Patients of approved Aboriginal Health Services (AHS) in remote areas can get some Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines for free.
To order and claim PBS under the RAAHS Program you’ll need to complete a form. The AHS and approved suppliers complete different columns. Read about how to complete the form.
You’ll need to choose an approved supplier to bulk supply PBS medicines.
Submit your request for eligible PBS medicines to the approved supplier using the Aboriginal Health Services pharmaceutical supplies request and claim form.
You must include all the following details:
- AHS registration number
- AHS or outstation name and address
- full name and signature of the authorised person requesting pharmaceutical supplies
- date of the request.
An authorised person is a health professional employed or contracted by the AHS and is qualified to supply all medicines covered by these arrangements.
Download and complete the Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services request and claim form.
Complete your sections of the form to confirm you supplied the order to the AHS and submit it to us for payment.
You must include all the following details:
- pharmacy approval number
- pharmacy name and address
- full name and signature of the authorised person supplying pharmaceutical items
- date the request was fulfilled.
You must include a unique alpha-numeric claim reference number that is no more than 8 digits on the form. For example, 12345AUG. We’ll return forms with claim reference numbers that include special characters, symbols, hyphens or spaces.
If you’re claiming for multiple AHS or approved outstations of the AHS, you need to provide a separate claim for each.
If you’re claiming for the same AHS or outstation of that AHS across multiple dates of supply, you must provide a separate claim for each date of supply.
For each PBS medicine supplied in bulk to an approved AHS under these arrangements, you’ll be paid the sum of all the following:
- approved price to the pharmacist
- an amount equal to the administration, handling and infrastructure fee
- handling fee of $3.40
- any patient specific medicine supply fee (PSMSF), if applicable.
The AHS and approved suppliers complete different columns of the form.
| Items requested columns | To be completed by |
|---|---|
Serial number Identifies how many items are listed in the claim for payment to be lodged with us. | Approved supplier |
Code Identifies the PBS medicine using the item code from the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits on the PBS website. | AHS or approved supplier |
Manufacturer’s code Identifies the brand of PBS medicine using the manufacturer’s code from the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits on the PBS website. If a generic brand is suitable, the manufacturer’s code can be left blank. | AHS or approved supplier |
Descriptions of goods: item, form and strength Describes the PBS medicine. The approved supplier can use this information to confirm that the item code matches the description. The description must contain the item name, form and strength. For example: Amoxycillin Capsule 500 mg | AHS |
Quantity required To order the quantity required. Under the arrangements, medicines are ordered in multiples of the PBS maximum quantity, as set out in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits on the PBS website. For example, if the medicine has a PBS maximum quantity of 30 capsules and the approved AHS needs 90 capsules total, the quantity required for supply is 3. You can’t order broken packs. | AHS |
Quantity supplied To confirm the quantity supplied to the AHS. If the quantity ordered is different from the quantity supplied, the variation is shown in this column. | Approved supplier |
Subset quantity supplied for an individual (if applicable) These are items supplied under a RAAHS prescription and the approved supplier has provided the PBS medicine labelled and prepared for an individual patient back to the AHS. | Approved supplier |
The AHS and approved supplier can give us an adapted items requested and supplied section of the Aboriginal Health Services pharmaceutical supplies request and claim form if either:
- the number of items claimed exceeds the lines available
- you’ve created an adapted section that’s better suited for AHS and pharmacy systems.
We can only accept an adapted section of the form if you do all of the following:
- provide the items with a completed copy of the current Aboriginal Health Services request and claim form
- complete all declarations
- make sure the inserted claiming details columns match the form.
If your claim was paid, but you’ve submitted items that don’t meet the criteria for payment, we’ll reject these individual items.
This may occur if the item:
- has a description that’s incomplete or doesn’t match the PBS item code
- has an invalid or deleted manufacturer code or item code
- has invalid quantities that need clarification
- is otherwise invalid for claiming under the PBS.
The approved supplier can re-claim these items for payment, using the Resubmit rejected items for Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services claim form.