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new approval management functionality will allow prescribers — medical, nurse and dental practitioners — to apply online for approval to prescribe or supply certain Schedule 8 medicines, according to the .

It will also allow them to: monitor application progress; in some cases, be issued approvals in real time; view patient approval (previously referred to as an authority) history; have visibility of the number of active approvals held; and see all approvals held within their organisations, noted the PHN in a statement.

The new functionality will enable pharmacists to view a summary of opioid treatment program (OTP) approval information in the system, including: the approval number (previously referred to as authority); start and end dates; OTP dosing points; prescriber, patient, drug and maximum dose information.

Justice Health and public OTP clinic support employees (such as registered nurses and administration support employees) who are involved in the OTP process will be able to access the system through an invitation from a prescriber, said the PHN.

The enhanced functionality is aimed at improving efficiency and providing greater compliance and support. Prescribers will also start receiving notifications to their nominated email regarding the progress on any of the applications that have been submitted to the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit (PRU) for all approval types regardless of method of submission.

Image credit: iStockphoto.com/Sean Anthony Eddy