Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy eHealth support

PHARMACY integration with the government's My Health Record system will be significantly expanded in the near future, with the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) signing agreements with a number of additional community pharmacy software vendors.

Fred Dispense and Simple Retail's Aquarius Dispense already support the My Health Record system, with additional agreements announced last week with Dispense Works, Minfos, RxOne, ScriptPro Dispense, Z Dispense and Mountaintop Dispense.

The ADHA said it was also continuing discussions with other providers of dispensing software, saying it was confident agreements would be in place with almost all vendors in the next few months.

The agency said the expanded integration would lead to better health care, efficiencies for pharmacists and more accurate record keeping.

Earlier this year (PD 13 Feb 2017) the ADHA announced an 'Industry Partnership Offer' worth up to $250,000 for community pharmacy software vendors to upgrade their products to support the My Health Record system.

At the time the agency said participants in the initiative would need to upgrade their existing systems to support the required functionality by 30 Jun 2018, including the ability to view My Health Record information from within dispensing software.

PSA president Shane Jackson, who is a specialist adviser to the ADHA, welcomed the strong response from the industry, saying having access to My Health Record as part of the regular workflow and dispensing process would mean pharmacists spent less time chasing up clinical information.

The Pharmacy Guild last month also boosted its engagement with the ADHA (PD 27 Jul), with a particular focus on telehealth, transitional care, and "interoperability with pharmacy clinical service IT platforms".

The agency said it was working closely with the Guild, clinicians, healthcare providers and the software vendors to maximise the benefits of My Health Record for patient care in community pharmacies.