Melbourne-based Fred IT has won the bid to build Victoria's $29.5 million SafeScript real time prescription monitoring system and will use its existing eRx prescription exchange technology and work with rival MediSecure to obtain prescription data.
Fred, which is half-owned by the Pharmacy Guild and half by Telstra Health, will roll out the system next year. It will be mandatory for doctors, pharmacists and nurse practitioners to use under legislation passed earlier this year.
Victoria has decided to build its own system following the stalled roll-out of the national Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) system, and has also chosen to monitor Schedule 4 drugs of addiction such as benzodiazepines, Z class sleeping pills and codeine, which is being upscheduled in February, as well as S8 opioids.
