Prescribers will soon be able to offer electronic prescriptions for controlled drugs as the government expands New Zealand’s e-Prescription service.
The New Zealand Government recently revised the Substance Abuse Regulations 1997, allowing prescribers to issue signature-free prescriptions for controlled drugs starting December 22.
The amendments to the regulations will also allow prescription of controlled class B drugs for a period of up to three months when they are issued through NZePS.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
Currently, prescribers and pharmacists must provide a printed, signed copy of any prescriptions for controlled drugs. The Department of Health notes that expanding NZePS coverage to include such drugs will reduce the administrative burden on prescribers.
“Prescriptions for controlled drugs will no longer have to be in hard copy with physical signatures. Finally, we will be able to say goodbye to fax machines,” Health Minister Andrew Little said in an announcement of the move in August.
He added that for drugs that treat certain chronic conditions such as ADHD, prescribers will be able to increase the duration of use in a single electronic scenario, reducing the number of times patients – especially those coming from a rural area – had to see a GP for advice. repeat prescription.
BIGGER BACKGROUND
NZePS is an electronic HIE broker operated by the Ministry of Health. It has an encrypted and secure channel for receiving prescriptions, which are then sent to pharmacies for distribution. Recent research has shown that the use of such an electronic medication management system greatly reduces harm caused by medication errors by eliminating difficult to read, ambiguous or incomplete prescriptions and providing provides a single, comprehensive view of a patient’s medication record. The government has been working with hospital IT providers, including Medtech, MyPractice, Indici and Medimap, to integrate NZePS with their systems to allow prescribers to issue scripts electronically.
At the start of the pandemic, the New Zealand government encouraged e-prescribing as a means of supporting the continuum of care amid stringent measures to contain growing COVID-19 infections. However, some GPs have difficulty implementing this change due to cost and technical barriers, a survey conducted last year showed.
