PBS data API v3.2 bug fix (23 October 2024)
Bug fixes
While implementing the previous release (Refer to PBS data API v3.2 Release Notes), a field for INNOVATOR_INDICATOR information was deployed into the /summary-of-changes endpoint. This field is not in use, and has now been removed from the /summary-of-changes endpoint.
PBS data API v3.2 release notes (26 September 2024)
Release notes for the PBS data API v3.2 which was deployed on 26 September 2024.
Enhancements
Reviewed columns
The following columns had updates to make the data more accurate and interlinked, and their Dictionary definitions have been updated included in this release.
- advanced_notice_date:
- Date on which an Item or row of API data is placed into advanced notice status for future delisting or Supply Only purpose. If the non_effective_date changes this will continue to display the first date Advance Notice appears. Refer to non_effective_date for delisting items, and to supply_only_end_date for the Supply Only items to determine the projected date the item will cease to be a PBS benefit.
- supply_only_date:
- Date from which the Supply Only status for the item comes into effect. When the Supply Period is in effect, generally the advanced_notice_date will be blank.
- supply_only_end_date:
- End date of the Supply Only period. The date on which the Supply Only period for the row is projected to end, and the item will become non-effective and no longer a PBS benefit.
If the item is removed from a schedule prior to the previously projected supply_only_end_date,
this field will not update with the new end date, as the whole row is removed from
the API in the schedule in the schedule it is no longer effective.
If an item in Supply Only status is relisted as a PBS benefit, this will remain in
the API, with the supply_only_indicator updating to a value of “N”.
- non_effective_date:
- Date from which the medicine will cease to be listed on the PBS when given an advanced notice date (see advanced_notice_date), and is not placed into Supply Only – ie the date the item is projected to become non-effective.
This field will not be populated when a row is removed (becomes non-effective) from
the API without advanced notice. This date only shows the non_effective_date for future
schedule dates. If the item is removed from a schedule prior to the previously projected
non_effective_date, this field will not update, as the whole row is removed from the
API in the schedule where delisting occurs.
Key dates for rows marked as Supply Only are reported in supply_only_date and supply_only_end_date.
New columns
- Additional API column legal_car_ind added to /items endpoint v3.
If Program = HS or HB and PR – Admin Advice has CAR Flag and the Benefit Type for PR = ‘Streamlined’ or ‘Authority Required’ then ‘Legal CAR’ flag is set as Y for Item EndPoint
Program Codes | PBS Data
Dictionary definition: The listed drug is defined as Complex Authority Required in the Highly Specialised Drugs special arrangement. Public hospital prescriptions for CAR drugs can be dispensed by approved s94 public hospital authorities or by s90 approved pharmacists.
- Additional API column legal_unar_ind added to /item endpoint v3.
If Program = HS or HB and PR – Admin Advice has CAR Flag and the Benefit Type for PR = Unrestricted, then ‘Legal UNAR’ flag is set as Y for Item EndPoint
Program Codes | PBS Data
Dictionary definition: The listed drug is defined as Unrestricted - No Authority Required in the Highly Specialised Drugs special arrangement. Public hospital prescriptions for UNAR drugs can be dispensed by approved s94 public hospital authorities or by s90 approved pharmacists.
Bug fixes
- While investigating the text file to API mapping documents, it was identified that note_indicator column on the /item endpoint had the API stating that an item contained a note, yet the text files were indicating that no notes existed. This has now been fixed and now match.
- Variation_rule_applied column in /restrictions endpoint initially had some NULL values as well as Yes 'Y' and No 'N' values. The fix was deployed to allow for only Yes 'Y' or No 'N' values in the column and no NULL values
PBS data API v3.1 release notes (24 June 2024)
Release notes for the PBS data API v3.1 which was deployed on 24 June 2024.
Documentation
The developer portal documentation can now be accessed without myGovID and RAM authentication via https://data-api-portal.health.gov.au/
The developer portal documentation has been updated to reflect the v3.1 changes.
Updated versions of the following documentation is available in the Resources section:
- Data Dictionary
- API Data Model
Enhancements
The ITEM_T/items endpoint has been updated with new columns:
- THERAPEUTIC_EXEMPTION_INDICATOR - CHAR(1)
- This indicates whether or not a therapeutic group exemption applies for a ready prepared item. Mapping for Infusible Items <infusible> should be the same as Ready Prepared Items <ready-prepared>, noting there are no such cases currently in the data.
- PREMIUM_EXEMPTION_GROUP_ID - NUMBER(12)
- Lists the group id that links all Items under the same Premium Exemption Group.
- DOCTORS_BAG_GROUP_TITLE - VARCHAR(50)
- The title of the indicating group of medicines on the Prescriber Bag schedule where a prescriber can access one of the drugs from a group per month.
- THERAPEUTIC_GROUP_ID - NUMERIC (12)
- The identifier of the Group used to denote medicines of the same type treating the same condition. Medicines in a Therapeutic Group are said to be interchangeable at the patient level.
- THERAPEUTIC_GROUP_TITLE - VARCHAR(50)
- The title of the Group used to denote medicines of the same type treating the same condition. Medicines in a Therapeutic Group are said to be interchangeable at the patient level.
- ADVANCED_NOTICE_DATE - DATE
- The date on which an Item is placed into advanced notice status for future delisting or supply only purposes.
- SUPPLY_ONLY_END_DATE - DATE
- The end date of the Supply Only period. Relative to SUPPLY_ONLY_START_DATE, which is an existing field in the table.
- FIRST_LISTED_DATE - DATE
- The date at which an Item's listing (at the Trade Product Pack level) on the PBS became effective for the first time.
In response to multpiple requests from API users, we have added the default Program_Code to Dispensing_Rule records. While the PBS legislation does not support such a concept, it can be generalised that there is a dispensing rule that relates to the most common dispensing events for a particular program (for example, most items on the General Schedule are dispensed in a community pharmacy). To achieve this, a new table/endpoint “program-dispensing-rules” has been created. The table is defined as:
PROGRAM_DISPENSING_RULES_T
A table that captures the dispensing rules that relate to each individual program.
PROGRAM_CODE VARCHAR(10) MANDATORY
A Program Code groups together PBS Items that have the same pricing model and follow
the same business rules. Required for the PBS website, Schedule of Pharmaceutical
Benefits and legislative instruments compiled by the PBS Publishing Team.
Refer to the list of program codes.
DISPENSING_RULE_MNEM VARCHAR(100) MANDATORY
A short descriptive phrase to enable the identification of a group of Dispensing Rules.
DEFAULT_INDICATOR CHAR(1) MANDATORY
Indicates that this is the default dispensing rule for the program. Default value
= "N"
SCHEDULE_CODE NUMBER(12, 0) MANDATORY
Schedule Code is a unique identifier given to each month's Schedule. By having a Schedule
Code in each table, 13 months (schedules) worth of data can be maintained in the Data
Mart to assist users in the identification of Delisted Items and change-over-time.
In order to see what year/month/effective date a schedule code refers to, look it
up in the SCHEDULE_T table
Bug fixes
Several errors were reported by Users of the system in the previous period and were addressed as part of this release. These are:
- The variation_rule_applied column in the restrictions endpoint was not being calculated correctly.
- In the summary_of_changes endpoint, Delete statements were referencing the incorrect Schedule_Code as part of the WHERE clause in the SQL_Statement field.
- In the summary_of_changes endpoint, changes between schedules released during the Embargo period were incorrectly referencing previous schedules.
- In the item-dispensing-rule-relationships endpoint, the DISPENSE_FEE_TYPE_CODE was being set incorrectly for Extemporaneous Items (PROGRAM = “EP”).
- Descriptions in the Swagger documentation/Data Dictionary for fields in the item-restriction-relationships endpoint have been revised and updated.
PBS data API v3 release notes (14 February 2024)
Release notes for the PBS data API v3 which was deployed on 14 February 2024.
PBS public data API
There is now a public version of the API, that is open for access without registration via the HPP. Guidance on this can be found in the article on Accessing the public API.
The differences are outlined below:
- Only the current schedule and those published in the past 12 months are available. Future schedules are not available within the PBS public data API.
- The API is rate-limited to one request per 20 seconds.
Documentation
The developer portal documentation can now be accessed without myGovID and RAM authentication via https://data-api-portal.health.gov.au/
The developer portal documentation has been updated to reflect the v3 changes.
Updated versions of the following documentation is available in the Resources section.
- Data Dictionary
- API Data Model
- File Mapping Generation Process
API pagination
The API can now support pagination so that large requests can be downloaded in pages/chunks. This requires additional “page” and “limit” parameters to be included in API requests, as detailed in the developer portal
Bugfixes and minor enhancements
item-increases
- The item-increases endpoint has been removed from the API. This data is administrative data, used internally in government processes and is not required for any prescribing or dispensing use-case.
items
- The typo in field name “saftey_net_resup_rule_cnt_ind” in the items endpoint has been fixed. The field is now called “safety_net_resup_rule_cnt_ind”
- The following fields have been added to the items endpoint:
- Policy_applied_imdq60_base_flag – items with a 30-day dispensing frequency that have a 60-day dispensing frequency equivalent elsewhere in the PBS. See https://www.health.gov.au/cheaper-medicines
- Policy_applied_imdq60_flag – items with a 60-day dispensing frequency. See https://www.health.gov.au/cheaper-medicines
- Policy_applied_bio_sim_up_flag – items that are part of the Biosimilar Uptake Drivers initiative. See https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/general/biosimilars
- Policy_applied_indig_phar_flag – items specifically to help with the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. See https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/publication/factsheets/shared/pbs-listings-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people
- continued_dispensing_emergency - The Continued Dispensing Emergency Measure (CDEM), a provision has been added to facilitate implementation of a future extraordinary CD measure, should the Government consider one to be necessary
restrictions
- The following field has been added to the restrictions endpoint:
- Variation_rule_applied – restrictions that include a variation rule
prescribing-text
- The following fields have been added to the prescribing-text endpoint:
- Apply_to_increase_mq_flag – prescribing text that include the ability for a prescriber to apply to increase the default maximum quantity of a medicine
- Apply_to_increase_nr_flag - prescribing text that include the ability for a prescriber to apply to increase the default number of repeats of a medicine
summary-of-changes
- Several bug fixes and changes to the formatting of the summary-of-changes endpoint:
- Fix syntax in the sql_statement field
- Addition of a previous_detail, and change_detail field – see data dictionary for details