Pharmaceutical benefits are mainly supplied by approved pharmacists-pharmacists who comply with certain conditions. These pharmacists are approved to dispense pharmaceutical benefits from a particular pharmacy. Other suppliers include approved doctors, Friendly Society pharmacies, and approved hospitals. All suppliers are issued with approval numbers by Medicare Australia.They should follow the procedures in these Explanatory Notes.

Unapproved pharmacists cannot supply pharmaceutical benefits.

Approval conditions for pharmacists

A pharmacist approved to supply medicines under the PBS can only supply benefits from the pharmacy that he/she is operating;will not supply to anyone any pharmaceutical benefit that attracts a Commonwealth contribution for free, or for a price that is less than the relevant patient contribution; will clearly advertise that any offer for free or cut-price medicines does not include pharmaceutical benefits which have a Commonwealth contribution; will not pay rebates or refunds of patient contributions; will publicly display a notice setting out the pharmacy's normal trading hours; is obliged to supply pharmaceutical benefits at the pharmacy at any hour if a PBS prescription is marked 'urgent' and initialled by the prescriber; will keep adequate stocks for the supply of pharmaceutical benefits;may be called on by Medicare Australia to provide details of stocks of pharmaceutical benefits or preparations for pharmaceutical benefits; and must keep the duplicates of all old format PBS prescriptions, and the patient/pharmacist copies of all new format PBS prescriptions, with a Commonwealth contribution for at least one year from the date of supply. This includes PBS prescriptions ordering repeats when it is the final supply, and order forms for emergency drug (doctor's bag) supplies. Please note that some State/Territory laws require these copies to be kept for longer periods.