August 2025
News
In this issue
| Late notice: 1 August 2025 Omalizumab substitution |
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| PBS Listing Update for Relaban (Rivaroxaban) Capsules – August 2025 |
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| End of Remote Access Support for Old Mobility Devices |
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| Do you have upcoming changes to your business? |
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| This Month's PBS Changes |
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Late notice: 1 August 2025 Omalizumab substitution
In the 1 August 2025 PBS data, new listings were added for omalizumab 75 mg/0.5 mL injection, 0.5 mL pen device, and were marked as substitutable with the equivalent existing listings for omalizumab 75 mg/0.5 mL injection, 0.5 mL syringe
An error was included where two of the new item codes were assigned a substitution group that linked the existing Private Hospital program (HS) item code with the new Public Hospital program (HB) item code, and vice versa:
10110D (HS) equivalence group with 14949T (HB)
10118M (HB) equivalence group with 14904K (HS)
The correct substitution group should be:
10110D (HS) equivalence group with 14904K (HS)
10118M (HB) equivalence group with 14949T (HB)
The substitution groups have been set up correctly in Fred Dispense and Fred Dispense Plus for 1 August 2025. No further action is required.
Fred does not anticipate any issues for Fred Dispense or Fred Dispense Plus users in August 2025, however, Services Australia have provided some advice below in the event of rejections:
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From 1-31 August 2025, Approved Suppliers may get a rejection in PBS Online Claiming for claims where the date of prescribing is prior 1 August, for the existing omalizumab item and substituting to the new item code.
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R738 - The item provided was not a PBS benefit as at the date of prescribing.
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Services Australia will monitor and honour eligible PBS claims with this rejection with a separate payment. No further action is required.
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PBS Claims for scripts written from 1 August 2025, Approved Suppliers to follow the usual reason code fix instructions
PBS Listing Update for Relaban (Rivaroxaban) Capsules – August 2025
The Relaban brand of rivaroxaban has been incorrectly listed as tablets instead of capsules in the August 2025 PBS Schedule.
An erratum has been issued to allow dispensing of Relaban rivaroxaban capsules (15 mg and 20 mg) under the existing tablet item codes:
2691P, 13463N, 13462M, and 2268J
The 1 August Fred Dispense/Dispense Plus Drug Update will include these listings for the capsules, enabling claims under the above item codes.
Relaban will be correctly listed with new item codes and in capsule form in the 1 September 2025 PBS Schedule update.
For full details, please visit the PBS website:
https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/news/2025/08/pbs-website-update-1-august-2025
End of Remote Access Support for Old Mobility Devices
Due to increasing security risks, we have ended remote access support for the legacy Motorola and Datalogic Windows-based mobility guns. These devices officially reached end of service life in February 2021. Although we have continued to support them well beyond that date, they are no longer viable for secure remote troubleshooting. The old mobility devices can no longer be guaranteed to function reliably or securely in today’s environment.
Moving forward, we can provide self-help documentation and phone support only. While we’ll continue to assist where possible, we strongly recommend upgrading to a newer mobility device.
New Mobility Devices
The new Fred Mobility devices run on an Android platform and have a modern touchscreen interface.
Contact your local Fred representative or sales@fred.com.au if you’d like to discuss upgrading to a new device.
Do you have upcoming changes to your business?
Are there any upcoming changes to your business? These may include:
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Store Details – Store name, approval number, ABN, address, or brand/group
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Contact Details – Changes in ownership, business partners, or primary contact information
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Account Changes – Updates to billing contact details or payment options
Here are some guides to help you through the process:
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.