The Fourth Agreement provides that the existing pharmacy location arrangements will remain in place until 30 June 2006 and, on 1 July 2006, new arrangements will commence.These new arrangements will provide more flexibility to allow pharmacies to compete amongst themselves and to improve community access to pharmacy services, and will include new measures:

* for pharmacies relocating to large medical centres and small shopping centres;
* for a second pharmacy to be relocated to rural and urban settings where there is a large population;
* to relax the criteria for establishing new pharmacies;
* to relax the two year restriction on relocation;
* to improve access to medicines in private hospital settings; and
* to continue current restrictions on pharmacies within supermarkets.

The new arrangements will also give the Minister for Health and Ageing a discretionary power to approve pharmacies in unique circumstances where the application of the location rules would result in a community without access to pharmacy services.

The Medicare Learning Network(MLN) resources listed on this web page give Medicare fee-for-service health care professionals information on coverage, coding, billing, reimbursement, and claim filing procedures for the following Medicare-covered preventive services and screenings (subject to certain eligibility and other limitations):

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening, Adult Immunizations, Bone Mass Measurements, Cancer Screenings, Cardiovascular Screening, Diabetes Screening, Diabetes Supplies, Diabetes Self-Management Training and Medical Nutrition Therapy, Smoking and Tobacco-Use Cessation Counseling. In addition to the preventive services educational resources listed on this web page, CMS has also created a prevention website that provides general information about the preventive benefits listed above. You may visit the CMS Prevention website by clicking on the Medicare tab at the top of this page. Once on the CMS Medicare page, scroll down to the Prevention section.

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.

Healthcare products include prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines, complementary healthcare products and other medical products. Over-the-counter medicines and complementary healthcare products can be purchased without prescription in a pharmacy, supermarket or health food shop, and include cough/cold products, vitamins and herbals, mouthwash and sunscreen. Other medical products available in pharmacies and supermarkets include wound dressings, tampons and condoms.

Consumers expect that the healthcare products they purchase are safe, effective and of high quality.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is the part of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing responsible for ensuring that healthcare products available in Australia are of an acceptable standard.Most healthcare products must be included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). An AUST R or AUST L number on a label shows that the healthcare product has been included on the ARTG. An AUST R number shows that a product has been assessed for safety, quality and effectiveness. AUST L numbers are given to lower risk products used for minor health complaints or health maintenance. However some products, for example condoms, tampons and anti-dandruff shampoos, are exempt from displaying an AUST R or AUST L number.

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