China Allows Online Prescription of Drugs for Common Illnesses and Chronic Diseases
CCTV, 9/11/18
China's National Health Commission recently issued a notice indicating that in order to further promote the informatization of medical institution operations centered on electronic medical records, it will allow doctors in possession of a patient's medical records to issue online prescriptions for some common illnesses and chronic diseases, and will permit pharmacists to review these prescriptions online and deliver drugs to patients.
The National Health Commission's notice states that medical institutions should give priority to promoting medical record informatization in the outpatient, pharmacy, nursing, and medical exam domains. By 2020, tertiary (top-rated) hospitals should complete interconnection of information systems involved in each stage of the medical treatment process, to provide patients with convenient services for online appointment-booking, mobile payment, and exam results review services.
Editor's Note: For more information on this topic, please see Rumor: China to Permit Online Retail Sales of Prescription Drugs, MD 5/22/18 issue.
Keywords: online healthcare regulation Internet National Health Commission