HMS claiming now open

PHARMACIES are now able to receive payments under the new Home Medicines Service (HMS) which was announced last week as part of government measures to help deal with the COVID-19 outbreak across the country.

The Service is a temporary program which aims to support and protect the most vulnerable members of the community from potential exposure to the virus, by subsidising home delivery of PBS and RPBS medications, meaning patients do not need to visit a pharmacy to receive their scripts.

The program is available for vulnerable people as well as those in home isolation, with a document detailing the applicable rules now available through the Pharmacy Programs Administrator (PPA) portal at ppaonline.com.au.

Section 90 pharmacies are eligible to become a Service Provider under the temporary program, if they agree to ensure any person delivering medications abides by the current sanitary and isolation protocols in place in each State and Territory, are able to support home delivery services, and register via the PPA portal.

Home Medicines Services must be conducted in accordance with relevant standards and guidelines, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Professional Practice Standards and the Dispensing Practice Guidelines relating to Indirect dispensing.

Eligible patients include those aged over 70, people self-isolating on the advice of a medical practitioner for confirmed COVID-19 cases or meeting the current national triage protocol criteria for suspected infection.

Patients with chronic health conditions, those with new babies, pregnant women, Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islanders over 50, and immunocompromised people are also eligible.

Deliveries claimed through the program cannot be made to individual patients more than once a month, and patients must consent to receiving the service.

Claiming via the PPA portal will be available from 01 Apr.