You can access the Online PBS Authorities (OPA) system through Health Professional Online Service (HPOS). You need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to access HPOS. If you don’t have one, register for PRODA online. Then follow the steps to set up your HPOS access.
If you’ve been inactive for a period of time, you’ll get a pop-up with a countdown timer letting you know you’ll soon be logged out. Select Stay online if you want to stay logged in.
You’ll be logged out at the end of the countdown if you don’t take any action.
If your HPOS session times out, select the PBS Authorities tile. You may need to re-enter your PRODA username, password and authentication code into the system. After logging in again, select the PBS Authorities tile to return to the PBS Authorities home page.
If the number isn’t valid when you select Submit, you’ll need to select Amend number to re-enter the Authority Prescription Number. If you select Continue without changing the invalid Authority Prescription Number, your PBS authority request will be rejected.
Find out more about PBS reason codes for Online PBS Authorities.
The Hospital Provider Number field is only mandatory for Highly Specialised Drug public or private hospital items. You can fill in a Hospital Provider Number on the Item search screen, after entering the dose, dose frequency, prescribed quantity and prescribed repeats.
Depending on the rejection reason, you can resubmit a rejected request for any of the following reasons, noting that not all apply for all medicines:
- lost
- stolen
- destroyed
- inaccessible
- change in dose
- ineffective
- contra-indicating
- adverse reaction
- break in therapy
- change in strength
- Section 49, previously Regulation 24
- previous authority not completely dispensed as expired due to state or territory legislation
- additional strength of same medication required.
Select from the Reason code override drop down menu and select Resubmit.
You’ll need to overwrite the original date of prescribing by selecting Yes, when the Resubmit Authority pop up appears. This changes the original date of prescribing to today’s date. If approved, endorse the prescription with the PBS Authority approval number and PBS item code.
Not all PBS medicines and restrictions are available for self-serve in the Online PBS Authorities system. There’s work underway to enable real-time assessment results for PBS-listed medicines where it’s appropriate.
Listing changes for PBS medicines are determined by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). The PBS website has more information about each medicine.