Pharmacy Fees for PrescribeIT to Begin January 1, 2025

Infoway works with governments, health care organizations, clinicians and patients to make health care more digital in order to facilitate faster, more seamless and secure information sharing.

As a federally funded not-for-profit organization, Infoway is accountable to its Board of Directors and the Members of the Corporation which is made of Canada’s 14 federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health ensuring its work aligns with the needs and priorities of Canada's health care system.

As part of its commitment to enhancing digital health, Infoway lead the implementation of PrescribeIT^®, a national e-prescribing service. For the past seven years, PrescribeIT^® has been sustained by start-up funding from Health Canada. Beginning January 2025, Infoway will introduce a fee to support the continued operations of PrescribeIT^®. Infoway is not funded through transaction fees associated with PrescribeIT^®.

PrescribeIT's self-sustainability model has always been based on transaction fees paid by pharmacies. Health Canada provided funding for the development of the technology and startup operations. This non-repayable seed capital also helped offset the costs of the service over time.

After providing a seven-year fee holiday, a $0.20 pharmacy transaction fee will be introduced for new and renewed prescriptions beginning January 1, 2025.

Infoway continues to be in conversation with government stakeholders, pharmacies, pharmacy associations, and other health care stakeholders to ensure all stakeholders understand the path forward and experience minimal disruption to their use of PrescribeIT^®.

A "Billable Transaction” refers to a prescription (molecule, OTC or device) that was delivered through PrescribeIT^® to the pharmacy through one of the following methods:

1. The pharmacy receives a prescription from a prescriber into the pharmacy management system.
2. The pharmacy receives a prescription printout or fax and retrieves a deferred prescription from PrescribeIT^®.
3. PrescribeIT^® delivers a prescription by fax to the pharmacy (for example, where an error that necessitates a fail-over to fax).

Other functionalities, such as clinical communications, will continue to be provided free of charge.

Pharmacies will receive an electronic invoice each month covering all Billable Transactions for that billing period. All account, billing, and payment information will be available in a secure client portal for convenience and security.

Over the past seven years, PrescribeIT^® has become the most advanced example of pan-Canadian interoperable digital health care.

PrescribeIT^® improves patient safety by enhancing the effectiveness of virtual care and enabling the secure sharing of patient information among clinicians. PrescribeIT^® also simplifies the authentication of opioids and controlled substances, reducing the risk of errors and misuse. These features help streamline clinical workflows, making healthcare delivery safer and more efficient.

Also, as a critical partner to governments across Canada, PrescribeIT^® supports provinces and territories achieve critical health priorities by reducing costs, improving patient privacy and building equitable access to health care in rural and Indigenous communities.