Canada Health Infoway is asking health IT companies to respond to the newly launched request for proposal (RFP) for PrescribeIT, a new secure e-prescribing service.
In a release Infoway said it is seeking “an innovative partner (or consortium)” to help design, build and operate PrescribeIT, a single service that will be scaled for use across the country that will enable prescribers to electronically transmit a prescription to a patient’s pharmacy.
The RFP will be available on the MERX government public tenders Web site until November 28.
“PrescribeIT will help provide safer and more effective medication management, enhance patient safety, optimize existing drug information system investments and facilitate better health outcomes,” Infoway CEO Michael Green said in the release. “We encourage all interested parties to submit proposals to help develop a service that will aim to improve Canadians’ health outcomes while protecting the long-term sustainability of our health care system.”
When the service is up and running, patients will have three choices: Specifying a pharmacy at the time of prescribing, have the prescription sent electronically to the PrescribeIT, where a participating pharmacy can retrieve it when the patient presents the prescription summary, or continue to use paper. Meanwhile physicians will be notified of prescription renewals, allowing them to keep track of possible drug abuses.
In addition to eliminating fax and phone communications with pharmacies, the system will also integrate with provincial/territorial drug information systems.
Over time it is hoped the capabilities will be expanded including connecting the service to hospitals, long-term care facilities and other clinical settings, providing private health plan coverage information at time of prescribing, communicating medication recalls, drug shortage advisories and related surveillance services, providing patient access to preferred pharmacy lists, pending prescriptions, and viewing medication history, supporting electronic medication reconciliation services and enhanced analytics.