Community pharmacies are required to upload complete and accurate patient prescription information to the Netcare pharmaceutical information network (PIN). The information found in PIN is used by
- pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to make clinical decisions about patient care, and
- the Tracked Prescription Program (TPP) Alberta to track the use of TPP-targeted medications including drugs that are prone to misuse.
For these and other reasons, it is critical that information submitted from pharmacies to PIN is complete and accurate.
Real-time integration
Pharmacies that submit PIN data using real-time integration are immediately made aware when data is rejected by Netcare and are required to act upon it before the dispensing can be completed.
Batch uploading
Pharmacies not using real-time integration submit their data in batches, usually at the end of the day. Netcare provides your pharmacy with a response file that details rejections due to data issues. Errors or omissions are not immediately evident.
Every licensee that batch uploads data to PIN must ensure the Netcare response file is regularly reviewed and corrections are made as part of their pharmacy’s policy and procedures. If the Netcare response file is not regularly reviewed, the delay potentially puts patients at risk as their information in PIN will be incomplete or inaccurate. Additionally, errors can accumulate and this can create a great deal of work for the pharmacy team when corrections are ultimately made.
If your pharmacy batch uploads data, the licensee should look at implementing real-time integration to avoid these issues. For pharmacies that continue to batch upload, licensees must develop procedures addressing
- how to view the response files,
- the ongoing review process, and
- actions to be taken to correct any rejections.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians play an important role in maintaining accurate and complete patient data by ensuring data is entered correctly and identifying and correcting any errors.
If the licensee is not familiar with how to access the Netcare response file, please contact the pharmacy’s software vendor and/or Netcare to develop a process.
