Ann: MDR March 2018 Quarterly Report & Appendix 4C, page-4

Agree with monetising tap-to-refill service.

How this can be done is raises some questions. Pharmacies  already pay a monthly fee so some type additional service fee paid by the customer is probably the way to go. Adding an additional service fee to PBS scrips can be complex as the fee schedule is regulated and set by Medicare and there is no category in the schedule for addition of this type of additional charge. There is some flexibility within the schedule which allows discounting of non-subsidised PBS items but that still does not permit adding a separate additional fee even be it only say 20 cents per script. To go outside of the schedule and treat an item as non-PBS then that item cannot be included on a patients Safety Net tally.

I think currently from a strict legal perspective there is an inability to make this additional charge for supply of PBS items.

There is also the question of how any charge would be collected and rebated back to MedAdvisor. The most efficient way would be to follow the system set up as an incentive for promoting utilisation of electronic prescriptions where a 15c fee is paid by Medicare under the current 6CPA.

I doubt whether the government would pay for the Tap-to-refill service even though the MedAdvisor service definitely improves patient compliance.

The bottom line is that charging a separate fee what ever way it is administered would require government approval. I think there would be a chance of this being approved though.