The ACOP Measure aims to:

• Improve medication use and safety in the residential aged care home, including safe and appropriate use of high risk medications
• Provide for continuity in medication management, such as day-to-day review of medications and prompt issue resolution
• Provide easy access to pharmacist advice for residents and staff
• Integrate on-site pharmacists with the health care team, including local general practitioners, nurses and community pharmacy
• Increase understanding and response to individual resident needs.

The role of the ACOP can be found here.

Community Pharmacy Eligibility

See Section 5.1 of the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules for community pharmacy eligibility.  

Section 94 Pharmacies and public or private hospitals are not eligible to access funding to provide an ACOP via the Measure.

Residential Aged Care Home Eligibility

See Section 5.3 of the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules for RACH eligibility. RACHs will be eligible to receive differing levels of ACOP support based upon the number of beds at the home. The following table outlines the ACOP Full Time Employment (FTE) entitlement under the Measure for RACHs of differing sizes.

† based on 1FTE ACOP per 250 beds
‡ on-site days are as per regular schedule with RACH
*This is to ensure that pharmacies are not paid over their maximum annual entitlement. If the ACOP works the maximum on-site days each month, then the maximum days which can be worked per financial year will be reached before the end of the financial year.

RACHs providing respite-only care are not eligible to access an ACOP through the Measure.

Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist Eligibility

See section 5.2 of the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules for ACOP eligibility.

To support uptake of the ACOP Measure and transition of MMR credentialed pharmacists to an ACOP role, MMR credentialed pharmacists will be grandfathered as Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist credentialed temporarily until 30 June 2025.

MMR credentialed pharmacists participating in the Measure will need to have undertaken additional education required to gain Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist credentialing through an Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) accredited training course or APC accredited Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist recognition of prior learning (RPL) process by 1 July 2025.

A RACH and Section 90 pharmacy that have agreed to work together to participate in Tier 1 of the Measure must complete and sign a Service Authorisation. A RACH can only work with one pharmacy and have one active Service Authorisation in the Measure. The community pharmacy is responsible for ensuring the Service Authorisation is submitted using the correct template which can be found here on the PPA website. Community pharmacies must ensure that ACOPs do not start work at the RACH until the Service Authorisation is submitted via the PPA Portal and approved by the PPA. 

The ACOP Measure is designed as an alternative to services delivered under the RMMR and QUM programs and as such a RACH is unable to have an RMMR and/or QUM agreement in place if they are participating in the ACOP Measure.

In circumstances where a RACH currently receiving RMMR and/or QUM services intends to commence participation in the ACOP Measure, the RMMR/QUM Provider must be given 30 days prior written notice of the RACH’s intention to end their RMMR/QUM Service Agreement. Where a RACH participating in Tier 1 of the Measure wants to change the pharmacy it is partnering with, the current pharmacy must be given 30 days prior written notice of the RACH’s intention to change partners. 

Once notice of cessation is provided and the new Service Authorisation has been approved by the PPA, the ACOP may start working on-site at the RACH. From the date that notice of cessation to an existing RMMR/QUM/ACOP Provider is issued, the terminated Provider can deliver services for a further 30 days. Usual claiming deadlines will apply to services delivered during this 30 day period. QUM services to be claimed under the QUM Program and RMMR services to be claimed under the RMMR Program cannot be undertaken by an ACOP at any point in time in a RACH where they are engaged as an ACOP. This includes during the notice period referred to above.

Claiming

PPA Portal registration and claiming functionality in respect of Tier 1 of the Measure is available from 1 July 2024.

Pharmacies receive funding for ACOPs provided under Tier 1 of the Measure via monthly claims in the PPA Portal.

To participate and claim in respect of Tier 1 of the ACOP Measure, eligible pharmacies must first:

• Reach agreement with an eligible RACH to provide an ACOP to that RACH under the Measure
• Create a Service Provider account in the Pharmacy Programs Administrator Portal (note: the majority of pharmacies already have a Service Provider account in the PPA Portal as a result of their participation in other pharmacy programs administered by PPA)
• Register for the Measure in the PPA Portal (this step must be done by the Main Authorised Person for the pharmacy’s Portal account)
• Register the relationship with the RACH they have agreed to partner with in the PPA Portal, including uploading the Service Authorisation signed by the pharmacy and RACH.

ACOPs can only work on-site at a RACH under the Measure on or after the Start Date listed in the PPA Portal for that RACH relationship following PPA approval of the Service Authorisation.

Payments to pharmacies can be claimed via the PPA Portal and are submitted as a single monthly claim for each RACH the pharmacy is partnered with based on the number of days an ACOP worked on-site at that RACH during the month. Claims in respect of each calendar month are made in arrears and must be submitted by the end of the following calendar month (i.e. ACOP days worked in July must be claimed between 1 and 31 August). There is a maximum number of days that can be claimed in respect of a participating RACH, based upon that home’s bed numbers and corresponding ACOP FTE entitlement (see RACH Eligibility above). For example, in respect of a RACH eligible to receive 1.0 FTE ACOP, the partnering pharmacy can claim up to 228 on-site days per financial year. This reflects the maximum possible working days for a full-time employee taking into account an assumed 20 days of annual leave and a maximum of 13 public holidays.   

For more information on how to register and claim in the PPA Portal, an ACOP Measure Tier 1 (Pharmacy) Portal User Guide will be made available in the Rules and Other Downloads section on 1 July.

Payments

Community pharmacies will be paid $606.50 (plus GST) for each full day that a pharmacy engaged ACOP is working on-site at a RACH. The payment is intended to cover the ACOP’s pay and on-costs.

Time travelling to/from a RACH, and transport or accommodation costs are not included in funding for the Measure.

Information such as how the daily payment rate was calculated, the maximum days that can be worked on-site at particular RACHs, and matters the pharmacy should consider when determining the appropriate payment to be made to the ACOP can be found in section 7.1 of the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules.

Community pharmacies, RACHs and ACOPs participating in the Measure may be subject to audits by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (or its representative) to ensure compliance with the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules. Participating Providers and individuals must provide all records requested as part of such audit(s).

The ACOP must maintain a weekly timesheet and activities summary, signed by a RACH representative, for auditing purposes.

The community pharmacy must:

• Retain full and accurate records (i.e. rosters, payslips, the ACOP’s signed weekly timesheet and activities summaries etc) in relation to the engagement and provision of ACOPs for no less than seven years after the request for payment
• Such records must be kept in a manner that permits them to be conveniently and properly audited.

An audit may include:

• Requests for verification by the RACH of the ACOP’s days/hours reported by the community pharmacy when seeking payment of Measure funds
• Requests for verification by the RACH of regular working arrangements and activities undertaken by the ACOP.

Community pharmacies that wrongfully or incorrectly receive payments under this Measure and/or do not meet the requirements set out in the ACOP Measure Tier 1 Rules may be subject to compliance action (as determined by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care) and repayment may be required. Under section 137.1 of the Criminal Code, giving false and misleading information is a serious offence. If an audit/compliance action is to be conducted, community pharmacies will be required to produce documentation within a specified time frame.