Paper-optional prescriptions are the obvious next electronic step for the community pharmacy sector with 62 per cent of pharmacists believing they could help prevent fraud and misadventure, a national survey by electronic prescription exchange vendor eRx Script Exchange has found.

eRx, part of the Fred IT Group that is half owned by the Pharmacy Guild and half by Telstra Health, undertook a survey of 740 pharmacists in February and March this year to gauge pharmacy use of electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP), what pharmacists valued the most about using the technology and what they expected to see in the future.