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Titan PMR has been accredited by the NHS to provide electronic prescription services (EPS) to dispensing doctors. Over 1,000 of these doctors, who provide a vital service to almost 10 million people in rural communities, can now offer their patients the same level of benefits and efficiencies that electronic prescriptions and Titan PMR have brought to pharmacies around the UK. These features will also increase efficiency for dispensing doctors, who will reduce dispensing errors and improve organisation, increasing their capacity while enjoying the ability to integrate with other technologies. After a full year of testing, including six months of compliance testing at a practice in Cumbria, the new accreditation for Titan also has potential to help the NHS fulfil its target of all prescriptions being issued electronically. Currently written paper prescriptions from dispensing doctors account for around seven per cent of the total prescriptions in England - around 6.5 million each month. "Until now dispensing doctor surgeries have basically been in the digital dark ages when it comes to dispensing medicines," said Tariq Muhammad, a tech entrepreneur and CEO of Bristol-based Invatech Health, which developed Titan PMR.

It's time for pharmacists to get their technology forecasting hats on and be selective in choosing digital technologies, commented Prof James Woudhuysen, of London South Bank University, at the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) Conference, Pharmacy Odyssey, held on Thursday (13 October). In a session on 'Healthcare in tomorrow's digital environment', hosted by Fergus Walsh, Prof Woudhuysen opined that digitisation has its merit, but it's quite tricky, and slower than we imagine. "Mechanisation has a digital component that we can look to as a way out of the gloom of the moment. And in dispensing, labelling, prescribing, and many other features of the conventional retail pharmacist, there's a lot that could be done for productivity and automation," he said. Replying to a question on 'where are we at the digital front now and where can it go', Woudhuysen replied: "It's taken 20 years for the electronic prescription. It was Tony Blair, who wanted every prescription electronic. The mishaps on repeat prescriptions and all the rest of it are still quite intense. So, we need to remember that electronics is only as clever as software and then human input into it. There're still many mistakes.

Wales launched the new electronic prescribing service (EPS) last week, with the country's first electronic prescription sent and dispensed on 17 November. The new service allows prescriptions to be sent digitally to a patient's nominated pharmacy, thus eliminating the need for paper forms. It is part of a wider plan to introduce digital medicines and e-prescribing in all hospitals and primary care in the country. Wellington Road Pharmacy and Lakeside Medical Centre in Rhyl became the first community pharmacy and GP practice to use the EPS, which is expected to be rolled out across Wales in January 2024.

Health technology pioneer Invatech Health has sold its care homes electronic medication administration record (eMAR) system Atlas to care home management specialists Person Centred Software (PCS). Following the transition of Atlas to new ownership, Bristol-based Invatech Health will concentrate solely on further growth of Titan, its cutting-edge software for pharmacy management. Invatech Health CEO Tariq Muhammad, a pharmacist who started working on care homes back in 2002, first conceived the concept of electronic medicines system for care homes in 2006. Muhammad said he was proud to see his purpose-driven business given an opportunity for further progress. "It's a bit like being at a child's graduation," he said, after the completion of the acquisition which marked the end of a 20 year journey for him with Atlas. "I set up Atlas to tackle a dire need in the care homes sector for a system which could prevent incorrect dosing, mismanagement of prescriptions and administration errors of important medication.

The Digital Medicines Transformation Portfolio (DMTP) was able to deliver the electronic prescription service (EPS) in Wales - just 20 months after starting the project - with support from key partners in the NHS and industry. Patients in Rhyl were the first to benefit from the new service, which allows GPs to send prescriptions electronically to the patient's choice of community pharmacy, without the need for a paper form. The new EPS service is currently in a live testing phase, with a phased roll out across Wales expected from January 2024. DMTP, which is hosted by Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) has worked closely with NHS England, who provided the core EPS platform that has been developed for use in Wales. NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership has also made a major contribution in the project, incorporating digital reimbursement to pharmacies and putting security measures in place.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are the modern face of engagement between the patients and providers. They represent information regarding patients and their providers in an organized digital format. Both the concerned parties can interact through this structured medical tool to book appointments, update e-prescriptions and keep every clinical staff member informed about the patients' present, past, and future treatments.

EHR - Electronic Healthcare Records are there to assist physicians and medical billing services while compiling claims. The purpose is to increase accuracy and maintain transparency. Learn about five prominent features that professional EHR systems have to make the billing process easy.

Electronic health records are intended to enhance medical billing services and practices' operating efficiency and revenue cycle. However, some people might contemplate them to be intricate systems, with tools and devices that are once in a while disregarded-like a portion of applications on your mobile phones.

Community pharmacy teams have administered almost 4.8 million flu vaccinations under the NHS Flu Vaccination Service in 2021-22, which is 73 per cent more more than the 2.8 million vaccines administered last season. Data received so far from PharmOutcomes and Sonar Informatics has confirmed that pharmacy teams have administered 4,793,124 vaccinations, although the total number will be even higher as some data are still awaited and some pharmacy teams have not used the electronic systems to record administration of vaccines. The Flu Vaccination Service 2021-22 ended on March 31, 2022 and the total number of vaccinations administered (which will include the figures from pharmacy teams who did not use electronic systems to record administration of vaccines) is expected to be published later in the year by the NHS Business Services Authority.

Pharmaceutical Press, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society publishing arm, has announced its partnership with Datapharm Ltd. Under the new partnership, Electronic Medicines Compendium (emc) the latest product to be added to MedicinesComplete, the online medicines information platform from Pharmaceutical Press. MedicinesComplete users can easily search emc information, with direct links to the trusted, clinical guidance from the British National Formulary (BNF). "emc through MedicinesComplete will include printable, ready-to-use patient information leaflets written by manufacturers to use at the point of care, and users will have access to an unlimited number of searches. In addition, emc will also include the full Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) document, which accompanies all regulator approved medicines in the UK," said the RPS. Available to all countries outside the UK, emc will be launched early next year on subscription through MedicinesComplete. UK access is available on request.

Ear wax removal by irrigation replaces the old fashioned technique of ear syringing. Now Ear irrigation is performed by using an electronic ear irrigation machine to remove ear wax. It is an exceptionally safe, effective and comfortable method of ear cleaning.

This program has combined previous quality reporting programs such as Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Value-based Payment Modifier (VM), and the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive program (Meaningful Use) under one platform.

A seamless flow of money is crucial to a medical practice, and it all starts with these two health IT personnel: medical billers and coders. Let's read a bit about them.

Medical billing services hire both professionals to carry out an effective revenue cycle management process on behalf of healthcare providers. Theoretically speaking, both professions require the professionals to read, interpret, and comprehend Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and doctors' notes. Hence, their education in science is a must.

EHRs (Electronic Healthcare Records), EMRs (Electronic Medical Records), and Patient Portal, all are the names of the relatively same system that allow medical billing services to manage patient records. All thanks to these systems, patients can get a sense of empowerment by accessing their records one way or another.

Considering the shortage of Fluoxetine 10mg tablets, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has extended the serious shortage protocol (SSP) for the medicine to February 11, 2022. Earlier the SSP for Fluoxetine 10mg tablets was set to expire on November 12. Extension of the transition period will enable use of No Cheaper Stock Obtainable (NCSO) endorsement and use of EPS tokens to claim for supplies made in accordance with SSPs. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has accepted that either the new 'SSP' or existing 'NCSO' endorsement for any SSP claims can be submitted using electronic prescriptions (EPS) tokens of FP10 paper prescriptions, during the period.

Three leading healthcare bodies in Scotland have called for action to reduce the environmental impact caused by medicine prescribing. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland, Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland have all urged policymakers to enable a more sustainable approach to prescribing. This includes prioritising the introduction of electronic prescribing across the NHS, introducing the requirement for an environmental impact in NHS medicines procurement and improving the availability of data about the environmental impact of medicines. "We call on Scottish government, including the chief medical officer, to enable the delivery of a realistic medicine approach to prescribing by developing a supportive infrastructure for green social prescribing across Scotland," said the healthcare professionals in a joint statement. They have called on the pharmaceutical industry to make information about the environmental impact of medicines readily available in a standardised data format.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has advised the pharmacy contractors to check that their PMR systems supports correct and complete SSP endorsements. Several tips has been shared by the PSNC with pharmacy contractors after NHSBSA received several electronic EPS SSP claims which did not meet the requirements for a valid SSP between 1 April 2022 and 31 May 2022. PSNC has been working with NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to understand whether claims for HRT SSPs are being submitted correctly and in accordance with the specific supporting guidance for each SSP. "For any invalid SSP claims, contractors will continue to receive the usual dispensing fee but will not receive any SSP fee (£5.35). Reimbursement for invalid SSP claims will also be in accordance with the prescribed product rather than the alternative product or quantity supplied in accordance with an SSP," said PSNC.

More than 7,000 hospitalisations and deaths in the UK could have been averted in summer 2022 if people had received their recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, a new study published in The Lancet has revealed. The largest ever study carried out in the UK found that between a third and a half of the UK population had not had the recommended number of COVID vaccinations and boosters by summer 2022. In Northern Ireland, nearly 50 per cent of the population were under-vaccinated, while the proportion of under-vaccinated people in England was 45.7 per cent, 34.2 per cent for Scotland and 32.8 per cent Wales. Researchers from the Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the University of Edinburgh analysed the electronic health records of 67 million residents aged 5 and older from across the four countries during June 1 to September 30 2022.

Thanks to a new service added to the NHS App, patients in England can now see their prescriptions online and collect their prescribed medication from the nominated pharmacy or a pharmacy of their choice without a paper prescription. NHS England has introduced digital prescriptions in the app following a successful trial last year involving over a million users. Users without a nominated pharmacy can collect their prescriptions from any pharmacy using the barcode in the app, but this is not required for patients with a nominated pharmacy as details would be sent to their pharmacy electronically. From now on, patients waiting for elective hospital treatment can also check the average waiting time for their procedure at their local trust using the NHS App.

Medical billing companies are seeing a massive growth up all over the US to maximize reimbursements. Though, that is not the only reason for their unprecedented growth. One of the reasons behind their uprising is excellent financial returns.