Tasmania is to become one of the last jurisdictions to connect to the national real-time prescription monitoring (RTPM) program when it switches on TasScript next month, having been the Australian pioneer in implementing a RTPM system 15 years ago.

TasScript will replace the DORA interface used by pharmacists and some prescribers since 2009.

TasScript is using the same technology first developed for Victoria’s SafeScript RTPM system by Fred IT, and integrated with the National Data Exchange (NDE) developed by Fred’s subsidiary eRX Script Exchange.

The NDE consists of a core piece of technology that handles data matching, an event engine and alert generation, as well as a data store to hold prescription and dispense data.

It also has an API management layer and an enterprise service bus that integrates the core system with prescribing and dispensing software and to state and territory regulatory systems, as well as eRx.

DORA was first developed by Tasmanian firm XVT Solutions as the web interface for the Drugs and Poisons Information System (DAPIS) it built for the then Department of Health and Human Services.

It formed the basis for a proposed national scheme called the Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) system, which did not get off the ground.

The ACT adopted DORA for some years but has since replaced it with a version of the Fred IT system called Canberra Script.

TasScript will be mandatory for prescribers and pharmacists to use. Exemptions include when administering monitored medicines to inpatients, emergency departments and residential aged care facilities, as well as palliative care and end-of-life settings.