Aussie pharmacies process billionth e-script

Australia’s eRx Script Exchange has reached the major milestone of having processed one billion prescriptions dispensed electronically through the eRx system.

The eRx Script Exchange launched in 2009. Since then 89% of Australia’s pharmacies have connected to the exchange. It is in use by 76% of the nation’s GPs — nearly 20,000 in total.

Processing records electronically speeds up the dispensing process and allows GPs and pharmacists to securely share prescription information including patient and medical data.

By last month, pharmacies using eRx were electronically dispensing 753,000 prescriptions each day, translating to 22.5 million per month. During peak periods, 25 electronic scripts were dispensed per second.

The eRx software was developed in collaboration with 24 of Australia’s top medical and pharmacy software vendors. A further 11 are in the process of integrating with the network. It is operated as part of the Fred IT Group, Australia’s largest pharmacy IT vendor.

“Electronic prescribing and dispensing are two of the most fundamental ways of adding efficiencies in the medication supply process whilst also improving safeguards against potential dispensing issues,” Fred IT Group CEO Paul Naismith said.

“The achievement of creating an Australia-wide electronic script network is a direct result of the significant support behind the scenes. This has included cooperation across pharmacy and medical professions, industry groups, IT companies and government.”

Image courtesy of Mike Mozart under CC