Canada’s National e-Prescription Service Launches in New Brunswick

Dr. Heidi Milner-Gero is the first prescriber in Saint John to use PrescribeIT^®, sending electronic prescriptions to the following Sobeys Pharmacy and Lawtons Drug locations: Sobeys Pharmacy Rothesay; Sobeys Pharmacy Lansdowne; Lawtons Drugs McAllister Place; and Lawtons Drugs Catherwood.

"Patients like the convenience of having the prescription sent directly to their pharmacy, and PrescribeIT^® is a safer and more secure way to send the prescription than faxing,” Milner-Gero said. “This also eliminates the problem of misplaced or forgotten prescriptions."

“We are thrilled to be the first pharmacy to bring PrescribeIT^® to Atlantic Canada, starting in New Brunswick,” said Jedd Wood, Vice President & General Manager, Sobeys National Pharmacy. “e-Prescribing and electronic data is the future of pharmacy and is of tremendous value to patients, health care professionals and the public. The adoption of PrescribeIT^® at Lawtons Drugs and Sobeys Pharmacy locations will eliminate customer worry regarding misplaced prescriptions, and provide our pharmacy teams more time to focus on further elevating patient care and experience."

“Investing in digital health projects such as PrescribeIT^® is very important,” said the Honourable Ted Flemming, Minister of Health for New Brunswick. “This innovative approach will help improve the quality of primary health care services.”

“The PrescribeIT^® launch in Saint John is an important step in helping health care providers in Atlantic Canada deliver better care for patients,” said Michael Green, President and CEO, Canada Health Infoway. “It is part of our ACCESS Atlantic initiative which is making it quicker and easier to access health services in Atlantic Canada.”

PrescribeIT^® launched in August 2017 in Huntsville, Ontario, and is now active in multiple communities in Ontario and Alberta, in addition to Saint John, New Brunswick. PrescribeIT^® is working with nine provinces/territories (Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon), and 31 community pharmacy companies representing more than 3,400 pharmacies. As well, 1,700 prescribers, representing 1.4 million patients, have expressed an interest in the service.

Learn more about PrescribeIT^TM at www.PrescribeIT.ca. Prescribers and pharmacists interested in implementing the service are invited to submit an application of interest.

About PrescribeIT^®

Canada Health Infoway is working with Health Canada, the provinces and territories, and industry stakeholders to develop, operate and maintain the national e-prescribing service known as PrescribeIT^®. PrescribeIT^® will serve all Canadians, pharmacies and prescribers and provide safer and more effective medication management by enabling prescribers to transmit a prescription electronically between a prescriber’s electronic medical record (EMR) and the pharmacy management system (PMS) of a patient’s pharmacy of choice. PrescribeIT^® will protect Canadians’ personal health information from being sold or used for commercial activities.

About Sobeys Inc.

Proudly Canadian, with headquarters in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Sobeys has been serving the food shopping needs of Canadians since 1907. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A), Sobeys owns or franchises approximately 1,500 stores in all 10 provinces under retail banners that include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, and Lawtons Drug Stores as well as more than 350 retail fuel locations. Sobeys, its franchisees, and affiliates employ more than 120,000 people. More information on Sobeys Inc. can be found at www.sobeyscorporate.com.

About Canada Health Infoway

Infoway helps to improve the health of Canadians by working with partners to accelerate the development, adoption and effective use of digital health across Canada. Through our investments, we help deliver better quality and access to care and more efficient delivery of health services for patients and clinicians. Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government.

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