Canada Health Infoway is working with Health Canada, the provinces and territories, and industry stakeholders to operate and maintain PrescribeIT®, a national e-prescribing service. PrescribeIT® enables prescribers to electronically transmit a prescription directly from an electronic medical record to the pharmacy management system of a patient’s pharmacy of choice.

PrescribeIT® serves patients, pharmacies and prescribers, and:

  • Ensures patient choice of pharmacy
  • Safeguards patient health data from commercial use
  • Maintains an influence-free prescribing and dispensing environment
  • Continues to be accountable to Canadians through their federal, provincial and territorial governments

Physician and Pharmacist Benefits

PrescribeIT® is integrated into the EMR and the PMS systems, which means there is little change to existing workflows. It is as easy to use as printing or auto-faxing prescriptions from an EMR. PrescribeIT® also enhances communication between physicians and pharmacists by replacing fax or phone calls with secure clinical communications.

The benefits of e-Prescribing with PrescribeIT®:

  • Requires minimal changes to your clinical prescribing workflow
  • Improves patient safety and continuity of care
  • Supports improved first-fill medication adherence, promoting safer drug use and stronger medication compliance for better health outcomes
  • Reduces the risk of prescription fraud and abuse of prescription medications especially for narcotics and other controlled substances, through more secure prescribing and improved data for narcotics monitoring programs
  • Reduces the risk of transcription errors associated with auto-fax and handwritten prescriptions
  • Contributes to a patient’s lifetime medication history in the drug information system of each province/territory, optimizing federal and provincial/territorial investments in existing jurisdictional drug information systems

Current Status in Alberta

Alberta Health and Infoway are engaging stakeholders in Alberta to advance both provincial asset integration and clinical deployment of PrescribeIT® in Alberta.

  • Currently PrescribeIT® is live in the communities of Lethbridge, Coaldale and Picture Butte with an additional 250+ sites across the province preparing for deployment.
  • PrescribeIT® will be applying a thoughtful, systematic approach as we expand across the province – activating both pharmacies and clinics to meet growing demands of users.
  • If you are a prescriber or pharmacist and would like to get started with PrescribeIT®please fill out an application here.
  • To find PrescribeIT® enabled clinics and pharmacies near you, visit the PrescribeIT® locator map here.

Useful links:


Hear from a PrescribeIT® user: Dr. Jeffrey Steed, Coaldale

Dr. Jeffrey Steed wanted a more efficient way of getting prescriptions to pharmacies — both for himself and his patients. Learn more about his experience with PrescribeIT® by watching the video below: