Updating Pharmacy Preferences for eScripts Prescription

Key Takeaways

• Preferred Pharmacy: Ensures patients can manage their eScripts and prescription history while reducing the risk of medication errors.
• Access Control: The Privacy Act ensures that patient data is accessed only with explicit permission, and patients retain control over their health records.
• Telehealth Integration: eScripts and My Health Record integration provide convenience and safety, especially for those requiring after-hours care or travelling.
• Pharmacy Coordination: Patients can update their pharmacy preferences to ensure seamless medication management, with clear instructions for doing so.

Australia's digital health sector will have witnessed the rise of electronic prescriptions (online scripts) as a key component of the pharmaceutical process, fundamentally altering how patients obtain and manage their medicine supplies. Central to this efficiency is the concept of the preferred pharmacy. Of course, any pharmacy that conforms to the standard can accept eScripts anywhere in the country, but specifying a preferred location, or updating it whenever your circumstances change, is an important step in ensuring your medication management cycle remains safe, accurate, and smooth.

This is a comprehensive guide to choosing, changing and managing your pharmacy preferences in the eScript & Prescription Access Hub. It is by assuming this role that your health data is delivered to the appropriate professionals at the right time.

Why It Is Important to Have a Preferred Pharmacy

Besides the convenience of showing a QR code at any pharmacy enabled by the 'Token Model', properly identifying your preferred pharmacy can help reduce the risk of medication errors.

The Importance of Continuity

• Firstly, a preferred pharmacy can help reduce the risk of drug interactions by reviewing your dispensing history, which they maintain as an important safety tool.
• Secondly, if you use a digital folder for all your scripts, designating a "Home Pharmacy" allows them to manage your ASL directly. This means you aren't responsible for individual SMS tokens; the pharmacy accesses your authorised records via the secure eScript delivery process.
• Thirdly, by maintaining a consistent pharmacy on file, you are likely to encounter common eScript administrative errors. These are instances in which, for example, old phone numbers are used to send tokens, or repeats get 'lost' between systems.

How to Change a Pharmacy in Your eScript Workflow

Changing your pharmacy preference is not a one-off; it is a flexible process that can occur at various stages of your healthcare journey, from an online doctor consultation to the pharmacy counter.

1. Tele-Doctor Consultation

With GP Online, your GP will ask where you would like your prescription to be sent.

• Record Change: Informing the doctor of your new pharmacy's name and suburb is sufficient. The doctor updates this new preferred pharmacy in their clinical software, and the official eScript requirements will then show your current choice.
• Token Change: Your doctor may send you a token via SMS, but having the correct pharmacy 'nominated' in the system helps coordinate future repeat authorisations.

2. Updating Your Choice at the Pharmacy

Most of the time, people change their pharmacy preference simply by visiting the new pharmacy in person.

• An eScript Token is the key that allows a new pharmacist to retrieve your electronic record from the national database when you present it to them.
• You can instruct the pharmacist to 'Register me for an ASL' or 'Set as my preferred provider.' This will update your record in the National Prescription Delivery Service (NPDS), linking the new location to future repeats generated from your prescription.

3. Through Medication Management Applications

Apps like myGov or pharmacy-specific digital wallets enable safe handling of eScript tokens. By selecting a pharmacy on the app's map, your "Order" requests are automatically routed to that pharmacy's secure terminal.

• Safe and Easy Digital Ordering: Apps that display maps or lists of pharmacies let users designate a 'Preferred Pharmacy' by tapping a location. This ensures that when you choose to 'Order' a medication, the request is automatically routed to the proper secure terminal.

My Health Record & Pharmacy Linking

You do not confine your pharmacy preferences only to the local desktop computer in the pharmacy. Instead, they are synchronised with your overall digital health profile.

The National Feature

• When you access your My Health Record Medications View, you will find a list of your previous scripts and the pharmacies where they were filled. If you move or travel, with your permission, a new pharmacist could review your history to ensure Digital Continuity.
• If you need to temporarily change your preference while you are in a different state, the cross-state prescription process lets you designate a local pharmacy for your stay without losing access to your 'home' pharmacy.

Telehealth Pharmacy Coordination

One of the greatest challenges in pharmacy management occurs after hours or when your primary location is closed.

Managing Backup Locations

• Shift-Friendly Access: If you require an online GP consultation in Sydney, you may need to nominate a 24-hour pharmacy for electronic prescriptions.
• One-Time Nomination: You can specify a 'one-time' pharmacy for an urgent script while keeping your 'Home Pharmacy' nomination intact for your long-term repeats.
• Coordinated Handover: Prime Medic GPs can facilitate this by ensuring the eScript is directed to an open, dispensing location, preventing delays in your care.