June 2024

The Community Service Obligation (CSO) protects and serves the interests of patients – not only in the major cities- but in rural and remote parts of Australia to ensure equitable and timely access to PBS medicines through local community pharmacy.

Wholesalers stock and supply the full range of PBS medicines and distribute them fairly to more than 5,800 pharmacies nationwide all year round.

This includes the handling of high care and cold chain medicines, NDSS services and product recalls.

The CSO funding pool underpins this service, aiming to make it commercially viable for distributors to deliver to a pharmacy whether it be in the inner city, outer suburbs or a remote outback town.

When shortages arise, the CSO wholesalers work with government and supply chain stakeholders to fairly manage available onshore medicine inventory for all community pharmacies.

All CSO distributors comply with strict reporting requirements and are subject to independent auditing, ensuring transparency and compliance with government service standards.