Beginning July 25, 2023, AHS and AHS partner facilities using the Connect Care clinical information system will be able to send prescriptions directly to community pharmacies via an electronic fax process, without the need for a printed prescription or handwritten signature. Pharmacists will receive these prescriptions according to the existing mechanism for receiving faxes at their pharmacy, such as a traditional fax machine or electronic fax system.

Note: This new feature is not applicable to Tracked Prescription Program (TPP) prescriptions.

This new service has many advantages:

• Safety - reduced transcription and interpretation errors associated with traditional handwritten paper prescriptions
• Convenience - prescribers, pharmacies and patients will no longer require manual paper processes, saving time and reducing the chance of lost prescriptions
• Choice - each patient can choose the pharmacy to which their prescription(s) will be transmitted
• Security - the prescriptions transmitted from Connect Care include new verification features to ensure prescription authenticity

For security and safety, each prescription requires an electronic signature linked to the unique username, password and professional registration number of each prescriber (such as a physician’s College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta registration number).

Additionally, each prescription has a unique order number that is specific only to that prescription. Community pharmacists will have access to a new real-time electronic validation tool that can verify that each electronic prescription is authentic.