Doctors and dentists are now able to issue prescriptions that will come into force even one month later, as part of a new upgrade to the GHS software.
The new function, as informed yesterday by the Health Insurance Organization, enables doctors to set as the validity date of the prescription any future date, up to 30 days after its issuance, facilitating the planning of medication without the need for a new visit just to issue a prescription.
The HIO clarifies that all existing control mechanisms of the system will not be abolished.
For example, the ban on issuing a second prescription for the same product will continue to apply, with the difference that the relevant check will now be based on the validity date of each registered prescription.
The validity date will be indicated, both in the printed prescription and in the electronic beneficiary file, so that citizens and health professionals know the date of entry into force of the prescription.
For the implementation of this measure, it is also necessary to differentiate in the way pharmacies/pharmacists operate.
According to the HIO, when searching for prescriptions, in addition to active (unexecuted) and repeat prescriptions that are in force, prescriptions issued with a future validity date will now also be displayed, but it will not be possible to view details, since these will be activated on the date set in advance by the doctor.
In addition to prescriptions with a future validity date, the changes also concern the management of bedridden beneficiaries, as well as better information on pre-approvals, through the addition of new information that will be available, both to health professionals and to the beneficiaries themselves.
Changes are also being implemented today with regard to requests for pre-approval of treatments or services.
Specifically, and according to the HIO, the validity date of each pre-approval is added to the software, so that health professionals have a clearer picture of the period of time during which each approval can be used.
A change is also expected in the way bedridden patients are managed by specialist doctors.
Until now, the declaration of a beneficiary as bedridden could only be done by the personal doctor. As of today, specialist doctors also acquire this possibility, which is expected to facilitate the registration of the relevant data and speed up the management of cases of patients who are unable to move.
At the same time, for personal doctors, a new search filter is added to the list of beneficiaries, through which they will be able to easily locate their bedridden patients.
The filter will only show those who have an active declaration of bedriddenness, i.e. in cases where the relevant declaration has entered into force and its expiration date has not passed.
