Acting on feedback from the Ministry of Health, the ’s Virtual Care and Sale and Dispensing of Drugs practice standards were recently revised to clarify PharmaNet requirements.
The Virtual Care practice standard was revised to clarify that, under the Information Management Regulation under the Pharmaceutical Services Act, a person who holds a grant of access may only use PharmaNet from a location within BC; that is, while the practitioner is physically located in BC. Registrants are reminded that this requirement is not met by accessing PharmaNet through a site or vendor application that is in BC, if the PharmaNet user is not in BC.
The expects registrants to act in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s PharmaNet requirements. If PharmaNet information is required to provide care while a registrant is temporarily outside BC, the registrant must make arrangements for that information to be available without accessing PharmaNet (e.g. documented in the patient’s chart by another authorized PharmaNet user). Physicians or surgeons located outside BC are not eligible to access PharmaNet, even if the patient is in BC.
The Sale and Dispensing of Drugs practice standard was revised to clarify the distinction between expectations of registrants who are using PharmaNet with a practice ID number and those who are using community access to PharmaNet. In circumstances where the registrant has been granted a practice ID number and is selling and dispensing a drug to a patient who is eligible for PharmaCare reimbursement, the registrant is required to submit a claim to PharmaCare in PharmaNet. However, if the patient is not eligible for reimbursement, and the registrant is using community access to PharmaNet, updating the patient’s medication profile in PharmaNet is sufficient.
The Executive Committee approved the revised practice standards for publication on June 22, 2023.
Questions regarding these revisions can be directed to communications@cpsbc.ca.
Registrants who are seeking support in applying practice standards may be interested in speaking with a registrant support coach. The coaches serve as “thinking partners” to guide decision-making.