Canada Health Infoway and Loblaw Companies have reached an agreement to advance e-prescribing in Canada.
Under the agreement, Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaw retail pharmacies and QHR Technologies' AccuroEMR, Canada's largest single electronic medical record platform, will work towards connecting with PrescribeIT, Infoway's national e-prescribing service.
Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government.
Shoppers and Loblaw roll out e-prescribing service
As a first step in the initiative, Shoppers and Loblaw will begin to roll out PrescribeIT in pharmacies already using software that is integrated with PrescribeIT.
"This agreement will accelerate the adoption of e-prescribing in Canada, bringing significant benefits to patients, prescribers and health-care systems across the country," said Ashesh Desai, executive vice president, Pharmacy and Healthcare Businesses at Shoppers Drug Mart.
Service has already shown momentum
"PrescribeIT has shown tremendous momentum since it launched," said Michael Green, president and CEO of Infoway. "This is an important expansion for PrescribeIT® and will help extend the benefits of the service more broadly."
Loblaw will continue to operate FreedomRx, the e-prescribing and messaging platform that is currently available predominantly to Loblaw and Shoppers pharmacies and physicians using AccuroEMR as their electronic medical records system.
