Aleisha Orr
Prescribing restrictions removed allowing more GPs to support patients with hepatitis
Doctors no longer need specific accreditation to prescribe medications to treat hepatitis B and C.
About the Author
Aleisha Orr
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) changes that remove the requirement came in at the start of September.
This means any medical practitioner or authorised nurse practitioner can prescribe medications for both initiation and maintenance treatment for eligible patients with hepatitis B or hepatitis C without prescriber accreditation.
The change to the PBS Section 100 (s100) Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) Program, which relaxes requirements follows stakeholder consultation, is expected to improve timely patient access to these medications.
Deputy Co-Chair of RACGP WA and chair of the Department of Health’s hepatitis B working group Dr Damien Zilm welcomed the changes.
“Chronic hepatitis B is under recognised and undermanaged in the community and this change firmly brings it back into the remit of management for GPs," he said.
“We always had a substantial issue with trying to get enough GPs who were trained, both in metro but also in country areas, and there are a number of initiatives that were made to try to have GPs that were accredited to prescribe s100 medications.
“What this now does is open up that prescribing for all GPs across the state and that will hugely improve access."
Dr Zilm said it had previously been thought that a patient could be a carrier of hepatitis B and not need treatment, but research has shown that is not the case.
“Chronic hepatitis B needs to be in treatment, which means it needs to be monitored, and if patients enter stage 2 or 4, then they need management."
Dr Zilm said while some GPs may have been of the understanding that hepatitis C was not in their remit and was to be dealt with by specialists only, this was not correct.
“We now have very simplified prescribing pathways and all patients with chronic hepatitis C should be able to receive hepatitis C treatment with their GP."
Dr Zilm encouraged GPs to familiarise themselves with the changes and current guidelines.
“The ASHM guidelines, are an easy to follow management guideline for both hepatitis B and hepatitis C."
He said GPs can seek assistance around supporting patients with hepatitis B through Royal Perth Hospitals Hep B Hub WA.
Further information about the recent changes are available on the s100 HSD Program webpage.