Pharmacy Daily | Script exchanges together

FRED IT’s eRx Script Exchange is set to become linked to rival MediSecure, with the government providing almost $10 million in funding to make the systems interoperable. According to an application revealed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the so-called ‘Electronic Transfer of Prescription (ETP) Prescription Exchange Service Interoperability Initiative’ aims to “significantly improve the uptake and use of electronic prescriptions”. E-prescribing is a significant policy component of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement, and according to early analysis there are large numbers of electronic prescriptions being lodged by prescribers “but the number being downloaded by dispensers is quite low” - due to patients presenting to a pharmacy which is not connected to the prescription exchange containing the e-script. The project aims to allow electronic prescriptions to be accessed by all pharmacies, regardless of which exchange the script was lodged with. eRx and MediSecure are now tasked with working together and sharing all information necessary to create interoperability between their systems, with a deadline in the document of 24 Dec 2012 for the work to be completed. The companies will each receive $660,000 (a total of $1.32m) as a capital contribution to undertake the work, which will also include the standardisation of the format and positioning of the barcodes on the original prescriptions. A further $8.3 million is being made available to eRx and MediSecure as a ‘PES Electronic Prescription Fee (PEPF)’ which will see 85c paid to an exchange per eligible electronic prescription downloaded and dispensed from 01 Jul 2012 to 31 Dec 2012, and 35c per each e-script dispensed from 01 Jan-30 Jun 2013 until the full amount is expended. Payments will be made for prescriptions which have been assessed and completed for claiming by Medicare, with the schedule taking into account the delay of up to three months in the claim process. The overall amount of $8.3m is available for access by both script exchanges and cannot be exceeded, the agreement between FRED and the government states. The ACCC application for cartel authorisation is necessary because under the proposed collaboration, eRx and MediSecure will “share equally in the fee which is charged to a pharmacy user and the Commonwealth” by the exchange to which the pharmacy is connected.

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