About the 7CPA
The 7CPA is between the:
- Minister for Health and Aged Care
- Pharmacy Guild of Australia
- Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
This agreement goes until 30 June 2025. It outlines the Australian Government’s agreement to reimburse pharmacists for:
- dispensing subsidised medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
- community pharmacy medication management programs and services.
The agreement aims to:
- provide Australians with access to safe, affordable life-saving medicines
- improve patient choice and health literacy
- benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- assist rural and remote residents.
This involves consultation between us and national pharmacy, health and consumer organisations.
Two committees provide formal consultation under the agreement.
Community Pharmacy Consultation Committee (CPCC)
This committee has an equal number of representatives from our department and The Pharmacy Guild of Australia. Its aim is to support achievement of the objectives of the agreement.
Learn more about the CPCC.
Pharmacy Stakeholder Consultation Committee (PSCC)
This committee has representatives from our department and:
- Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
- The Pharmacy Guild of Australia
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
- Consumers Health Forum of Australia.
Its aim is to enable consultation between parties interested in pharmacy care funded by the Australian Government, including pharmacy programs.
Learn more about the PSCC.
Pharmacy programs administered under the 7CPA
Pharmacy programs to support patients include:
- Home Medicines Review
- Residential Medication Management Review and Quality Use of Medicines Program
- MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck
- Dose Administration Aids Program
- Indigenous Dose Administration Aids Program
- Staged Supply Services Program.
See data about the use of the pharmacy programs.
See data about Rural Support and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacy Programs.
Key performance measures
We have key performance measures (KPMs) to assess how well the 7CPA is working. We report on these twice a year. See how the 7CPA is performing.
Remuneration adjustment mechanism
The 7CPA involves a way to ensure stable payment for pharmacists dispensing PBS and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) medicines.
If the number of PBS and RPBS medicines dispensed in any one period differs significantly from what was estimated, fees paid to pharmacies are adjusted for the next period.
This is to ensure pharmacies have stable income from dispensing PBS and RPBS medicines. It also protects the Australian Government from unexpected expense.
We make calculations at the end of each assessment period.
Second assessment period
The second assessment period covers 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021.
No adjustment was required in 2022–23. The number of subsidised prescriptions was within 5% of estimated subsidised prescriptions.
First assessment period
The first assessment period covers 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2020.
No adjustment was required in 2021–22. The number of subsidised prescriptions was within 5% of estimated subsidised prescriptions.
Pharmacy Programs Administrator Online
The Pharmacy Programs Administrator is responsible for administering, processing and paying claims for community pharmacy programs funded under the 7CPA.
Previous community pharmacy agreements
There have been 6 previous agreements. The first was in 1990. See the Trove website for previous agreements.