ACCC grants interim authorisation to eRx Script

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has granted interim authorisation to eRx Script Exchange to allow it to enter into a contract with MediSecure to facilitate interoperability between the parties’ electronic pharmaceutical prescription exchange systems.

Prescription exchange services enable doctors to lodge an electronic prescription for a patient, which the patient can then have downloaded directly by any participating pharmacy.

eRx and MediSecure are currently the only two parties operating prescription exchange services in Australia, but their two systems do not currently ‘talk’ to each other. This is preventing greater use of electronic prescription services.

“Allowing the parties to implement the agreement under an interim authorisation is likely to increase the use of electronic prescriptions. This will result in cost savings and a reduction in prescription transcription errors,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

The Commonwealth Department of Health and Aging has provided some funding to ensure that electronic prescriptions can be accessed by all pharmacies, irrespective of the prescription exchange service with which it was originally lodged.

Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.  Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment. Interim authorisation allows the parties to engage in the conduct prior to the ACCC considering the substantive merits of the application.

More information about the application for authorisation and the ACCC’s granting of interim authorisation is available at www.accc.gov/AuthorisationsRegister