Resources for obtaininginformation 2015.1
This document has been prepared by Drugs and Poisons Regulation (DPR), following consultation with Medicare Australia, to assist medical practitioners seeking information about suspected drug-seeking patients. Documents dealing with key legislative requirements may be found on the DPR website (at For full details, reference should be made to the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Regulations 2006 (at
Drug-seeking activities are not limited to drug-dependent persons
Some people have been found to be involved in extensive drug-seeking activities to obtain medicines for subsequent trafficking. Medical practitioners should be aware that the medicines most commonly subject to misuse or trafficking include larger strengths of OxyContin®, Kapanol®, MS-Contin®, Jurnista®, injectable opioids, testosterone and other anabolic steroids, benzodiazepines (especially alprazolam) and preparations containing pseudoephedrine.
Prescription Shopping Information Service (PSIS)
Note: Individual medical practitioners must register with Medicare Australia before they may use the PSIS. See the website ( for registration forms. When registered, you may phone the PSIS (1800 631 181) at any time to discover if a patient has been identified as a prescription shopper:
- After providing your name and other requested information to confirm your identity, provide your patient’s full name, Medicare number and date of birth.
- Medicare Australia will be able to inform you whether your patient has been identified under the criteria* of the Prescription Shopping Program. *The criteria relate to a person having obtained more than a specified number of items under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) or having obtained PBS items from six or more prescribers (excluding specialists) during a 3-month period.
- Where it has identified a person as a prescription-shopper, PSIS can provide a Patient Summary Report of the recent extent of drug-seeking activity.
Some drug-dependent (or other drug-seeking) persons may not be identified by the PSIS because Medicare Australia’s data does not include information relating to medicines for which there is no co-payment, including:
- ‘Private’ prescriptions and prescriptions for items that are not listed as Pharmaceutical Benefit items
- ‘Repat’prescriptions for which the co-payment is made by Veteran Affairs
- Many less-expensive medicines for which there is no co-payment unless patients hold entitlement cards
- Prescriptions relating to the provision of opioid-replacement therapy to opioid-dependent patients.
Contacting DPR
In addition to contacting the PSIS, medical practitioners may phone DPR on 1300 364 545 (option 1), (during office hours Monday to Friday), to discuss concerns or to seek information about specific patients.
Information available from DPR differs from that of the PSIS because it is not limited to medicines that are PBS items and is not limited to a three-month period. However, in most cases, DPR does not have details of prescriptions that have been recently dispensed for a patient.
The collection, storage and disclosure of information by DPR are governed by legislation including the Health Records Act, 2001. Accordingly, information held by DPR about a patient will only be released to a medical practitioner who possesses a legitimate need to access that information to treat the patient. Medical practitioners who contact DPR may be able to establish:
- whether any other medical practitioner holds a permit to treat a patient with Schedule 8 poisons, including patients receiving methadone or buprenorphine to treat opioid-dependence
- aliases that have reportedly been used by drug-seeking patients
- whether DPR has received notifications that other medical practitioners had reason to believe a patient was a drug-dependent person and whether that practitioner had indicated an intention to treat the patient
- whether reports of forged or fraudulent prescriptions, or of obtaining drugs of dependence by false representation, had been received in relation to the patient
Before prescribing a drug of dependence, a medical practitioner must take all reasonable steps to ensure a therapeutic need exists and must takeall reasonable steps to confirm the identity of the patient. Issuing a prescription, merely because another prescriber has done so, is unlikely to satisfy these requirements.
The medical practitioner must ultimately decide whether to prescribe a drug of dependence for a patient. DPR and Medicare Australia can only provide information or advice that might assist a medical practitioner in reaching a decision. However, contacting DPR and/or Medicare Australia might be considered reasonable steps that a medical practitioner could be expected to take in relation to an unfamiliar patient who is seeking a drug of dependence.
Having sought information or advice from DPR and/or Medicare Australia, medical practitioners are encouraged to consider the following issues when deciding the extent to which they might prescribe - if at all.
- A patient with a valid therapeutic need for ongoing treatment with drugs of dependence should have a principal medical practitioner managing or attempting to manage the patient’s medication regime. Concurrent prescribing by other medical practitioners may be detrimental to the patient – especially when the patient’s principal prescriber is unaware of the additional prescribing or its extent.
- The fact that a person has a demonstrable therapeutic need for a drug of dependence does not preclude the possibility that the person is drug-dependent; drug-dependence is not limited to illicit drug users.
- The success of drug-seeking activity is often facilitated by the fact that some medical practitioners prescribe the maximum PBS quantity when consulted by patients who claim that their regular prescriber is not available and who present themselves at times when it is difficult to contact the regular prescriber or DPR.
- Medical practitioners are not obliged to prescribe the maximum PBS quantity or any repeats and doing so may be detrimental – especially when the patient’s principal prescriber is unaware of the additional prescribing.
A medical practitioner must notify DPR if there is reason to believe a patient is a drug-dependent person and the patient seeks a drug of dependence or the medical practitioner intends to prescribe a drug of dependence. Please refer to the DPR website (at and the document, “Treating a drug-dependent person”, for further details.
This notification is a legislative requirement that enables DPR officers to assist prescribers, who might seek advice or apply for a Schedule 8 treatment permit, or to intervene to address concurrent prescribing, when it is identified.
Notification forms, on the DPR website (at may be downloaded or submitted online.
Schedule 8 treatment permits
Prescribing a Schedule 8 poison, without obtaining or applying for a permit, for a drug-seeking patient might contravene the legislation. Please refer to the DPR website (at and the document, “Schedule 8 treatment permits”for more details.
Permit application forms, on the DPR website (at may be downloaded or submitted online.
Other resources
To obtain clinical advice from specialist consultants, registered health practitioners (only) may phone the Drug and Alcohol Clinical Advisory Service (DACAS) on 1800 812 804 (at any time).
For 24-hour confidential drug and alcohol counselling and treatment information, patients, family or health practitioners may phone Direct Line - 1800 888 236.
For further information
Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS)Drugs and Poisons Regulation
GPO Box 4057
Melbourne 3001
Tel: 1300 364 545
Fax: 1300 360 830
Email:
Web:
To receive this publication in an accessible format contact Drugs and Poisons Regulation on 1300 364 545. Authorised and published by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne.
July 2015