This report covers the 2015 calendar year only.
Statistics are supplied for both the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (RPBS, ie. items supplied to war veterans).
The figures reported relate to the value (benefit) or volume (services) of PBS and RPBS services that have been processed by Medicare Australia. They refer only to paid services processed from claims presented by approved pharmacies. They do not include any adjustments made against pharmacists' claims, any manually paid claims or any benefits paid as a result of retrospective entitlement or refund of patient contributions.
The patient category determines how much the patient contributes to the cost of their medicine and refers to the patient's eligibility status at the time of supply of the benefit. The patient (or the patient's family unit) may migrate to another category (safety net) after eligibility expenditure thresholds have been attained. The Patient Categories are:
PBS General- Ordinary
PBS General- Safety Net
PBS Concessional - Ordinary
PBS Concessional- Safety Net
PBS Other- Doctor's Bag Order Form
RPBS- Ordinary
RPBS- Safety Net
The figures contain "Special Arrangements" items, which refers to items that are supplied to patients via an alternative method when supply through a community pharmacy is not appropriate or efficient for the patient. Read more about Special Arrangements on the PBS website.
State/Territory is determined according to the address of the pharmacy supplying the item.
Further information about patient contributions under the PBS may be found in the attached metadata. Patient contribution rates are usually adjusted on 1 January each year. These rates are found in the current Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits.
Only items contained in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule appear in these statistics. Items supplied to general patients, costing less than the general patient contribution, do not receive a PBS benefit and are therefore not included.
Month is determined by the date the service was processed by Medicare Australia, not the date of prescribing or the date of supply by the pharmacy. Monthly figures may vary due to the varying number of processing days in a month, which depends on the number of days in the month, public holidays, overtime worked etc.