The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has been working closely with clinical software suppliers and clinical peak bodies to deliver paperless prescription known as ePrescription functionality for GPs and pharmacies.
At this stage, paperless prescriptions are only actively utilised if GPs and pharmacies in your region are part of an electronic prescribing ‘Community of Interest’ (COI). COI sites, including Moss Vale, are listed on the Digital Health Agency website.
Communities of Interest are testing the technology and clinical workflows to identify any issues or areas for improvement prior to broader use. This is to ensure any emerging issues are limited to these sites and remediated quickly. There is a real risk that if community pharmacies don’t have electronic prescriptions capability, patients will not be able to get their medicines dispensed and this will create additional work for practices when the patient has to return for a paper script.
The ADHA is working with pharmacies and their software suppliers to ensure they are ready as soon as possible and will advise GPs when there is broader pharmacy readiness. In the meantime, GPs are asked to encourage pharmacies to contact their dispensing software providers to activate electronic prescription dispensing functionality.
To find more information email help@digitalhealth.gov.au or call 1300 901 001.