Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia

National Health (Medication Program for Homeless People) Amendment Special Arrangement 2021

I, Adriana Platona, as delegate of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, make the following special arrangement.

Dated 13 August 2021

Adriana Platona

First Assistant Secretary

Technology Assessment and Access Division

Health Resourcing Group
Department of Health

1 Name

(1) This instrument is the National Health (Medication Program for Homeless People) Amendment Special Arrangement 2021.

(2) This instrument may also be cited as PB 85 of 2021.

2 Commencement

(1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Commencement information
Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Provisions	Commencement	Date/Details
1. The whole of this instrument	The day after this instrument is registered.

Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

(2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

3 Authority

This instrument is made under section 100 of the National Health Act 1953.

4 Schedules

Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.

Schedule 1—Amendments

National Health (Medication Program for Homeless People) Special Arrangement 2021

1 Section 4

Repeal the section, substitute:

This instrument makes a special arrangement for the supply of eligible pharmaceutical benefits to eligible homeless persons.

The eligible pharmaceutical benefits will be supplied by approved pharmacists and provided directly to eligible homeless persons or alternatively, through a representative from the approved not-for-profit organisation, who may act as an ‘agent’ on behalf of the eligible homeless person.

This instrument also deals with payments for these supplies and administrative matters.

Note: Part VII of the Act, and regulations or other instruments made for the purposes of that Part, have effect subject to this instrument (see subsection 100(3) of the Act).

2 Section 8

Repeal the section, substitute:

A supply of an eligible pharmaceutical benefit is a special arrangement supply of the benefit if the benefit is:

(a) for supply to an eligible patient; and

(b) supplied by a nominated pharmacist for an approved organisation; and

(c) supplied on the basis of a paper‑based prescription, or a repeat authorisation, that is annotated with the organisation’s approval number by:

(i) the approved organisation; or

(ii) in exceptional circumstances, the nominated pharmacist as authorised by the approved organisation.

3 Paragraph 15(2)(d)

Repeal the paragraph, substitute:

(d) were the organisation to be approved, the organisation would assist eligible patients to receive special arrangement supplies of eligible pharmaceutical benefits in accordance with this instrument.

4 Subsection 22(3)

Repeal the subsection, substitute:

(3) An approved pharmacist is taken to be a nominated pharmacist for an organisation mentioned in the following table if the approved pharmacist could be nominated by the organisation under section 19.