Canada Health Infoway is working with Health Canada, the provinces and territories, and industry stakeholders to operate and maintain PrescribeIT®, a national e-prescribing service. PrescribeIT® enables prescribers to electronically transmit a prescription directly from an electronic medical record to the pharmacy management system of a patient’s pharmacy of choice.

PrescribeIT® serves patients, pharmacies and prescribers, and:

  • Ensures patient choice of pharmacy
  • Safeguards patient health data from commercial use
  • Maintains an influence-free prescribing and dispensing environment
  • Continues to be accountable to Canadians through their federal, provincial and territorial governments

Physician and Pharmacist Benefits

PrescribeIT® is integrated into the EMR and the PMS systems, which means there is little change to existing workflows. It is as easy to use as printing or auto-faxing prescriptions from an EMR. PrescribeIT® also enhances communication between physicians and pharmacists by replacing fax or phone calls with secure clinical communications.

The benefits of e-Prescribing with PrescribeIT®:

  • Requires minimal changes to your clinical prescribing workflow
  • Improves patient safety and continuity of care
  • Supports improved first-fill medication adherence, promoting safer drug use and stronger medication compliance for better health outcomes
  • Reduces the risk of prescription fraud and abuse of prescription medications especially for narcotics and other controlled substances, through more secure prescribing and improved data for narcotics monitoring programs
  • Reduces the risk of transcription errors associated with auto-fax and handwritten prescriptions
  • Contributes to a patient’s lifetime medication history in the drug information system of each province/territory, optimizing federal and provincial/territorial investments in existing jurisdictional drug information systems

Current Status in Alberta

  • Following a successful initial rollout in the Lethbridge area, PrescribeIT® is now live in over 80 communities and is rapidly expanding to interested prescribers and pharmacies across the province.
  • If you are a prescriber or pharmacist and would like to get started with PrescribeIT®please fill out an application here.
  • To find PrescribeIT® enabled clinics and pharmacies near you, visit the PrescribeIT® locator map here.

To learn more about PrescribeIT® watch this video and visit PrescribeIT.ca

Useful links:


Hear from a PrescribeIT® user: Dr. Jeffrey Steed, Coaldale

Dr. Jeffrey Steed wanted a more efficient way of getting prescriptions to pharmacies — both for himself and his patients. Learn more about his experience with PrescribeIT® by watching the video below: