opinion: how technology can reduce prescription fraud
every year in canada, over 250 million new and renewed prescriptions are issued by prescribers to patients.
3 minute read
digital prescription tools give pharmacists visibility into where the script originated from and the assurance that it came from a legitimate prescriber.
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in march 2023, the ontario college of pharmacists mandated the use of time-delayed safes to store narcotics in response to an alarming rise in violent pharmacy robberies. the toronto police have since reported that pharmacy robberies are down a remarkable 82 per cent in the one year since that mandate took effect. this strategic, wide scale implementation showed how effective technologies can be in addressing some of the most pressing problems in our system. unfortunately, robberies, while the most visible, are not the only form of theft pharmacies face. what pharmacies dispense is not innocuous. to some, it’s as valuable — if not more so — than cash. and like cash, people find other ways beyond physical theft to access it. pharmacies are one of the primary gateways to ensuring that drugs are being dispensed to the right people and not being diverted elsewhere and as long as we continue to rely on outmoded, analog communication technologies, we’re leaving the door open to prescription fraud.
every year in canada, over 250 million new and renewed prescriptions are issued by prescribers to patients and at the core, the role of the pharmacy is to ensure those medications are dispensed safely and accurately to the right patient. this means ensuring that the prescription itself is valid and legitimate, written by a prescriber for that patient and for an indication that is required.
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when we’re relying on paper and faxed prescriptions, this necessary process of verifying the legitimacy of a prescription can become time consuming detective work. not unlike those engaging in financial scams, many people engaging in prescription fraud have become very sophisticated at mimicking a prescription faxed by a doctor — how the headings look, what information is required on a prescription — causing fraudulent scripts to be increasingly challenging to identify. with paper and fax providing limited traceability, we can easily spend 15-20 minutes trying to determine whether a prescription is valid, researching the clinic and trying to track down the prescriber.
but as physical theft was addressed with the implementation of time-delayed safes, technology can also help us to virtually eliminate prescription fraud. tools like prescribeit, a national e-prescribing service, connects community-based prescribers to retail pharmacies, enabling the secure, digital transmission of prescriptions. this gives pharmacists visibility into where the script originated from and the assurance that it came from a legitimate prescriber. we’re also able to communicate directly with prescribers through the integrated, secure messaging tool any time the need for clarification arises.
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we know that time is currently a big limiting factor for all those in health care, including pharmacists. many are taking on more responsibilities as provinces like ontario, b.c. and alberta expand our scope of practice. it becomes difficult to navigate your time between treating minor ailments, administering vaccines, dispensing and then doing detective work to verify the legitimacy of a prescription. tools like e-prescribing can help reduce the administrative time burden and ensure accuracy, making life immensely easier and safer for everybody.
in many states in the u.s., they are not even allowed to fill prescriptions for controlled substances without it being an e-prescription. as we continue to face a toxic drug crisis, we need to be more stringent to eliminate the risk of prescriptions getting into the hands of people where the need is not warranted. it’s time we follow the example of those states and start requiring every prescription for any controlled substance be issued through e-prescribing. we have time-delayed safes and implementing systems like prescribeit is simply the logical next step towards closing the loopholes.
rosemary rofail is a gta-based pharmacist with over 15 years of experience as both a clinical pharmacist and a pharmacy manager. she’s a passionate advocate for the implementation of digital health tools to improve patient care and safety.
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