Pharmacy Daily | Country pharmacy e-health

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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