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Certification confirms each supply of a PBS medicine complies with your legal obligations set out within the provisions of the:
- National Health Act 1953
- National Health (Supply of Pharmaceutical Benefits - Under Co-payment Data and Claims for Payment) Rules 2022 (Claims Rules).
Certification applies to all claims submitted to PBS including under co-payments.
Claims that remain uncertified
If a claim has been processed and determined but isn’t certified, you may need to repay the advance payment.
Timeframe to certify your claim period
Certification of a claim period is due 30 days from when the last prescription in the claim is submitted to PBS Online. To ensure accuracy and compliance with legislative requirements, you must close your claim within 30 days of the last supply.
For example, your claim period starts on 1 March and finishes on 29 March. This is 28 days. You have until 28 April to certify the claim which is 30 days.
Actioning certification of a claim
You can close claims using your dispensing software. Your software vendor can help you to identify and action claims that haven’t been certified. Ask your software vendor for assistance if it’s needed.
You can escalate requests for help when:
- you’re an approved supplier who’s tried to close the claim with your software vendor
- you can’t access the data in the identified claims period
- you’re a revoked approved supplier.
Escalate your request for help to PBS.CLAIMING.DESIGN@servicesaustralia.gov.au.
Additional Community Supply Support payments
From July 2025, the Additional Community Supply Support (ACSS) fees will be assessed in real time using PBS Online Claiming. The ACSS fee payments will be included in your regular weekly PBS payments. This will apply to medicines claimed for and supplied on, or after, 1 July 2025.
ACSS payments for medicines supplied prior to 1 July 2025 can only be made manually, for claim periods that have been certified and closed. Manual payment cycles will happen in July 2025 and October 2025.
This will include a final manual payment to cover any eligible supplies, supplied before 1 July that haven’t previously been paid. After this time, manual payment cycles for ACSS will cease.
To receive this final manual payment, make sure you’ve certified and closed your claims by 30 June 2025.
More information about the ACSS is available under the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement (8CPA) on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.
Closing multiple claim periods
Due to system limitations pharmacies should only certify and close 20,000 PBS supplies claims per day. If you exceed 20,000 claims, there may be a delay to your weekly payment.