ATTN: BRITISH COLUMBIA NEWS/HEALTH EDITORS
PharmaNet Expanding to Further Improve Patient Care

British Columbia's PharmaNet Drug Information System (DIS) is a province-wide success. Last year alone PharmaNet protected patients by helping pharmacists identify potentially adverse drug events in some 30,000 prescriptions. In total, more than 55 million prescriptions were processed through the system, which links all BC community pharmacies with a central data system.

Safeguards are built into PharmaNet to protect against adverse drug events. And a spokesman for the BC Medical Association says it's certainly helping to save lives. Dr. Bill Cavers says, "a re-vamped PharmaNet system will be even safer and it’s being designed to further protect your privacy." Cavers explains that it is being designed to let patients decide which health care providers are allowed to see their personal information – but not necessarily all of it.

One of Canada's first drug information systems, PharmaNet has supported BC pharmacists in their patient-treatment decisions by providing them access to complete list of all medications dispensed in the province.

Now, looking to the future, by 2012, BC plans to upgrade the system to further improve patient safety, reduce treatment delays, and support better patient care. The federal government, through Canada Health Infoway (Infoway), has committed more than $21 million to PharmaNet enhancements.

You can learn more about the progress of electronic health record systems from Infoway's Annual Report at www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

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For more information contact:

Dan Strasbourg
Canada Health Infoway
416.595.3424
dstrasbourg@infoway-inforoute.ca