The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has stepped in alongside the Australian Government to fix an issue of missing PBS payments.
Not long ago, a Guild member found PBS payments over a period of up to three weeks had failed to reach their bank account.
The member did all the right things: First, make contact with Government; second, in the absence of an immediate resolution to the matter, made contact with a Guild State branch.
The issue was then escalated by the Guild national office working with the Government, and it was fixed. Fast. Account details were re-established and payment received within days.
The member may have been a victim of attempted fraud. Somehow a message had reached PBS approvals authorities to change the pharmacist’s bank account details. A review established this paperwork had not come from this pharmacist, and indeed the pharmacist had no wish to change their account details. The amount of money involved was significant.
Departmental leaders were just as concerned as the Guild over what had transpired. The matter was addressed quickly, co-operatively and effectively.
There’s a double bonus from the member’s action through the Guild – the Department’s approvals procedures have now been changed to avoid a repeat of an incident of this kind.
Community pharmacists may notice some differences to the process to change bank details through the approved suppliers portal. If the whole process takes a little more time, this is in all members’ best interests.
By using the Guild’s resources, our member has achieved a speedy resolution – and helped protect the interests of fellow community pharmacists.
