Northside practice leading the way with ePrescribing

The national implementation of ePrescribing is now underway, with a general practice on Brisbane’s northside becoming an early adopter of this new way of working.

Arana Hills Medical Centre installed the ePrescribing functionality as soon as it was made available, allowing GPs to issue prescriptions to patients via SMS or email.

Arana Hills Medical Centre Practice Principal, Dr Neil Hearnden and Practice Manager, Maryann Robertson recently discussed how electronic prescriptions have been transformative for both practice and patients.

Dr Hearnden said the practice had been looking forward to the innovation for a long time.

“I think this has been on the agenda with GPs and the digital agencies we’ve been working with for many years, and it’s something we’ve been asking for, for a long time.”

“I presume that’s it’s because of the coronavirus pandemic it was something that sounded like a really good idea in the midst of a pandemic—no paper, no touching, being able to do things over the phone—sounded fantastic,” he said.

The dedication of a determined practice manager was instrumental in the change process, with Ms Robertson making sure the software was properly installed and all doctors had access to simple instructions for use.

“Maryann has been a huge driver in this. Not only did she get in there and make sure it was installed, she has been really encouraging all the doctors staff and trying to overcome any hurdles.”

“Maryann determined which pharmacies actually do the e-scripts and which ones might need them emailed, and she has produced a list which is available to all the doctors here,” Dr Hearnden said.

Arana Hills Medical Centre uses Best Practice software and says their success with implementing ePrescribing has hinged on the clear instructions provided within the Best Practice platform.

“It was extremely easy. Best Practice has fantastic instructions and if anyone runs into a problem, it is so easy to find within their instructions. That was key. You didn’t need to ring them, it was all there,” Ms Robertson said.

Dr Hearnden said the Arana Hills Medical Centre GPs are enthusiastic supporters; eager to be involved, as e-prescribing had made life as a GP during the pandemic a little easier.

“During the pandemic when we were doing car consultations with full PPE and talking to (patients) through closed windows on our phones…when we recognised what the problem may be, we’d just send them their prescription and it would appear on their phone. You’d just walk inside, send the prescription and they were away—it was all too easy,” he said.

Patients have also been enthusiastic, with most quick to adopt the new ways of accessing their prescriptions.

“The young guns think it is great; having it on their phones, and the old people say ‘oh, I’m not sure about that’ and then I show them and they say ‘that looks easy’ and then they’re away,” Dr Hearnden said.

“I think the main trouble is trying to convince the people at the other end that they don’t need the little piece of paper.”

A 64-year-old patient of Dr Hearnden at the Arana Hills Medical Centre had not heard of e-scripts before Dr Hearnden mentioned them during his consultation in January.

“When he mentioned it to me I jumped at it and I quickly downloaded the MedAdvisor application for my phone which the doctor recommended, and I had all my scripts there, linked it to my pharmacy and it worked so smoothly.”

“Last week, I recognised I needed some scripts filled, I opened the app…it told me I only had three days left of medication. It was pretty clever, I then ordered it and it went through to the pharmacy and two hours later I walked in and there they were,” he said.

Practice are able to update clinical software and start issuing electronic prescriptions if they meet these technical requirements:

• have a Healthcare Provider Identifier – Organisation (HPI-O) number
• have a valid NASH certificate (required for your prescribing software to access the Health Identifier service)
• have entered the HPI-O and all the GPs’ HPI-I numbers in the clinical software
• be registered and connected to a prescription delivery service (such as eRx or MediSecure) to enable the Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions (eTP)
• use the minimum version of a conformant clinical software.

Though practices may be legally and technically capable of issuing electronic prescriptions, it is important for practices to check with local pharmacies to ensure they are able to scan the token to unlock and dispense electronic prescriptions.

Within the North Brisbane region, Dr Hearnden and Ms Robertson said many pharmacies were already on board.

For more information about electronic prescriptions

• visit the ADHA website
• visit your clinical software provider website.

If you require assistance to get your practice ready, contact your PHN primary care liaison officer on 07 3630 7300.

Pictured above: Dr Neil Hearnden and Practice Manager, Maryann Robertson of Arana Hills Medical Centre.