Wednesday 6 September 2023
PSA is pleased to announce that we have submitted a Notification of Intent to advise the APC that we are undergoing accreditation against the Accreditation Standards for Pharmacist Educator Programs for MMR and Aged Care Onsite Pharmacist credential.
The process from here is that we need to submit application documentation and have our application assessed. The findings then need to go to an accreditation committee to be considered. This isn’t a rapid process, but we wanted to assure you that we are progressing as rapidly as we can and will provide updates as they are available.
Friday 5 May 2023
PSA is continuing to provide accredited pharmacists with access to the accreditation resources.
On Friday 5 May 2023, David Laffan, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Aged Care announced that all MRNs will be extended until either new standards for training providers are finalised or 30 June 2024.
This extension is designed to further support accredited pharmacists through this transition phase following the closure of the AACP on 31 December 2022.
The MRN is your identifier within the system for payment for MMRs. With the closure of the AACP it is anticipated that new identifiers will be used, and all accredited pharmacists will be advised regarding changes.
Your MRN will remain valid within the Pharmacy Programs Administrator Portal. This will ensure currently Accredited Pharmacists can continue to utilise their existing AACP Accreditation to provide services and to be remunerated for them.
It should be noted that there are no planned changes to the current HMR and RMMR program rules at this time and that these medication management programs will continue to be funded.
PSA is waiting on further advice from the Department and will advise accredited pharmacists as soon as additional information is available..
Recent update
The Department of Health and Aged Care has directed, via the Pharmacy Programs Administrator (PPA) that all AACP MRNs will only remain valid until 30 June 2023.
The MRN is your identifier within the system for payment for MMRs. With the closure of the AACP it is anticipated that new identifiers will be used from 1 July 2023 and all accredited pharmacists will be advised regarding changes prior to 1 July 2023.
PSA is waiting on further advice from the Department and will advise accredited pharmacists as soon as information is available, but should new MRNs need to be created, your member number will be the basis for the new number.
New MMR consent forms
Revised consent forms are now available from the PPA website
The HMR and RMMR patient consent forms were updated on 1 January 2023 to remove verbal consent. This was in line with the removal of telehealth services, essentially returning the programs to pre-pandemic rules.
This was the only change to the consent forms.
Note that consent for RMMR services can be verbal in limited scenarios.
Apologies for the delay in PSA communicating this as this change occurred during the transition time following the closure of the AACP in December 2022.
PSA has been advised that if, during compliance activities, the PPA identify any services where verbal consent has been obtained using the old patient consent form during the first 3 months following the cessation of telehealth, they will take an educative rather than punitive approach (providing there are no other issues found).
Please note this educative approach doesn’t extend to any claims where PPA finds the service itself was conducted via telehealth post 1 January 2023, as every Service Provider registered in the Portal for HMR/RMMR was advised in advance via email, as an update on the PPA website and on the PPA Portal log-in page that telehealth was ceasing on 1 January 2023.
