The time is right for Australia to move from the current paper-based system to electronic prescriptions, and the government should take the first step and legislate that electronic scripts are a legal record, a review of the pharmacy sector has found.

Led by Monash University professor of economics Stephen King, the independent Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation has raised a series of options rather than made recommendations in its interim report, released today, but the panel members say the government should set up a system of integrated electronic prescriptions and medicine records as a matter of urgency.

They say the current paper-based system is outdated and inhibits the creation of a universal medication record, and they put forward the option that participation in an integrated electronic system should be required for anyone prescribing or dispensing a PBS-listed medicine and for any patient wanting to fill a PBS script.