THE recent award of the national contract for provision of electronic prescription services to FRED IT Group (PD 11 May) has seen the lodgement of a request for authorisation of anti-competitive conduct with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
FRED IT says the move is required because it necessitates negotiation with rival provider MediSecure over a range of matters including the date by which certain scripts and data will pass from Medisecure to FRED's eRx platform, how vendors will make the transition, how historical data will be transferred, and when and how Medisecure will cease to be used in respect of publicly funded prescriptions.
Authorisation for the conduct is sought for three years, with the ACCC now inviting the views of interested parties on the application as part of a public consultation process which kicked off this week.
The Commission has released an indicative timetable showing it expects to make a decision regarding interim authorisation next month, and then will consider submissions before making a final determination in Sep this year.
The closing date for feedback on the application is 16 Jun, with more information HERE.
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