Government drops proposed ePrescribing mandate trial
01 Oct 2026
Instead, the department will spend the next 12 months working on issues that have made electronic prescribing difficult to use across the health system.
The planned work will focus on increasing use of the Active Script List, improving prescription token management, addressing prescribing and dispensing workflow problems, and resolving usability issues reported by clinicians and patients.
The decision follows feedback from doctors about ongoing problems with electronic prescribing.
An Australian Medical Association (AMA) member survey found that doctors generally support electronic prescribing and want reliable medicines information. However, members reported concerns about software integration, unreliable information technology, patients having difficulty finding repeat prescriptions and limited electronic prescribing coverage in hospitals.
The AMA said most members using electronic prescribing did not support making it mandatory for high-risk medicines while these problems remained.
The organisation had previously told the department that any electronic prescribing system should not increase costs for practitioners, work with clinical software and support prescribing across different healthcare settings.
The AMA also said paper prescriptions should remain available when clinically appropriate or when required by the patient or circumstances.
The proposed requirement for electronic prescribing of high-cost and high-risk medicines was announced in the 2023–24 Budget but has now been abandoned.
The department has confirmed that prescribers will continue to have the option of issuing paper prescriptions when clinically necessary. It will also work with healthcare stakeholders through existing medicines and digital health forums during the next year.
The AMA said it will continue to advocate for patient choice, cost-neutral electronic prescribing, better integration with real-time prescription monitoring and medicines information that is available directly through clinical software.
Government drops proposed ePrescribing mandate trial
Source: Australian Medical Association (AMA)