Highly Specialised Drugs Program (Community Access)

From 1 July 2015, the Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) community access arrangements better align existing Section 100 HSD Program arrangements with current clinical practice and models of care, through improvements to the way clozapine for the treatment of schizophrenia (maintenance therapy only), HIV antiretroviral medicines and hepatitis B medicines are prescribed, dispensed and accessed under the s100 HSD Program.  These changes are known as ‘HSD Community Access’.

These arrangements remove the requirement for patients and prescribers to be affiliated with a hospital setting.  Patients also have greater choice about where they access their medicines, through either a community pharmacy, or a private or public hospital pharmacy.  Community pharmacists are able to dispense these medicines regardless of where the medicine is prescribed.

Prescriptions for these medicines and any repeats from those prescriptions, written prior to 1 July 2015 will need to be dispensed by a hospital pharmacy in accordance with the previous arrangements.

The remuneration rates for HSD dispensed through community pharmacies are aligned to those paid to private hospitals.

Patient eligibility criteria are unchanged.  Patients will continue to pay a patient co-payment which will contribute to the PBS Safety Net Record.