Home Medicines Review (HMRs), also known as Domiciliary Medication Management Review (DMMR)

• Aims to enhance an individual patient's benefit from their medications and reduce adverse medication events. The patient must be living at home in the community.
• HMR/DMMR is a Medicare Item 900 for GPs. All three elements of the HMR need to be completed before claiming.

The three steps in the HMR/DMMR process are:

1. GP prepares HMR/DMMR Referral for patient and send referral to patient's preferred community pharmacy or accredited pharmacist
2. Accredited pharmacist visits patient in their home and prepares HMR Report and sends to GP. GP then discusses results of the HMR Report with the reviewing pharmacist
3. GP prepares a written HMR/DMMR Medication Management Plan in consultation with patient. GP sends a copy of Plan to pharmacy/ pharmacist. GP can now claim MBS Item 900 ($161.10 benefit as at 17/09/21)

• Medical Director and Best Practice users can find the above templates within their software. Please see related documents for a step by step guide in accessing the templates in pdf Medical Director (666 KB)  and  pdf Best Practice (615 KB) .
• Click here for promotional resources to print the Home Medicine Review consumer brochure for your patients.

Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMRs) for aged in RACFs

• Aim is to enhance an individual patient's benefit from their medications and reduce adverse medication events. The patient must be a permanent resident of a residential aged care facility (RACF)
• RMMR is a Medicare Item 903 for GPs. All three elements of the RMMR need to be completed before claiming by the GP.

The three steps in the RMMR process are:

1. GP prepares RMMR Referral for patient and send referral to RACF's contracted accredited pharmacist
2. Accredited pharmacist visits patient in the RACF and prepares RMMR Report and sends to GP. GP then discusses results of the RMMR Report with the reviewing pharmacist
3. GP prepares a written RMMR Medication Management Plan in consultation with patient. GP sends a copy of Plan to the RACF and accredited pharmacist. GP can now claim MBS Item 903 ($110.30 - benefit as at 17/9/21)

Please note the hyperlinks attached to the RMMR Referral and Plan are the same sample document which combines both GP referral, pharmacist report and GP Plan.

• GPs can assist in detection of fraudulent prescriptions (including Schedule 8 medications and benzodiazepines) by ensuring their medical software has enabled the electronic Prescription functionality in their User settings. 

• Safescript NSW is a real time prescription monitoring system.  It allows prescribers and pharmacists to access real-time information about their patient’s prescription history for certain high risk medicines, known as monitored medicines.

  Prescribers will receive an email inviting them to register when SafeScript NSW is available in their area.  All NSW prescribers are expected to have access in the first half of 2022.

• The Prescription Shopping Information Service is a 24 hour, 7 days a week telephone service. GPs can access this service on phone 1800 631 181 to find out if a patient is unknowingly or deliberately gets more PBS medicine than they need.

• Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has two relevant Guidelines:

  • Part A: Prescribing drugs of dependence in general practice: Clinical governance framework
  • Part B: Prescribing drugs of dependence in general practice: Benzodiazepines

• NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group Inc. - Preventing and managing problems with opioid prescribing for chronic non-cancer pain. NSW TAG: Sydney, 2015

• NSW Health Guide for Medical Practitioners: Criteria for issuing non-handwritten (computer generated) prescriptions

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  GPs who are interested in finding out more about this topic are encouraged to read the National Drug Strategy.

   

• The Pain Management Network has useful chronic pain assessment, management and resource tools for GPs, such as the Quick Steps to Manage Chronic Pain in Primary Care. The Brief Pain Inventory, can be edited online and saved, and consumer resources are available.

• NSW Health Chronic Pain Management – information for medical practitioners and pharmacists

• Educational videos for understanding pain
  • English
  • Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish

• CALD Communication tool for pain: Afghan, Burmese, Indian, Iraqi, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Vietnamese. Assists healthcare providers with assessing pain patients who have low literacy levels, who are Non-English speaking, the aged community and those with disabilities.