GHS prescriptions can now be issued with a future start date of up to one month later, following a new upgrade to the General Healthcare System (GHS) software.
The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) announced that doctors and dentists will be able to set the effective date of a prescription for any future date up to 30 days after it is issued.
The change aims to make medication planning easier by reducing the need for patients to visit healthcare providers again solely to obtain a new prescription.
Existing system controls remain
The HIO clarified that existing safety and control mechanisms within the system will continue to apply.
For example, restrictions preventing the issuing of a second prescription for the same product will remain in place. However, checks will now be carried out based on the effective date of each registered prescription.
The effective date will appear both on printed prescriptions and in the beneficiary’s electronic health record, allowing patients and healthcare professionals to clearly identify when a prescription becomes active.
Changes for pharmacies and approvals
The upgrade also requires adjustments to the way pharmacies and pharmacists manage prescriptions.
When searching for prescriptions, pharmacists will now see active, unfulfilled prescriptions, repeat prescriptions currently in effect, and prescriptions issued with a future effective date. However, details of future prescriptions will not be available until the date set by the doctor.
The software changes also include improvements to the management of bedridden beneficiaries and provide additional information regarding treatment and service pre-approvals.
Specialists can now declare bedridden patients
Changes introduced today also affect treatment and service pre-approval requests.
The software will now include the effective date of each approval, giving healthcare professionals clearer information on the period during which an approval can be used.
At the same time, specialist doctors will now be able to declare beneficiaries as bedridden.
Until now, only personal doctors could submit such declarations. The change is expected to simplify the process and speed up the management of cases involving patients who cannot travel.
Personal doctors will also have access to a new search filter that allows them to quickly identify their bedridden patients.
The filter will display only beneficiaries with an active bedridden status declaration, meaning the declaration has started and has not yet expired.
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