Electronic prescribing to continue free of charge for doctors
AMA advocacy instrumental in ensuring fee-free electronic prescribing continues after new service provider takes effect.
The Department of Health and Aged Care has announced the outcome of a tender for prescription exchange service providers initiated as part of its review of the electronic prescription ecosystem. The tender was awarded to Fred IT Group, who operate the eRx Script Exchange.
Prescribers will be pleased to learn electronic prescriptions and SMS tokens will continue without transaction costs.
The costs of SMS for original electronic prescription tokens through prescribing systems and the cost of repeat tokens generated through dispensing systems were previously subsidised by the Department of Health.
After the introduction of the ePrescribing SMS system, the AMA was instrumental in ensuring that the costs were not borne by medical practitioners.
If you previously relied on Medisecure for electronic script exchange, your clinical software provider will have to transition to eRx over the coming period. The department has assured us this will be a smooth process and should be completed in six weeks.
The AMA will continue engagement with the department and the Australian Digital Health Agency to monitor the process and provide feedback on any issues in the implementation.
