Hospitals slow to save electronic prescriptions to the national prescription system

Storing electronic prescriptions on the national prescription system helps control the safe and rational use of drugs. The deadline for implementing this regulation has passed, but the number of stored prescriptions is still very low compared to reality.

Control drug use, evaluate disease patterns

According to the Ministry of Health , today, August 2, relevant units of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Information and Communications will have a meeting on the progress of implementing Project 06 of the Government, including issues of digital transformation in the health sector.

According to the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health ), electronic medical records with the implementation of electronic prescriptions are one of the issues of concern for implementation, aiming at smart hospitals, paperless hospitals, helping to improve the quality of treatment and information transparency. That is one of the focuses of digital transformation in the health sector in implementing Project 06.

Electronic prescriptions stored on the national prescription system help management agencies evaluate the safe and rational use of drugs.

SCREENSHOT

Associate Professor - Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), assessed that digital transformation in healthcare is not a distant issue but is closely linked to the practical benefits of hospitals, doctors and people. In particular, electronic prescriptions or medical records, smart hospitals, and paperless hospitals are the goals to aim for. If we switch from handwriting to typing, people will no longer have to "headache" translating prescriptions, in the case of handwritten prescriptions with difficult-to-read handwriting.

In addition, the application of information technology in the implementation of electronic prescriptions also helps hospitals control prescriptions; forecast and plan the quantity of drugs for each year and period; manage antibiotic use, limit antibiotic resistance, etc.

A medical expert also acknowledged that through drug usage trends transparently shown on stored prescriptions, management agencies and professional agencies can also assess disease patterns and disease trends in the community, which are reference data in the process of developing disease prevention and control plans.

Summary of all medications the patient is taking

According to Circular 04/2022/TT-BYT (amending Circular 27/2021/TT-BYT on regulations on electronic prescription) issued by the Ministry of Health, medical examination and treatment facilities must prescribe drugs electronically according to the roadmap for each hospital group.

Electronic prescriptions are created, displayed, signed, shared and stored electronically and have the same legal value as paper prescriptions. When a doctor prescribes a medication, it will be printed out for the patient and saved on the system.

To implement, in Circular 27/2021/TT-BYT, the Ministry of Health requests provincial and municipal health departments and health management agencies of ministries and branches to direct and organize implementation for units under their management authority; issue identification codes for medical examination and treatment facilities and practitioner codes for subjects under their management authority through the national prescription system.

Medical examination and treatment facilities are responsible for ensuring the information technology infrastructure to send electronic prescriptions to the national prescription system according to the regulations of the Minister of Health immediately after the completion of the medical examination and treatment process for outpatients and before the patient is discharged from the hospital for inpatients. Summarize all the drugs the patient uses during the inpatient treatment and send them to the national prescription system before the patient is discharged from the hospital.

Together with hospitals, drug retail establishments are responsible for receiving electronic prescriptions and sending reports on the dispensing and sale of prescription drugs.

Will require mandatory filing

According to the Ministry of Health, the country has approximately 60,000 medical examination and treatment facilities (public and non-public). Of these, medical examination and treatment facilities have used prescription management software but it is not uniform and interconnected.

The deadline for connecting electronic prescription data with the national prescription system for hospitals of level 3 or higher is to be completed before December 31, 2022; for other medical examination and treatment facilities, it is to be completed before June 30.

"The above regulation has been extended by 6 months compared to the previous requirement, but so far, implementation is still inconsistent in hospitals," said a medical expert.

According to statistics on the system, by July, about 50 million prescriptions were updated, while in reality, there were an estimated 200 million prescriptions (including both public and non-public), with about 86,000 doctors updated on the identification software.

Currently, there are about 13,000 facilities that are implementing connectivity and storing prescriptions on the national prescription system among the medical examination and treatment facilities that need to do so.

At the central level, there is a leading hospital that has not yet fully implemented the prescribed prescriptions, with the reason being reflected: "The hospital has thousands of doctors so it cannot update all personal data to the system, therefore it cannot connect all electronic prescription data at the hospital with the national prescription system".

According to Associate Professor - Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, electronic prescription and saving of prescriptions on the system is an issue that the Ministry of Health is interested in and directed, and hospitals need to strengthen implementation in the coming time.

The Ministry of Health is drafting a decree to guide the implementation of the revised Law on Medical Examination and Treatment, which includes provisions on drug prescriptions. It is expected that electronic prescriptions and storing prescriptions on the national prescription data system will be mandatory.

Quick look at 12:00 on August 2: Panoramic news bulletin

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/benh-vien-cham-luu-don-thuoc-dien-tu-len-he-thong-don-thuoc-quoc-gia-185230802095642075.htm