Will chemotherapy patients have to pay co-payments for their cytotoxic drugs?
Not if they receive them while they are a day-admitted patient. Under the terms of the Australian Health Care Agreement admitted patients cannot be charged for services or pharmaceuticals. Chemotherapy patients can be charged co-payments for medicines dispensed on discharge or received as an outpatient. Co-payments for chemotherapy drugs will be charged to patients at levels equivalent to the PBS. Hospitals have discretion to waive collection of co-payments from their patients, but they will still be deducted from Medicare Australia. Authority-required drugs Pharmaceuticals available in this section are dual listed within the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule and the same set of conditions for prescribing will apply. This means that some drugs require prior authority approval from Medicare Australia before they are dispensed, some are restricted benefits and some are available without an authority. ^Top Implementation of APAC’s Guidelines on Quality Use of Medicines The Commonwealth and
