Drug Information

Information about prescribed dispensed drugs is a vital component of Alberta Netcare EHR. The Alberta Netcare EHR teams are working to capture and include within the Alberta Netcare EHR information on the drugs prescribed and dispensed to Albertans.   Alberta Netcare EHR Teams work closely with pharmacists, the Alberta College of Pharmacists (ACP) and the Alberta Pharmacists Association (RxA) to support effective gathering and access to prescribed dispensed drug information within the Alberta Netcare EHR Portal.   Including this information within Alberta Netcare EHR Portal ensures that drug information is available for viewing by authorized health service providers, which brings significant patient care and safety benefits. It also supports prescribing activities of both physicians and pharmacists.   Pharmaceutical Information Network (PIN) PIN is a separate drug information management system that has been seamlessly integrated into Alberta Netcare EHR Portal to support access to prescribed drug and Over the Counter (OTCs) drug information. PIN provides authorized health service providers with the following information:   Prescription information from physicians Prescribed dispensing information from pharmacies Drug-to-drug interaction alerts to avoid prescriptions that conflict Database of all available drugs and their common dosages   The integration of PIN within Alberta Netcare EHR Portal allows the health service provider caring for a patient to view that patient's drug information alongside lab results, diagnostic imaging results and other medical information. Capturing Drug Dispense Information - Working with Pharmacists As of September 1, 2007, all pharmacists working in Alberta's community-based pharmacies are required to submit drug dispensing information to AHW to be entered into PIN. This is in accordance with section 7.1 of the amended Health Information Regulation of the HIA. The objective is to improve patient care, patient safety and health system management. As a result, the Alberta Netcare EHR Portal now contains more than 90% of current prescribed drug dispense activity in the province. A key challenge with drug dispense information is to ensure it is associated with a unique patient to ensure data quality. As a result, Alberta Netcare is also supporting pharmacists in ensuring that each drug dispense event is associated with a specific Provincial Health Number (PHN) or Unique Lifetime Identifier (ULI). Just as PHNs / ULIs are used to identify patients in clinics and labs, they are used to identify patients receiving drugs.     A data quality initiative is being carried out in partnership with the Alberta College of Pharmacists (ACP). As custodians under the HIA, pharmacists are authorized to collect PHNs and the ACP's new standard of practice now requires pharmacists to collect PHNs as part of the demographic information important to each patient record.   In the near future, Alberta Netcare will invest resources in the development of a "system to system" (S2S) method of interacting with pharmacies. Pharmacy S2S will seamlessly integrate Alberta Netcare Portal with the Pharmacist's vendor system.   Accessing Drug Information Patient drug dispense information is accessible by authorized health service providers via Alberta Netcare EHR Portal and Alberta Netcare Portal 2004. For more information about drug information and processes within Alberta Netcare, please contact: Alberta Netcare Enrolment Line 1-866-756-2647 toll free or in Edmonton 780-642-4082 Email: health.ehrdeployment@gov.ab.ca