Government scraps accreditation hurdle for hepatitis B prescribing
All GPs and nurse practitioners can now prescribe antivirals for the disease, at a time when only 42% of eligible patients are receiving antiviral treatment.
GPs and nurse practitioners can now prescribe hepatitis B medicines without obtaining specialist accreditation, after longstanding PBS restrictions were scrapped this week.
Prescribers had previously needed training to initiate and manage any drug subsidised for the condition as a requirement of the PBS’ Section 100 (s100) Highly Specialised Drugs Program.
The requirement for the antivirals entecavir and tenofovir had been in place since 2015 — when GPs were first allowed to prescribe the two drugs.
But on Tuesday, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing announced that it had been removed, effective immediately.
