COVID-19 Vaccination in Community Pharmacy (CVCP) Program
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The CRTCA Program ceased on 31 July 2022.
Access to the ProjectCOVID module in GuildCare was removed as of 1 August 2022 and Pharmacies can no longer supply or claim Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) under the CRTCA.
The CRTCA Program is a temporary program operating from Monday 24 January to Sunday 31 July 2022, to provide eligible concession card holders access to free rapid antigen testing products (RATs), supplied through Participating Community Pharmacies.
Previously, under the CRTCA Program, eligible concession card holders were able to access up to ten (10) RATs over a three month period, with no more than five (5) RATs in any given month.
On 11 March 2022, National Cabinet announced the CRTCA Program would be extended until 31 July 2022, with eligible concession card holders able to access up to an additional ten (10) RATs, therefore increasing the maximum number of RATs available to eligible concession card holders to twenty (20).
The PPA does not have information about which pharmacies have RATs in stock, you will need to contact pharmacies yourself to find tests.
Holders of the following eligible concession cards are eligible for RATs under the CRTCA Program:
To access RATs under the program, eligible concession card holders must provide their concession card number to a Participating Community Pharmacy either in person, through their carer, or via their pre-existing home delivery service with the Participating Community Pharmacy.
Eligible concession card holders must also provide verbal positive consent either in person, through their carer, or via their pre-existing home delivery service with the Participating Community Pharmacy for the Participating Community Pharmacy to record relevant eligible concession card details into ProjectCOVID for supply, compliance and Community Pharmacy reimbursement purposes.
Under the CRTCA program, eligible concession card holders are able to access up to 20 RATs over a six-month period, with no more than 5 RATs in any given month. For this program, the months are defined as:
A pharmacy can only provide an eligible concession card holder with a maximum of one pack (containing either 2 or 5 RATs) in one day through the program. The pack size you are provided with may depend on what stock the pharmacy has available.
RATs can be collected by eligible concession card holders from Participating Community Pharmacies. You can find your local community pharmacy by visiting the Healthdirect Service Finder and searching using your postcode or suburb. This website does not provide information about whether sites have RATs in stock and the PPA also does not have this information.
A list of frequently asked questions can be downloaded here
The Department of Health’s Program Factsheet can be found here.
To be eligible to become a Participating Community Pharmacy under this temporary CRTCA Program a Community Pharmacy must:
A Participating Community Pharmacy must notify the PPA immediately when it becomes aware of any circumstance, event or fact that may affect the Participating Community Pharmacy’s eligibility to participate in the CRTCA Program.
When supplying RATs under the CRTCA Program, a Participating Community Pharmacy must:
To register as a Participating Community Pharmacy under the CRTCA Program, a Community Pharmacy must:
To participate in the CRTCA Program, a Community Pharmacy must have a registered Service Provider account with the Pharmacy Programs Administrator and maintain a PPA Service Provider ID.
If your pharmacy does not already have a PPA account, further details on how to register are available here
If your pharmacy has an existing account, you can use this Guide to find your PPA Service Provider ID.
To participate in the CRTCA Program, a Participating Community Pharmacy must have a registered GuildCare account to access the ProjectCOVID Module. New users will not be charged for using the ProjectCOVID system.
Further details on how to obtain access to the ProjectCOVID Module are available at https://ng.guildcare.com.au/projectcovid
To activate the ProjectCOVID module, Participating Community Pharmacies will need to submit to ProjectCOVID their pharmacy’s:
Please note the PPA Support Centre cannot provide you with support on registering for the ProjectCOVID module beyond helping you locate your PPA Service Provider ID or QCPP exemption.
It is the responsibility of the Main Authorised Person of the Participating Community Pharmacy to ensure that the Participating Community Pharmacy’s registration is always up to date. Participating Community Pharmacies must notify the Pharmacy Programs Administrator within 14 days of the following changes:
Where a pharmacy has had a full ownership change and created a new Service Provider account in the PPA Portal they must also ensure they have entered the pharmacy’s new PPA Service Provider ID into GuildLink’s ProjectCOVID. You can find your PPA Service Provider ID using this Guide.
Participating Community Pharmacies must submit all eligible CRTCA transactions (claims) via the ProjectCOVID Module.
With each supply transaction, the Participating Community Pharmacy must record the required details of each supply into ProjectCOVID to enable reimbursement.
The minimum required details to be recorded of each supply transaction in order to receive payment are:
Recording of transaction details must occur at time of supply to an eligible patient.
Eligible transactions (claims) are then batched by GuildLink and sent to the PPA for payment. Payment is therefore not in real time.
For information on data entry into ProjectCOVID, please visit GuildCare’s website available here: https://ng.guildcare.com.au/projectcovid.
If you need additional support, please contact the GuildCare Support at support@guildcare.com.au or on 1300 647 492. The GuildCare Support Desk is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 6.00pm EST.
All information entered into ProjectCOVID must be correct as ProjectCOVID will not have the ability to amend or cancel claims in the initial stages of the CRTCA Program and as the PPA does not have access to ProjectCOVID we cannot assist pharmacies to alter data.
CRTCA payments are made to pharmacies via the PPA. All payment data is extracted from ProjectCOVID by GuildLink prior to being provided to the PPA for payment.
The PPA must make payment according to the data provided to us by GuildLink. We can advise you how many total transactions and RATs you have been paid for however, we are not able to assist pharmacies in altering data. Please therefore do not contact the PPA regarding data entry errors in ProjectCOVID.
A Participating Community Pharmacy will receive the following reimbursement for each RAT supplied under the CRTCA Program from 24 January 2022 (CRTCA Program commencement date):
Examples of how payments will be calculated are below:
Number of RATs Supplied | RAT Payment (Incl GST) | AHI Payment | Total Payment |
2 | $22.00 | $4.30 | $26.30 |
5 | $55.00 | $4.30 | $59.30 |
Pharmacies may be requested by the Department of Health or the PPA, to provide information in respect of its RAT purchase price (e.g. invoice or monthly statement) from the relevant wholesaler or supplier to inform appropriate adjustments to reimbursement calculations during the term of the program. This will assist in supporting the Australian Government’s efforts to monitor market dynamics. If this information is requested, it must be provided within two weeks of the date of request.
CRTCA Payment Schedule
The following table outlines the payment schedule for CRTCA payments.
Transaction Batch Period |
GuildLink to export ProjectCOVID transactions and provide acceptable data file to PPA by: | PPA to process payments* based on received transactions by: |
24/01/2022 to 30/01/2022 | – | Paid 15/02/2022 |
31/01/2022 to 13/02/2022 | – | Paid 23/02/2022 |
14/02/2022 to 27/02/2022 | – | Paid 08/03/2022 |
28/02/2022 to 13/03/2022 | – | Paid 21/03/2022 |
14/03/2022 to 27/03/2022 | – | Paid 05/04/2022 |
28/03/2022 to 10/04/2022 | – | Paid 19/04/2022 |
11/04/2022 to 24/04/2022 | – | Paid 03/05/2022 |
25/04/2022 to 08/05/2022 | – | Paid 16/05/2022 |
09/05/2022 to 22/05/2022 | – | Paid 02/06/2022 |
23/05/2022 to 05/06/2022 | – | Paid 14/06/2022 |
06/06/2022 to 19/06/2022 | – | Paid 27/06/2022 |
20/06/2022 to 03/07/2022 | – | Paid 12/07/2022 |
04/07/2022 to 17/07/2022 | – | Paid 26/07/2022 |
18/07/2022 to 31/07/2022 | – | Paid 09/08/2022 |
*Please note it may take 1-2 business days for payments to reach your bank account after we have made payment depending upon the payment timeframes of your bank.
ProjectCOVID will not have the ability to amend or cancel claims in the initial stages of the CRTCA Program. If this changes, the Program Rules will be updated and relevant communications will be made to all Participating Community Pharmacies.
Please note that the PPA does not have the ability to assist pharmacies in altering data once it has been submitted into ProjectCOVID.
Please see the link to the Frequently Asked Questions regarding the CRTCA Program.
As new information becomes available these FAQs may be updated, please regularly review this document if you have any questions.
Contact GuildCare via support@guildcare.com.au
Contact the PPA Support Centre, between 9am to 8pm (AEST), Monday to Friday on support@ppaonline.com.au or 1800 951 285.
Please note the PPA cannot help you with data entry or with interpretation, cancellation or amendment of any data that is held within ProjectCOVID.