ePrescribing with Audit4
Audit4 v19.2.0 and above supports sending paperless electronic prescriptions (ePrescribing) within Australia. After prescribing a medication in Audit4, the print/send process allows clinicians to send a script token to their patient either via SMS or via email. This token includes a QR code that can be scanned at the pharmacy to retrieve the electronic script. Audit4 v22.1.0 (Q1 2024) supports the Active Script List via MySL which can even eliminate the need for a token to be sent to the patient.
Getting your Audit4 setup for ePrescribing
Register for My Health Record / Healthcare Identifiers Service
Audit4 needs to be able to communicate with the Services Australia Healthcare Identifiers Service in order to send a script electronically. ePrescription tokens include patient Individual Healthcare Identifiers (IHIs) which are also used to identify patients in My Health Record. If you do not already have My Health Record in your Audit4, follow the registration guide on the following page.
Digital Health – My Health Record: register-and-set-up-access
For assistance with the registration process, the relevant contact details are located under the For Healthcare providers section on the Digital Health contact-us page:
https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/contact-us
Once your registration is complete, contact S4S Support to help you configure your Audit4 to connect to My Health Record.
Register
with eRx
ePrescribing is facilitated through Audit4 integration with eRx Script Exchange. You will need to register with eRx via the following link:
https://register.erx.com.au/asprescriber
You will need to register each prescriber at each location separately.
Please ensure you select Audit4 as your Prescribing Software for each registration.
Once eRx provides us with your registration details, S4S Support will contact you to configure your Audit4.
Start Sending Electronically
For prescribers already using Audit4, once you have completed the registrations above and Audit4 has been configured, your practice will be able to send paperless ePrescriptions to your patients. A training video for Audit4 Clinicians is provided within 4Learning, accessible via the Help menu in your Audit4.
See Also: My Health Record in Audit4
Frequently Asked Questions
- S4S are not charging any fees to help setup ePrescribing in Audit4 for existing Audit4 users.
- There are no charges when sending an ePrescription via email.
- When sending via SMS to a patient’s mobile phone there are no fees for the SMS message. The 2023 May Federal Budget has funded a four year contract with a provider which covers the SMS costs. Thus prescribers will incur no additional costs when sending an eScript via SMS until at least 2027. For more Information:
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-05/connecting-to-the-national-prescription-delivery-service_0.pdf
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/new-contract-secures-immediate-future-of-subsidise - For patients that have MySL (My Script List), there are no fees to prescribe directly via the patient’s MySL.
An Active Script List allows patients to have their prescriptions saved into their digital script list. This can be convenient for patients taking multiple medications. Patients registered to have an Active Script List no longer need to keep track of multiple electronic prescription tokens which can be overwhelming and confusing. Audit4 (from v22) has conformance with the Australian Digital Health Agency’s (ADHA) Active Script List and integrates with My Script List.
Links for more information
- My Script List: https://mysl.com.au/
- Active Script List: https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/electronic-prescriptions#what-is-an-active-scr
No. The ePrescribing system uses its own email system to send the script token to the patient’s email address. You do not need to have any email address or email program when using the ePrescribing email option.
Once you have a Proda Account and you have an HPI-O then the request for a NASH Certificate only takes a few days after which S4S Support can setup My Health Record for you.
After you have registered with eRx, they will confirm your registration with an email, but it may take them some time before they process your registration. Please forward this email to S4S Support just so we know you have registered. Once eRx have processed your registration, they will send an email to S4S Support. Usually this doesn’t take too long, but if you haven’t heard anything from them or us after 2 weeks, please contact S4S Support.
Training videos are available in Audit4 Learning. To access Audit4 Learning, click on the question mark and you can find a video all about Patient IHI retrievals on the Admin Staff page, and the ePrescribing, Viewing and Uploading from My Health Record videos are available under the Clinician Advanced page.
Mostly, the ePrescribing and the My Health Record interfaces in Audit4 are highly intuitive, but the videos will help you get the most out of the new features and are highly recommended.
As at Aug 2021, the eRx website stated:
“More than 90% of Australian pharmacies are registered with eRx Script Exchange …” Our own checks have confirmed that all the major national pharmacy chains have statements on their websites indicating that all their stores can accept an electronic script.
Some small independent pharmacies may not be able to accept an electronic script at this stage so for patients that have limited options (e.g. patients in a small rural town/area) or patients that want to use a particular pharmacy only, you may need to check with the pharmacy or resort to a printed script.
NASH SHA1 versus NASH SHA2
- Note that all Audit4 Sites are already transitioned and using SHA2 NASH Certificates so no action is required if you are using Audit4.
- Until late 2021, NASH Certificates obtained via HPOS were all SHA1 whilst those issued after were SHA2. The main difference is the strength of the encryption – SHA2 is far stronger thus ensuring the encryption stays ahead of the capability of those that might want to try and “crack the code”.
- The Australian Digital Health Agency required that all SHA1 NASH Certificates be replaced with SHA2 NASH certificates by Dec 2022. S4S Support assisted this transition and it was completed in time.
A PKI Certificate is an electronic certificate used by computer software to secure the communications across an internet connection. In the Australian digital health context:
- A NASH PKI Certificate (more simply known as a NASH Certificate) is required for My Health Record and the HI Service which is used to identify patients for both ePrescribing and My Health Record
- A NASH Certificate can be obtained and renewed online through HPOS.
- ePrescribing with eRx is also done using a NASH PKI Certificate for secure transmission of electronic prescriptions – either script tokens via SMS/email or when adding a script to the patient’s My Script List.
- Medicare PKI Certificates were used for well over a decade,
- ePrescribing with eRx is also done using a NASH PKI Certificate for secure transmission of electronic prescriptions (ePrescription tokens).
- for Medicare Online Claiming and ECLIPSE Claiming. As of March 2022, they were no longer required for any Audit4 interoperability. Integration with Medicare Online and ECLIPSE in Audit4 is now done via a PRODA B2B Device – no PKI or NASH Certificate is involved in Medicare Claiming processes.