This press release typifies what amazing change is happening, almost overnight:
RACGP welcomes move to allow GPs to send electronic prescriptions
RACGP 3 April, 2020
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) welcomes today’s announcement that the government has acted on our calls to relax the laws to allow GPs to send electronic prescriptions to patients.
The Australian Government Department of Health today announced new interim arrangements for prescriptions to support telehealth services.
Under the arrangements, patients can get a prescription from their GP sent to their phone or email, which they can send to a pharmacy. Patients can also choose to have their GP send their prescription direct to their pharmacy of choice and their medication can be delivered to their door.
RACGP President Dr Harry Nespolon welcomed the move as a breakthrough for GPs to continue providing quality care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a vital part of the puzzle to enable GPs to continue providing the same quality care to their patients via telehealth as they do face-to-face.
“It means patients with a variety of health conditions can get a prescription from their GP sent to their phone or email, which they can send to a pharmacy and the medicine can be delivered. A patient can also choose to have their GP send their prescription direct to their pharmacy.
“This breakthrough that the RACGP argued strongly for will enable GPs to better support their patients during this pandemic and help to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our community as people can access medical care and any medication they may need without needing to leave their home.”
It comes after the government acted on the RACGP’s calls to expand telehealth to all patients to slow the spread of COVID-19, and ensure patients across Australia can continue accessing quality health care from their GP.
Ends - Public Release.
Here is the link:
The ADHA has been saying they will have an electronic prescribing system operational by the end of May, but given the present circumstances the moves have come sooner and are more radical.
The relevant part of the Minister’s announcement is here:
Ensuring continued access to medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic
The Australian Government has approved a number of temporary changes to medicines regulation to ensure Australians can continue to access the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines they need, as the COVID-19 outbreak unfolds.
Minister Hunt.
…..
Continued dispensing
Emergency measures to allow continued access to essential medicines through the PBS will be extended to 30 June 2020.
These temporary “continued dispensing” arrangements allow people to obtain their usual medicines at PBS prices, even if they cannot get a new prescription from their doctor.
Under strict conditions, pharmacists will be able to give patients up to one month’s supply of their usual medicine without a script, at the usual PBS consumer co-payment.
The patient must previously have been prescribed the medicine and the pharmacist must be satisfied it is urgently needed.
These measures were originally put in place in January in response to the widespread bushfires and were due to end on 31 March 2020, however will be extended following consultation with doctors and the community pharmacy sector.
Home Delivery of Medicines
A new Home Medicines Service has been established to provide home delivery of PBS and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines, for vulnerable people and people in isolation.
This will complement the Government’s investments in telehealth, which allow people to see their doctor remotely, and if necessary obtain a script remotely. Vulnerable people will also be able to have their scripts filled remotely and delivered to their home.
The Government is fast tracking the roll out of electronic prescribing and dispensing through medical and dispensing software to make this even easier.
…..
More here:
So suddenly the doctor can work with the patient, agree a pharmacy to be used, and have that pharmacy deliver the completed prescription.
The Pharmacy Guild must be horrified – to say the least - to have their control of what and who does what so transformed!
It seems the next steps in 2-3 months time will be even more radical. We sure do live in interesting times!
David.
13 comments:
The ADHA has been saying they will have an electronic prescribing system operational by the end of May. And just what will success look like I wonder? Eprescribing specifications have been around for a long time.
I don’t believe ADHA is building anything as such, as always they facilitate a few fly-in lunches and get some agreements on how funding will be carved up. Once again they rollout specifications that have been left collecting dust. They have done some updates but they seem incomplete and certainly not consistently aligned. One questions quality control and modern engineering practices.
https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/resources/faqs/electronic-prescribing-frequently-asked-questions
ADHA to one side this certainly presents an interesting shift
I wonder how e prescribing is getting on
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/covid-19-national-health-plan-primary-care-fast-track-electronic-prescribing
Updated 12 March.
If I remember properly, they said 8 weeks - about half way there now.
The revised target is end of May so about 8 weeks from now
Even with the expected delays, cost overruns and other assorted mistakes ADHA will create I personally believe this is a great step forward. I do wonder what the pharmacy guide did to deserve this? After all they were a MyHR pusher.
Remind me about 'Channeling prescriptions'. Who fought against it for many years?
https://www.guild.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/57710/Selective-Prescription-Supply-March-2018.pdf
Act in haste, repent at leisure
How many staff are employed in the ADHA?
What are they all doing?
How much is it costing to employ them?
Shouldn't they be relocated to Centrelink or the ATO to assist with the huge increase in workload?
The total number is 437 - APS, Common Law, contractors and consultants (bums on seats) Average Staffing Level (ASL) 170. You could expand on this number to include all the various support and outsourced roles. Could they be redeployed? Probably not, large majority are social media snobs and networkers. A large proportion simple fill the standard APS matrix.
A more relevant question:
How many work at ADHA?
Maybe a quarter?
How much money had ADHA saved the government?
Almost certainly nothing.
Will anything be done about it?
Probably not, even though is probably a good time to kill it as the attention is elsewhere.
Why should ADHA staff be treated any better than AFL/NRL players? At least they are appreciated by some people, most of who would prefer AFL/NRL to a My Health Record.
Therefore a large percentage have no useful tole other than to sit at home with nothing to do.
Seems ADHA have updated news on eprescribing ( should it not be digital prescriptions??) -
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/get-started-with-digital-health/electronic-prescriptions
And some additional background.
https://developer.digitalhealth.gov.au/resources/articles/electronic-prescribing
Not sure what they did in 19/20 but at least the developer site seems to have some meaning and direction. Early attempts were a joke.
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