Country pharmacy e-health
February 8, 2013
A PHARMACY in regional NSW
has become one of the first in
Australia to utilise a new dispensing
software system which can work
with both of the leading electronic
prescription exchanges.
Brand’s Think Pharmacy in the
town of Orange has switched to
utilising ‘Interoperable DispenseIT’
software, which can access scripts
lodged at the MediSecure exchange
as well as the Guild-backed eRX.
The pharmacy is part of the 12-
strong Wesley Pharmacy Group
which also operates hospital
pharmacies in southeast Qld, with
ceo David Brand saying the
business had played a leadership
role in the profession for two
generations.
“We have adopted and supported
MediSecure e-prescriptions in
community pharmacy as a natural
extension of this leadership and the
opportunity to be the first regional
pharmacy involved in
interoperability for electronic
prescriptions made perfect sense to
our team,” he said.
New Oral-B toothpaste
PROCTER & Gamble’s Oral-B
brand has this month launched a
“revolutionary new therapeutic
toothpaste” in Australia which
uniquely combines stabilised
stannous flouride and sodium
polymetaphosphate.
Oral-B says the new Pro-Health
product is a “scientific
breakthrough” because it’s the first
time that stannous fluoride has been
able to be combined with other
ingredients in a stabilised form.
It’s been the subject of more than
70 studies, with key findings
indicating up to 96% reduction in
surface staining after two weeks of
use; up to 42% reduction in enamel
loss versus ordinary fluoride
toothpaste after 15 days; up to 71%
reduction in bad breath after three
weeks; up to 57% less gingival
bleeding after six months; and up
to 56% greater tartar inhibition.
The company said that given the
significance of the breakthrough,
P&G plans to drive interest through
a significant marketing investment.
“For pharmacists, this represents
a unique opportunity to grow frontof-
shop sales while building
pharmacy’s reputation as a
destination for oral care advice and
education,” said P&G Brand
Manager - Oral Care, Joel Cotter.
Oral-B Pro-Health is available
now, and will be distributed via
supermarkets as well as pharmacies.
Brand added the move was also a
reflection that MediSecure has a
leading presence in general
practices across the country.
“We adopted MediSecure largely
because we knew that the doctors
we work with are supportive of the
MediSecure model and this gives
our pharmacies access to a large
pool of original electronic
prescriptions.
“The e-script process has a clear
efficiency dividend for our
dispensaries and is the first step to
improved medication management
for our long-term patients.”
DispenseIT is a new entrant into
the dispensing market, with Wesley
Pharmacies saying that it made an
ideal software platform for its
continued expansion.
“With our background in
professional service, we understand
that the future of community
pharmacy is firmly based on
effective e-health programs.
“We know that the successful
community pharmacies over the
next five years will be the early
adopters of e-prescriptions,” Brand
concluded.
Last year Pharmacy Daily
exclusively revealed that the
government is providing almost
$10 million in funding for the
‘Electronic Transfer of Prescription
(ETP) Prescription Exchange Service
Interoperability Initiative’ (PD 23
Nov) which would allow both eRx
and MediSecure to access each
other’s scripts in the hope that this
will “significantly improve the
uptake and use of electronic
prescriptions”.
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