Some facts about B.C.’s PharmaNet as a mother calls for better use of system

By The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – Some facts about PharmaNet, British Columbia’s unique network that records information about prescription medications:

— PharmaNet was launched by the Health Ministry in 1995 mostly as a billing system, but it became recognized as a valuable tool to access prescription records.

— PharmaNet has been available in emergency departments since the 1990s.

— The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia made its use compulsory in walk-in clinics and methadone clinics in 2016 after the province declared a public health emergency in response to increasing overdose deaths.

— Doctors say PharmaNet has great potential but an installation fee, monthly charges of about $10, and its time-consuming process are disincentives.

— The college says it is committed to making PharmaNet use mandatory for all doctors but the government must first enhance the system to allow for quick access.

— The Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction says as of December 2017, about 6,500 physicians working in private community practice were eligible for PharmaNet, but only 3,918 have access to the system. It says work is underway to develop an improved prescription monitoring program.

— Beth Sproule, a pharmacist and clinician scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says many provinces now have drug information systems but unlike PharmaNet, they do not provide real-time data to doctors: “The provinces are talking to each other, looking at best practices. There’s a lot of work going on, looking at the prescription monitoring side of things.”

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