ePrescribing Fields

When writing an electronic prescription there are additional fields where you can include information that you may have previously noted on a paper prescription.

Table 1. ePrescribing fields
ePrescribing field Description
Regulation 49 For medical practitioners, midwives and nurse practitioners, if hardship conditions apply, set Regulation 49 to authorise the original and repeat supplies of PBS medications to be supplied to the patient at one time.
If set:
  • For paper scripts, the following words are printed:
    • For non-RPBS patients, one supply
    • For RPBS patients, hardship conditions apply
Provide direct to pharmacy For S8 drugs in Tasmania, set if the electronic prescription is sent directly to the pharmacist who should retain the script instead of returning it to the patient. Select from the following reasons for why you may want to have the prescription sent to the dispenser directly as a prescriber:
  • Dosing Point - script is given directly to pharmacy for a controlled medication, such as methodone clinic.
  • Repeat on File - the repeats of the script are kept by the pharmacy.
  • Staged Supply - prescriber has asked pharmacy to supply to patient in stages instead of the whole quantity or pack at once.
Note: The patient is not sent an ePrescription token or any repeat tokens. Options to send or resend an ePrescription token by SMS or email are disabled. This medication is excluded from the ASL.

This field cannot be used together with Script Owing.
Unusual Dosage Set if the dosage prescribed is outside the recommended therapeutic levels.
Note to Pharmacist (Electronic prescribing only) Use to include prescription notes for the pharmacist, such as details of unusual dosages, staged supply and so on.

Additional text for Schedule 8 drugs and restricted prescribers may be included to meet ADHA guidelines, depending on the current logged-in centre’s state.

Any notes you add are included only with electronic prescriptions.
Authorisation Number For controlled substances, enter the number provided by your state or territory that gives you authority to prescribe controlled substances. The name of this field depends on which state or territory the encounter place from which the prescriber is prescribing is based:
  • NSW and NT - Authorisation Number
  • QLD and ACT - Approval Number
  • SA - Permit Number
  • TAS - Authority Number
  • VIC - Warrant Number
  • WA - Community Program for Opioid Pharmacotherapy, CPOP Authority Number
Dispensing pharmacy In NSW only, enter the name of the pharmacy from which a prescription is to be dispensed. For example, for opioid treatment programs, such as methadone or buprenorphine, doctors would prescribe these drugs to be dispensed at a particular registered pharmacy.
Script Owing For urgent cases where you have telephoned a pharmacist and asked them to supply a medication without a prescription, set Script Owing for the subsequent prescription. The prescriber should also relay paper evidence of the prescription to the necessary pharmacy. The prescriber must then forward the written prescription and duplicate to the pharmacist within seven days of the date of supply.
Note: The patient is not sent an ePrescription token or any repeat tokens. Options to send or resend an ePrescription token by SMS or email are disabled. This medication is excluded from the ASL.

This field is not available when the Provide direct to pharmacy field is active.
Exclude from Active Script List Set if a patient wants you to exclude this prescription from their Active Script List.