Australia e-Prescription Services

What is e-Prescription in Australia?

1. Electronic prescriptions are an alternative to paper prescriptions. To send and receive electronic prescriptions securely, a Prescription Delivery Service (eRX/Medisecure) must be enabled.
2. Both electronic and paper prescriptions must comply with the relevant Commonwealth and State and Territory legislation requirements.
3. Electronic prescriptions will not be mandatory. Patients will have a choice to receive either an electronic or a paper prescription from their prescriber (but not both).

Why use electronic prescriptions?

Benefits of electronic prescriptions extend to the patient and healthcare providers. These include:

• Reducing the administrative burden for healthcare providers and organisations (more effective management of prescription refill requests).
• Supporting patient choice of prescriber and pharmacy.
• Reducing prescription and transcription errors.
• Providing an opportunity to protect community members and healthcare providers from exposure to infectious diseases (like COVID-19) or other emergencies.
• Maintaining patient privacy and integrity of personal information.

How is an electronic prescription processed?

There will be two models available to support electronic prescriptions, which include the Token Model and the Active Script List Model (as seen in diagram below). The Token Model is being made progressively available and the Active Script List Model is expected to be available from August 2020.

Token Model:

This solution will see a unique QR code known as a ‘token’ generated by a prescriber and sent via an app (if the patient has one), SMS or email to the patient. The patient can take it in or send the message with the token to their chosen pharmacy for dispense. The token is used by the pharmacy to unlock the legal prescription and dispense the prescribed medication. Prescribers can check with local pharmacies if they can dispense from electronic prescriptions so that patients can get their medicine. Ensure your practice is connected to a Prescription Delivery Service (eRx or MediSecure) so you can generate and send your patient’s electronic prescriptions.

Active Script List Model:

This is a repository which shows a patient’s active prescriptions available to be dispensed. A patient must provide consent for their health professional(s) to access and view their ASL. Upon the patient asserting their identity to their pharmacist, the pharmacy can dispense a patient’s electronic prescription by retrieving it direct from the ASL without the need for the patient to receive and scan a token. The ASL is expected to overcome the issue of lost tokens and assist with medication management and adherence, especially for patients who are using multiple medicines.

How to prepare your practice for electronic prescriptions?

• Ensure your practice has a Healthcare Provider Identifier-Organisation (HPI-O).
• Confirm with your software provider whether a NASH or Medicare PKI certificate is required for access to the HI service and link it to the HPI-O.
• Ensure your practice is connected to a Prescription Delivery Service such as eRx or MediSecure.
• Install upgraded software and input HPI-O, Healthcare Provider Identifier-Individual (HPIIs) and validate patient Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHIs).
• Update your patients’ and their carers’ contact details within your clinical information system (mobile phone number/ email).
• Stay up-to-date with relevant State and Territory legislation.
• Discuss workflow suitable for your practice and keep your staff informed.
• Keep in touch with your local pharmacies to check whether they are enabled to dispense electronic prescriptions for your patients.