whether the PBS item code for a HSD is eligible to be dispensed and claimed by your pharmacy type.