Authorised nurse prescriber application

When you can apply

You can apply if you:

hold general registration as a registered nurse and have your registration endorsed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
have a prescribing agreement (nurse prescriber agreement) in place with one or more PBS prescribers, none of whom is an authorised nurse prescriber.

Under your prescribing agreement, you can only prescribe PBS medicines that the named PBS prescriber can prescribe.

If you prescribe PBS listed medicines under different professions at different locations, you need to be authorised under each profession. This may apply if you work as a nurse practitioner at one location and an authorised nurse prescriber at another. You’ll get one prescriber number, which can be used in both capacities.

Authorised nurse prescribers can’t get a Medicare provider number (MPN). You’ll only get a PBS prescriber number.

How to Apply

You can apply online or using a form.

Apply online

You can apply online through Health Professional Online Services (HPOS).

You need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to access HPOS. If you don’t have one, register for PRODA online, then set up your HPOS access.

To apply, log in to your PRODA account to access HPOS, then:

Select My details.
Select My digital prescriber number registration.
Select Apply.
Complete the application.
Select Submit.

You can save your application and finish it later. To continue your application:

Select My details.
Select My digital prescriber number registration.
Select Continue.

Apply using a form

Use the Application to become an authorised nurse prescriber and receive a prescriber number form.

Send us your completed application form using the email, lodgement address or fax number on the form.

Outcomes of applications

We’ll review your application to confirm it can be approved, before issuing your prescriber number.

We’ll send a message to your HPOS mailbox to let you know the outcome.

To get notifications about new HPOS messages, you can do one of the following:

choose email notifications when you first use HPOS
update your notification settings.

Read about managing your notifications in HPOS.

If you disagree with a decision

If we make a decision to not approve your application, you can ask us to explain or review the decision.

You must ask within 28 days of receiving the outcome of your application.

After you get your prescriber number

Once we issue your prescriber number, you can link it to your HPOS Link Identifiers to access a range of PBS services.

You can start prescribing when the PBS Schedule is updated to include the medicines you are allowed to prescribe.

PBS services include:

You can also access the Therapeutic Goods Administration Recall Alert. Read more about the Database of Recalls, Product Alerts and Product Corrections (DRAC) on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.