Earlier this year the Department of Health changed legislation so that Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation PBS (RPBS) medicines must be prescribed using the active ingredient names, instead of the brand name of a medicine. Since the introduction of prescription by active ingredient, some software systems are generating scripts that are unclear or ambiguous. This is resulting in incorrect prescriptions being issued to pharmacists.
The goal of Active Ingredient Prescribing is to help people understand what medicines they are taking and to reduce the risk of people accidentally taking multiple doses of the same medicine under different names. Other benefits include allowing pharmacists to easily dispense an alternative generic medicine if the patient’s usual brand is unavailable and a potential reduction in out-of-pocket costs to patients and the PBS via increased uptake of generic medicines.
GPs are urged to check scripts before they are signed and consider the following:
- Check the prescription you just printed, does it make sense to you? If not, it may not make sense to a pharmacist either.
- If you think a brand name will help, add it to the prescription (available in clinical software). Prescribers can also include a brand name on the package.
- A brand name known to your patient may help reassure them that whatever brand the pharmacy supplies is equivalent.
- Adding a brand name does not prevent brand substitution. However, if your patient does not want a brand replacement, you must disallow brand substitution.
Active Ingredient Prescribing aims to make it easier for patients to understand the medicines they are taking and there is also greater consistency in how medicines information is displayed.
Taking these additional steps before signing off and being more vigilant by spotting potential problems before they develop, can ensure that pharmacists dispense the correct medication to patients, and patients feel assured.
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has created the following resources to support clinicians with active ingredient prescribing:
- Fact Sheet: Active ingredient prescribing
- Active ingredient prescribing user guide
- List of Medicines for Brand Consideration (LMBC)
- List of Excluded Medicinal Items (LEMI)
More information can be found on the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care website and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners website.