PrescribeIT New Features Now Available

PrescribeIT^® was developed by Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) to enable prescribers to safely and conveniently transmit a prescription directly from their electronic medical record (EMR) to the pharmacy management system (PMS) of a patient’s pharmacy of choice. PrescribeIT^® enables prescribers and pharmacists to electronically create, receive, renew and cancel prescriptions.

New features that have now been added include:

• Support for expanded prescriber roles: Enables health care practitioners (e.g., nurse practitioners, dentists, optometrists) who have the authority to prescribe to send and receive transactions through PrescribeIT^®.
• Pharmacist prescribe notifications and pharmacist adapt notifications: In jurisdictions where pharmacists have the authority to prescribe medications within their scope of practice, pharmacies will now have the ability to electronically send a pharmacist-initiated prescription notification to the patient’s physician. A pharmacist may also send a prescription adapt notification when the dose, dosage form, route of administration or other component of a prescriber-initiated prescription has been adapted.
• Bilingual support: As a national service, PrescribeIT^® now supports messages in either English or French even if the software vendor does not support both languages in its application.
• e-Renewal response for clinic staff: Provides the ability for nurses, medical office assistants or other designated clinic staff supporting PrescribeIT^® prescribers to send “denied” or “under review” e-renewal responses to pharmacies.
• Jurisdictional Rx Identifier notifications: When PrescribeIT^® receives an electronic medication order from an EMR, PrescribeIT^® will send the medication order to the provincial Drug Information System and receive a jurisdiction Rx identifier. PrescribeIT^® will then send a message containing the Jurisdiction Rx Identifier to the prescriber’s EMR so it can be stored locally against the medication order. This identifier is also sent to the PMS along with the eRx message so proper matching can occur between the network Rx and the dispense notification being sent by the PMS.

“We are very excited to offer these new features that will make the PrescribeIT^® service even better for those who have been using it, while expanding the service to include more prescriber roles and providing bilingual support,” said Jamie Bruce, Executive Vice President, Infoway. “These updates demonstrate our commitment to developing the service in collaboration with users to ensure that it meets their needs and ultimately benefits their patients.”

“PrescribeIT^® is a great addition to the services I provide to patients,” said Christine Fitchett of Bracebridge, Ontario, the first nurse practitioner in Canada to prescribe through PrescribeIT^®. “It is also much safer and more convenient than paper or faxed prescriptions, and patients love it because their prescriptions are ready by the time they get to the pharmacy.” 

PrescribeIT^® is now operating in Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick, and agreements are in place with seven other jurisdictions. In addition, PrescribeIT^® works with 32 community pharmacy companies representing more than 3,400 pharmacies, as well as 11 EMR vendors and four PMS vendors. Prescribers and pharmacists are encouraged to contact their EMR or PMS vendor to learn when these enhanced features will be available in their systems and to visit prescribeit.ca/application to learn more.

About Canada Health Infoway

Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government. Visit www.infoway.ca.

About PrescribeIT^®

Canada Health Infoway is working with Health Canada, the provinces and territories, and industry stakeholders to develop, operate and maintain the national e-prescribing service known as PrescribeIT^®. PrescribeIT^® will serve all Canadians, pharmacies and prescribers and provide safer and more effective medication management by enabling prescribers to transmit a prescription electronically between a prescriber’s electronic medical record (EMR) and the pharmacy management system (PMS) of a patient’s pharmacy of choice. PrescribeIT^® will protect Canadians’ personal health information from being sold or used for commercial activities. Visit www.prescribeit.ca.

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