As required by the Standards for the Operation of Licensed Pharmacies, community pharmacies must have real-time integration (RTI) with the Alberta Electronic Health Record system (Netcare) in place by July 1, 2026. RTI provides continuous real-time access to the Pharmaceutical Information Network (PIN) and the Provincial Client Registry (PCR) and enables submissions to the provincial immunization repository (Immunization/Adverse Reaction to Immunization or Imm/ARI). As additional new data is recorded in the local system by the pharmacy team or other healthcare provider, it is automatically sent to Netcare, and becomes immediately available for other healthcare providers.
It’s important to remember that as of July 1, 2026, Alberta Blue Cross will no longer upload immunization claims to Imm/ARI on behalf of pharmacies. This means that pharmacies that already have RTI integrated into Netcare must ensure that they are enabled for PIN and Imm/ARI submissions prior to that date.
With the deadline now less than six months away, pharmacy teams are encouraged to begin the process to have RTI (including Imm/ARI access) in place now, if it’s not already. Licensees are reminded to not leave this until the last minute, as getting RTI up and running with your system will take at least six weeks—potentially longer.
“Once a pharmacy contacts eHealth Services to start the process, we will email the list of questions to the licensee,” said eHealth consultant Joanne Bain. “We then provide the documentation they need to submit to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) for a privacy impact assessment (PIA). We ask them to copy us on their submission of the PIA. Once we have received proof of submission, we can then start on the updates of the provincial organizational readiness assessment (pORA) to include RTI. Once Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS, formerly Alberta Health) has reviewed everything, we get a signature from the licensee. Once we have the digital copy of the pORA cover page, we can let the vendor know that the site is ready for activation.”
Sound like a complicated process? Perhaps, but there’s good news. PPHS’ eHealth Services’ team of coordinating agents, who already help licensees with onboarding to Netcare for new pharmacies, can also support licensees making the transition to RTI.
“The idea of the eHealth Services is for the licensees to have a single place they can call to ask questions,” said Joanne. “The eHealth Services team will assign a dedicated agent to a pharmacy to support a new pharmacy opening, or a licensee or ownership change. The agent collects all of the information that’s required from the licensee and guides them through the process. The licensee can ask the coordinating agent any questions they need to. If licensees don’t know what stage their PIA is in or if they don’t know what stage the pORA is in, or if they need to contact their pharmacy software provider, it can go through the coordinating agent. In the meantime, I’m available to answer questions from licensees.”
Joanne has supported many pharmacies with their transition to RTI and will help make it as seamless as possible. She says licensees have been appreciative of the help they’ve received.
“Some have said they would have been lost in the process without us, so they’re very grateful for the help,” said Joanne. “I want pharmacies to be successful. I truly believe in this. It might seem silly to some people, but I have family members who have experienced adverse reactions to medications because other facilities didn’t have access to important information in real time when a medication was just prescribed that morning. I believe it’s important for everybody’s safety.”
More information
Licensees received an email on January 12, 2026, from eHealth Services to clear up any confusion about the transition to RTI or what happens after RTI is in place.
Essential information that pharmacies must review to understand the upcoming RTI requirements and how they may affect your site can be found in this FAQ document from Alberta Netcare. Please prioritize reviewing the FAQ as it will be the primary resource to support your transition and planning.
Pharmacy teams can also visit the Alberta Netcare Learning Centre for more information.
