MEDSASSIST - the real time recording system developed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to help reduce the misuse of over-the-counter combination analgesic medicines containing codeine -- will be discontinued nationally from 31 January.
The reason for the shutdown is that all of the medicines recorded in the MedsASSIST system will shift to prescription only from 1 February, and the system will become redundant at that time.
Introduced nationally in March 2016, MedsASSIST was designed specifically to record over-the-counter medicines containing codeine. MedsASSIST was not designed to record prescription medicines, and has no legislative underpinning to do so.
The MedsASSIST clinical decision support tool has recorded over 10 million transactions since it was introduced. The number of pharmacies voluntarily using MedsASSIST peaked at around 70 per cent.
The system has enabled pharmacists to identify risk factors and either refuse supply, or refer patients to their doctor or to counselling pathways to address dependency.
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