Why is there so little e-prescribing in Canada? New whitepaper explores the benefits

TELUS Health has released a new national whitepaper about the importance of e-prescribing. In conjunction with healthcare leaders like the Ontario Pharmacists Association’s Justin Bates, Mila’s Stéphanie Létourneau and Rexall’s Nicolas Caprio, this whitepaper breaks down a case for a national e-prescribing mandate. “The continued reliance on outdated, paper- and fax-based prescribing systems introduces significant risks, contributing to medication errors, privacy breaches and administrative burdens that compromise patient care and place undue strain on clinicians,” the executive summary reads. Right now, it says, just 4% to 5% of the 250 million billable prescription transactions in Canada are transmitted through the national e-prescribing system.The paper lays out some of the statistics around some of the relevant issues and the ways that e-prescribing could solve them. For example, having a national framework for e-prescribing would eliminate illegible handwriting, reduce transcription errors and ensures that medication histories are always accessible at the point of care—this would lead to fewer adverse drug events. The publication also details the path towards achieving nationally-adopted e-prescribing, based on international models. These steps include mandating integration over time nationally, having a sustainable funding model with federal-provincial bilateral agreements, collaborative governance with trusted partners and establishing a robust care network. “By implementing the proposed model, Canada can move beyond its current fragmentation to establish itself as a leader in digital health infrastructure,” the authors wrote. Right now according to the paper, 49% of prescriptions are faxed and 28% are paper. This leads to a myriad of problems for patients, pharmacists and other healthcare providers. 50% of pharmacists cited time lost to fax communications, 46% said that phone calls had inefficiencies and 46% said that prescribers frequently omitted critical details. “By contrast, true e-prescribing represents a more advanced and secure model,” the authors write. “In this system, prescribers enter prescription data directly into an electronic medical record (EMR), which then transmits the information seamlessly to the PMS of the patient’s chosen pharmacy.”e-Prescribing would be a catalyst for modern and connected care, the authors argue. Not only does it benefit patients and healthcare providers, but the government will also see benefits, they wrote. “e-Prescribing is this solution, and it is not just an obligation—it is an opportunity we should seize.”

Why is there so little e-prescribing in Canada? New whitepaper explores the benefits

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