When Licensed Producers under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) think of the long process of obtaining a medical document from a patient or physician, they often imagine it as a huge hurtle to overcome - a pain in the neck. Health Canada allows for e-prescribing or secure fax for obtaining the original medical document - a method not many MMPR applicants know of.
The traditional method for obtaining the medical document is receiving the prescription via snail mail, and phoning the physician endlessly until you are able to reach them, only to find out a patient attempted to add another “0″ to the end of the prescription making it “300″ grams rather than “30″ grams.
Thankfully, technology has brought us into a new age of automation, allowing us to transfer data quickly. Specific provinces allow for physicians to submit the original medical document electronically (which makes our lives A LOT easier)
To do this, the LP first needs to co-ordinate with the physician and verify that the province where the physician resides allows for electronic medical documents (refer to the provincial professional licensing authority). Without this, the physician is not allowed to submit an electronic version of the prescription.
It is indeed the responsibility of the LP to ensure that the electronic system used follows these guidelines:
All transactions are secure and protected
All data go through security checks before being processed
Persons submitting information are authenticated
Persons accessing information are authenticated and recorded
Full traceability
Retention of data, and ability to generate reports on demand
Follows PIPEDA guidelines and rules for how public sector organizations collect personal information
Of course, a verification is still required for each medical document. The ability to use e-prescribing speeds up the process significantly, making obtaining the medical document a smoother and more efficient process.
We recommend developing an SOP around obtaining medical documents and verifying them. Traceability and CRM software such as Grow One help record and document every aspect of your procedures.
