The processing period is determined by the month the message is received and the dispensed date.
The processing period is set to the month the message is received, except when the message is received during the first 5 days of the month.
When this happens, the dispensed date is looked at:
- if the dispensed date is the current month, the processing period is set as the current month
- if the dispensed date is the previous month, the processing period is set to the previous month
By setting the processing period to fifth of the month, the practice of claiming a month's prescription is maintained, as per the Drug Tariff.
It's recommended that Dispense Notifications should be submitted to the Spine as soon as a dispensing event has occurred.
If a prescription is submitted late, resulting in being processed with the following months batch, this cannot be amended.