It came with the pandemic and for many it was a solution that advanced years in the doctor-patient relationship: the digital recipe that allowed from March 2020 until today for a doctor to make a prescription, either for a drug or for a study, I will take a photo and send it by WhatsApp or email. It was enough to show the cell phone screen or forward the image and it might be used as if it were the paper recipe. However, as of today this mechanism will cease to serve throughout the national territory.
This occurs from the publication in the Official Gazette of resolution 3622/2022 of the Ministry of Health, which annuls the decrees and laws that dictated the health emergency and its successive extensions, which allowed this mechanism as a way to avoid the transfer of people, interpersonal contacts and the transmission of infections by contact. As of today, the photo of the recipe, considered a pseudo digital recipe, will no longer serve.
However, it does not mean that from now on, you have to physically go to the doctor’s office and receive the indication on paper, in handwriting: a national law is in force that enables the digital prescription as a valid mechanism of the health system, without However, it can no longer be a photo of the original recipe, but rather It must be issued by an official softwareregistered with the health authorities, that has a digital security and traceability mechanism, that is, it can be known where it came from, where it was used, and it cannot be used once more following it is presented at a pharmacy or health center.
The digital prescription law, sanctioned in August 2020, establishes that “the prescription and dispensing of medicines, and any other prescription, can be written and signed through handwritten, electronic or digital signatures, in electronic or digital prescriptions, throughout the National territory; Telehealth platforms that meet the technical and legal requirements can be used.
It will be one more step, and many will find out when they arrive at the pharmacy or medical study center and cannot use it. But, in practice, the last extension of the emergency by Covid-19 It expired next Sunday.
“It will be one more step, but most prepaid and private medicine companies already have these software, the same as most of the social works and public effectors. It will be a minor change in the doctor-patient relationship; It may be necessary to request the indication earlier, but it was necessary to provide the entire system with greater security, effectiveness and traceability”, says Ricardo Lilloy, director of the Chamber of Private Medicine, which brings together the main companies in the sector.
The resolution published today details: “During the public emergency in health matters established by Law No. 27,541, for a period of ONE (1) year from the entry into force of said regulation, said decree having been extended until on December 31, 2022, (…) the national health authority, as the enforcement authority, was empowered to provide the recommendations and measures to be adopted in order to mitigate the health impact of the pandemic”, and speaks of measures of “exceptions and the health recommendations for each case”.
“By resolution No. 696/20, modifications were authorized in the prescription and dispensing of psychotropic or other medications for the care of chronic and possibly acute pathologies while the health emergency lasts, introducing modifications to the procedures provided for in Laws No. 17,132, No. 17,565, No. 19,303 and in ANMAT Provision No. 13,831/16, regarding patients with chronic or acute treatments, enabling the presentation of prescriptions in text message format or messages through messaging applications via web, mail or fax and In turn, you can present it at the pharmacy, so that the patient does not have to go to the health center or hospital to have the prescription for chronic medications and/or any other medication that they regularly use be renewed,” he explains. And he adds: “Considering the epidemiological and health situation and the progress of the vaccination campaign, it is necessary to update the general measures to prevent both COVID-19 and other seasonal respiratory infections in order to protect public health. And it adds: “Consequently, by virtue of the reasons indicated, it is appropriate to annul Resolution No. 696/20 and Resolution 2948/2021.”
Anyway, this it will not mean the end of the digital recipe. “For many years, it was not allowed because the law established that it had to be issued in the doctor’s handwriting. The same thing happened with the check. However, that changed with the digital prescription law, (law 27,553, of August 2020) that came into force along with the pandemic. But since not all doctors and providers were incorporated into the system, this mechanism was enabled as a shortcut so that patients would not run out of their prescriptions. But, following the emergency, it was expected that they would switch to another system, like the one used in other countries in the world”, says Lilloy.
