GPs drive huge increase in ePrescribing

eHealthNews.nz: Covid-19

Wednesday, 15 April 2020

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eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The number of general practices using the New Zealand Electronic Prescription Service has leapt to 600 as GPs switch to delivering virtual care for their patients.

Figures supplied to eHealthNews.nz from the Ministry of Health show that just 16 percent, or 159 practices, were using NZePS in March 2019. This had risen to 41 percent by March 2020 and then 60 percent (more than 600 in total) as of 13 April 2020.

The number of pharmacies using the service has also risen from 78 percent in March 2019 to 97 percent now.

The Director General of Health waived the need for a physical signature on barcoded prescriptions generated from systems integrated with the NZePS in November 2018.

Last month, the Director-General also temporarily waived the requirement for physical signatures on prescriptions for non-controlled drugs that are generated or sent by systems that are not integrated with NZePS.

The electronic prescription service has become critical as general practices have rapidly switched to a digital first approach when caring for patients and the number of GPs sending prescriptions electronically has been steadily climbing since the Covid-19 outbreak began.

Last month, 25 percent of all prescription were sent via the NZePS compared to 12 percent in the same month last year.

The Ministry is urging prescribers to use electronic prescriptions as much as possible to support social distancing measures and says exchanging paper prescriptions during this time is burdensome, challenging and unsafe.

Under the permanent waiver, unsigned prescriptions are allowed if the prescription; does not include controlled drugs; is NZePS barcoded; is scanned and downloaded at a community pharmacy; and is generated by a system authorised by the Ministry.

“The ability to electronically prescribe medications without the need for signatures supports innovative care approaches, such as virtual consultations,” an MoH information sheet says.

Royal NZ College of GPs president Samantha Murton says the change to prescribing rules makes it much easier for GPs working remotely to save a prescription as a PDF and email it to a pharmacy.

She adds that the numbers of GPs using ePrescribing went up exponentially, “almost overnight”.

ProCare Health PHO says around half of its practices are using NZePS, compared to 10 percent before Covid-19 arrived in New Zealand. Pinnacle Ventures medical director Kerry Macaskill-Smith says all Indici practices in the Midlands are also now using the service.

Indici, MyPractice and Medtech have worked in collaboration with pharmacy software vendor RxOne, Clanwilliam Health’s HealthLink and pharmacy software vendor Toniq to launch an integrated e-prescription messaging service called Secure Script.

The new service enables GPs to send an NZePS signature exempt prescription electronically to a pharmacy nominated by the patient.

Waitematā, Auckland and Counties Manukau DHBs will start using Secure Script soon – the first time they have ever used an e-prescription service for patients discharged from hospital needing a prescription.

The temporary waiver, issued last month, covers systems and settings where NZePS is not currently an option, such as hospital discharge and outpatient prescribing and will expire when the Epidemic Preparedness Notice 2020 is revoked or expires.

If you would like to provide feedback on this news story, please contact the editor Rebecca McBeth.

GPs move to digital first

For more information and resources about COVID-19 go to https://www.hinz.org.nz/page/covid19

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