From this month, the operation of an "electronic prescription" system, which digitizes drug prescriptions and exchanges them online between medical institutions and pharmacies, will begin nationwide.
The aim is to avoid duplication of the same medicine and prescription of medicines that do not mix well, and is expected to lead to appropriate medication.
To get a prescription for medicine, you usually need to have a medical institution issue a paper prescription and bring it to the pharmacy.
However, since prescriptions are issued by each medical institution, the same drug is prescribed by different hospitals, and there have been cases of duplicate drug use, especially among the elderly.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to digitize prescriptions and start operating a nationwide system that exchanges information such as medicines that patients are taking between medical institutions and pharmacies online.
This will centralize patient data and allow medical institutions to accurately grasp prescription histories, etc., so it will be possible to avoid duplicate prescriptions and the combination of drugs that do not mix well, thereby improving safety and ensuring appropriate medication. It is expected to connect.
"Electronic prescription" has already been implemented as a model business in four regions such as Yamagata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture, and from the 26th of this month, operation will begin sequentially at medical institutions and pharmacies nationwide that have introduced the system.