Prescribing events excluded under Active Ingredient Prescribing
Active Ingredient Prescribing is a project under the Government’s ePrescribing initiative which aims to promote the use of generic and bio similar medications, and increase medication affordability.
Under the legislated changes, active ingredients will soon be included by default on all PBS and RPBS prescriptions. This means that prescriptions will now only list the active ingredient in the medication, unless a prescriber specifies that the brand name should be included as well.
Below, we explore the medicines and prescribing events which are excluded under the Active Ingredient Prescribing legislation — allowing the medication to be prescribed by the brand name only.
1. Handwritten prescriptions
2. Prescriptions with four or more active ingredients
3. Items listed under the ‘VARIOUS’ section of the General PBS Schedule including:
- Allergens
- Diagnostic Agents
- General Nutrients, Food Supplements, Vitamin Supplements o Wound Assessment and Dressing Section
4. Items listed under the ‘VARIOUS’ section of the RPBS Schedule including:
- Allergens
- Diagnostic Agents
- General Nutrients, Food Supplements, Vitamin Supplements
- Other Non-Therapeutic Products
- Wound Assessment and Dressings
5. Computer generated-paper based National Residential Medication Charts
6. Prescriptions generated by a prescriber through a free text function within prescribing software as detailed in paragraph 6.1.
Please note, these requirements do not apply where it would contravene State or Territory legislation. For more information on Active Ingredient Prescribing, visit the MedicalDirector NewsHub.
