The Medicines Management Oversight Group is greatly encouraged by the increased interest and usage of the NZ ePrescription Service (NZePS) by both community pharmacies and general practices.

This newsletter highlights a number of significant benefits for users of the NZePS as well as some significant milestones that have been reached.

In addition, we briefly highlight two aspects of legislation which have the potential to deliver significant efficiencies to both general practices and community pharmacies.

These require changes to existing processes and procedures.  

The Ministry is seeking expressions of interest from existing users of the NZePS, who have the capacity to develop pilots, to test the implementation of these changes

To download the PDF file please click the link below

NZ ePrescription Service February 2019

PLEASE NOTE

The need to comply with strict criteria when considering the opportunities enabled by the waiver,including that the prescription must have a unique barcode and be:  
   

(a)        electronically generated by a prescriber from an approved electronic system integrated with the New Zealand Electronic Prescription Service (NZePS); and

(b)        dispensed via a pharmacy dispensing system that electronically matches the barcode stored in the NZePS broker.

An approved electronic system is one that:

* has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health as being compliant with the accreditation requirements for connection to the NZePS;

*produces and sends electronic prescriptions to the NZePS;

*has appropriate controls to ensure that a prescription can only be sent by an authorised prescriber;

* produces prescriptions that contain unique identifiers that are compatible with the NZePS (i.e. a barcode); and

*generates a prescription that contains a barcode that carries the same unique identifier as that held in the NZePS broker and can be transmitted and printed in exactly the intended format.

This waiver can only be issued under the Medicines Regulations 1984, and cannot override the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977.Consequently, prescriptions for controlled drugs will still require to be signed.

Posted on behalf of:

Charlie Charters
Medicines Management Digital Services l Data and Digital