From 1 July 2024, eligible residential aged care providers can be part of program that funds pharmacists to work on site at aged care homes. This program is called “The Aged Care On-Site Pharmacist (ACOP) Measure”. Here’s what you need to know and how to apply.

How The Funding Works

There are two options for the funding, but the second option is only available if the first option fails.

Option 1: a community pharmacy applies for and receives the funding. The pharmacy then makes an agreement with an aged care provider and places the pharmacist in the provider’s aged care home. The pharmacy receives the ongoing funding.

If the aged care provider can’t find a community pharmacy to partner with or can’t make an agreement with a pharmacy, then Option 2 is available.

Option 2: the aged care provider engages a pharmacist to work on site. The aged care provider applies for and receives the funding.

What You Get (And Don’t Get)

What you get is a pharmacist on site, paid for by the Government.

The amount of time you get from the pharmacist depends on the size of your aged care home. For every 50 beds in your home, you get the pharmacist for the equivalent of one day. So, if you have 100 beds, you get the pharmacist on site for the equivalent of two days; if you have 250 beds you get the pharmacist on site for the equivalent of five days.

(The use of the term “equivalent” by the Department of Health and Aged Care suggests that the pharmacist may be able to split one day’s worth of time across multiple days.)

According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, funding does not cover:

• medicine or medical device supply or delivery – for example, from a pharmacy to the residential aged care home
• medicine re-packaging – for example, into Dose Administration Aids
• set up of pharmacies in residential aged care homes.

The Department also advises that:

• Residential aged care homes that take up an aged care on-site pharmacist will not be able to receive Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) and Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) Program services from visiting pharmacists at the same time.
• Where an aged care on-site pharmacist is not engaged, there will continue to be funding for aged care residents and residential aged care homes to receive visiting pharmacist support under the QUM and RMMR Pharmacy Programs.

Am I Eligible?

According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, residential aged care homes are eligible if they either:

• receive residential care facility subsidy from the Australian Government in accordance with the Aged Care Act 1997
• are an Australian Government-funded transition care facility
• are a Multi-Purpose Service
• are a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care facility.

Participating residential aged care homes must either:

• have an electronic National Residential Medication Chart (eNRMC) in place, or
• commit to introduce an eNRMC within the next 12 months.

Residential aged care homes that provide only respite care are not eligible.

How to Apply for Funding

This is the advice from the Department of Health and Aged Care, as at 12 July 2024: “Residential aged care homes can engage pharmacists directly from 1 July 2024. Reimbursement of funding will start from 1 October 2024, when the payment administration system is established.”

Community pharmacies can apply through the Pharmacy Programs Administrator: The Aged Care On-site Pharmacist (ACOP) Measure.

More Information

Department of Health and Aged Care: Aged care on-site pharmacist

Pharmacy Programs Administrator: The Aged Care On-site Pharmacist (ACOP) Measure