33Prescriber bag supplies—practitioners other than approved medical practitioners

#### 33 Prescriber bag supplies—practitioners other than approved medical practitioners Application (1A) This section applies to a practitioner who is not an approved medical practitioner. How benefits to be obtained—lodging order with approved pharmacist (1) For the purposes of sections 93, 93AA and 93AB of the Act and subject to this section, a practitioner may obtain a pharmaceutical benefit only if he or she lodges with an approved pharmacist: (a) an order, in duplicate, signed by the practitioner, in accordance with a form approved, in writing, by the Secretary; or (b) an order, in accordance with subsection (2), that is: (i) signed by the practitioner; and (ii) in accordance with an electronic form approved, in writing, by the Secretary. (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), an order is lodged with an approved pharmacist if: (a) it is lodged in accordance with any approved information technology requirements and by an eligible electronic communication; and (b) the practitioner, or an agent of the practitioner, who will receive the pharmaceutical benefit asks the approved pharmacist to supply the pharmaceutical benefit under the order; and (c) the approved pharmacist consents, within the meaning of subsection 5(1) of the Electronic Transactions Act 1999, to the order being lodged in accordance with any approved information technology requirements and by an eligible electronic communication; and (d) the order is accessible by the approved pharmacist. Restriction—one order per month (3) A practitioner may obtain a pharmaceutical benefit under subsection (1) only once in a calendar month. Restriction—stockpiling (3A) A practitioner may obtain a pharmaceutical benefit that has a drug mentioned in an item of Schedule 1 to the National Health (Prescriber Bag Supplies) Determination 2024 in the form mentioned in that item at a particular time only if, at that time: (a) the quantity (if any) of pharmaceutical benefits that have that drug in that form that the practitioner has in the practitioner’s possession and that the practitioner has previously obtained under this section is less than the maximum quantity set out in that item; and (b) if the group number mentioned in that item is the same as the group number mentioned in another item—the quantity (if any) of pharmaceutical benefits that have the drug mentioned in the other item in the form mentioned in the other item that the practitioner has in the practitioner’s possession and that the practitioner has previously obtained under this section is less than the maximum quantity set out in the other item. Receipt for order (4) A practitioner, or an agent of a practitioner, who receives a pharmaceutical benefit under subsection (1), must: (a) prepare a receipt for the benefit supplied, using the part of the order form identified for that purpose, that includes the following information: (i) the date of supply of the benefit; (ii) if the benefit is received by an agent of the practitioner—the agent’s address; and (b) if the order is lodged in accordance with paragraph (1)(a)—give the receipt to the approved pharmacist supplying the benefit; and (c) if the order is lodged in accordance with paragraph (1)(b): (i) submit the receipt, in accordance with any approved information technology requirements and by an eligible electronic communication; and (ii) ensure the receipt is accessible by the approved pharmacist supplying the benefit.