THIS week's contributor is Gerard Stevens, Managing Director, Webstercare - RACF best practice dividends: When you're run off your feet you need every possible advantage. Right now that would describe all healthcare professionals, especially pharmacists and those who support residential aged care facilities (RACFs).
Most people outside the profession have no appreciation of both the illegality of dispensing medication without a prescription, and the negative impact on cash flow.
To address this the National Residential Medication Chart (NRMC) was enacted in 2014. This paved the way for NRMC-compliant, computer-generated medication charts to be a valid prescription, with the exception of S8 medications and some on Authority. It eliminates the illegal practice of owing prescriptions.
I take some pride in being the principal lobbyist for this innovation.
It means that an onerous task for pharmacists -- preparing owing prescription lists and relying on doctors to write up multiple prescriptions -- is eliminated.
The computer-generated NRMC delivers these benefits and more, reducing patient risk and eliminating the chance of mismatch between prescriptions and the medication chart.
Adopting this best practice improves your financial position, redeploys staff involved in repairing owing lists, eases doctors' workloads, and reduces patient risk.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 06 Apr 20
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