12-month prescriptions

Health condition

If you have a long-term health condition, and your condition is stable, meaning your symptoms are under control and your treatment is working well, your healthcare provider may decide it’s safe and appropriate for your medicine to be prescribed for 12 months. 

If your condition isn't stable and your treatment may need to change, you won't get a 12-month prescription, so your healthcare provider can review and adjust your treatment safely.

Medicines

If your medicines are working well and you don't need regular check-ups for them, you may be able to get a 12-month prescription. Read more about medicines that can't be prescribed for 12-months.

If you get a prescription for 12 months, you won’t have to return to your prescriber every 3 months for a new prescription but they may want to see you more than 12-monthly to check on your progress.

Not all medicines will be able to be prescribed for longer periods. 

Controlled drugs

Controlled drugs will have the same restrictions as before. Some controlled drugs can only be prescribed for 1 month at a time, while some non‑opioid controlled drugs may be prescribed for up to 3 months. Controlled drugs are also supplied in smaller amounts such as 10 or 30 days. Your pharmacy will let you know if you have repeats to collect and when you can collect them. Examples of controlled drugs are:

• opioids and strong pain relievers eg tramadol, morphine
• some ADHD medicines eg methylphenidate.

Medicines that require monitoring

Some medicines aren’t safe to be prescribed for a full year because your prescriber may need to check how well they're working and whether they're causing any problems, for example:

• if you're getting side effects from the medicine
• if you need blood tests to check how your liver, kidneys or heart are working or to check the levels of medicine in your blood
• if your dose of medicine needs changing
• how the medicine interacts with other medicines or supplements you take
• if you still need to take a medicine
• how the medicine is affecting your other health conditions.

Seeing your healthcare provider regularly helps make sure your treatment is working and reduces the risk of harm from your medicines.

Some examples of medicines that need monitoring:

• blood thinners, eg, warfarin
• heart rhythm medicines, eg, amiodarone
• epilepsy medicines, eg, sodium valproate
• immunosuppressants, eg, methotrexate
• medicines for mood, eg, lithium
• digoxin
• spironolactone.

If you have questions about which of your medicines can and can't be prescribed for 12 months, ask your healthcare provider.

No, you won’t be able to get a 12-month supply all at once. If you have a prescription for 12 months of medicine, you can collect a 3-month supply of medicine from your pharmacy every 3 months. If it's an oral contraceptive, you can collect a 6-month supply from your pharmacy every 6 months.

Repeat supplies

You’ll need to collect any repeat supplies of your medicines from the same pharmacy where you first collected your medicines. Repeats can’t be transferred between pharmacies. If you move to another area, you’ll need to get a new prescription.

Repeat supplies can only be collected once you've almost finished the medicines you already have. If you're planning to travel, read more about medicines and travel.

For most people the government will collect a $5 fee when you collect your first supply of each medicine.

There may be a different cost for some people depending on factors such as your age, if you have any health cards, who has prescribed the medicine and if the medicine is subsidised.

Read more about prescription charges and use our prescription charges calculator to find out the government fee for each medicine.

Some Special Authorities are valid for your lifetime, but others are only valid for a limited time. When your Special Authority expires, your prescriber will need to apply to renew the Special Authority. 

For 12-month prescriptions, your Special Authority may expire before the prescription does. If this happens, you will need your prescriber to renew the Special Authority before you can receive further funded repeats. 

Read more about what a Special Authority is.