Borderline health: jurisdictional variation in Australian medicines legislation poses potential risks to patients and healthcare practitioners.

Background Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme may suggest to patients that medicines supply is the same everywhere in Australia. National Registration of Health Practitioners removed barriers to practitioners working interstate. Aim To identify variations in state and territory medicines legislation with potential to negatively impact patients or practitioners. Method Australian state and territory Acts and Regulations related to medicines prescribing and provision were compared. Legislative variations with potential to either harm patients, or increase health practitioners' legal or ethical risk, were identified. Results Potential patient harm may occur due to inconsistent requirements for prescription particulars, retention of prescription repeats by pharmacies in some states, or variation in age restriction on medicines provision.Potential practitioner risk may arise due to inconsistencies in practitioners' prescribing rights or variable requirements to prescribe or dispense medicines. Conclusion Ideally, all Australian states and territories should adopt uniform medicines legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]