{"id":263253,"date":"2026-01-29T07:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/263253\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T07:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:04:07","slug":"the-government-wants-to-track-your-medicines-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/263253\/","title":{"rendered":"The government wants to track your medicines \u2013 here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, the federal government announced<\/a> plans to reform how medications are dispensed and tracked, aiming to reduce unsafe use, stockpiling and \u201cdoctor shopping\u201d. <\/p>\n

This will include two stages. First, the government will require all online and telehealth prescribers to upload information about a patient\u2019s prescribed medications to their My Health Record. <\/p>\n

Second, the government plans to develop a National Medicines Record<\/a> \u2013 an over-arching database<\/a> to register and monitor all current prescriptions.<\/p>\n

So, how would this work? While some detail is still lacking, here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n

Why is this needed?<\/p>\n

An increasing number of Australians take multiple medications. Recent research<\/a> analysing prescribing patterns in Australia estimates almost two million of us took five or more regular medicines in 2024.<\/p>\n

While multiple medicines are often needed to manage multiple conditions<\/a>, there are risks<\/a> of adverse effects.<\/p>\n

And when a clinician prescribes medication or a pharmacist dispenses it without a full understanding of the patient\u2019s current medications, it can lead to harmful interactions between them. <\/p>\n

This can make a patient sicker and often lands them in hospital. An estimated<\/a> 1.5 million people in Australia experience some kind of harmful side effect from using medicine each year.<\/p>\n

Those at particular risk are older adults taking numerous medications, as well as those transitioning between health-care settings<\/a> (such as going into hospital or returning home). <\/p>\n

Sometimes patients also stockpile medications<\/a>, including through consulting multiple doctors<\/a>, known as \u201cdoctor shopping\u201d. For example, they might do this to obtain extra supplies of addictive pain medication. <\/p>\n

How does it work right now?<\/p>\n

Currently, there is no centralised, mandatory register that records all of the medicines a person is prescribed and dispensed. <\/p>\n

Instead, prescribing information may be siloed in hospital and aged care systems, general practice records and those of online telehealth providers such as Instant Scripts, 13SICK and Hola Health. <\/p>\n

This can prevent any single doctor or pharmacist from having clear, comprehensive information about a patient\u2019s medications. <\/p>\n

Some health-care practitioner<\/a> and pharmacy<\/a> bodies have criticised the online prescribing industry, in particular, for contributing to inappropriate prescribing and medication misuse. <\/p>\n

For high-risk medications such as opioids, there is already a Real Time Prescription Monitoring system<\/a>. Victoria has a similar system called SafeScript<\/a>, but this doesn\u2019t record the full range of prescription medications. <\/p>\n

Announcing the reforms, Health Minister Mark Butler referred<\/a> to an Australian woman who died from an overdose after stockpiling her medicine. He explained her parent\u2019s advocacy prompted the government to address the lack of a comprehensive medicines record. <\/p>\n

What will change?<\/p>\n

First, the government will require online and telehealth prescribing platforms to add information to the My Health Record<\/a> system about prescribed medications. This will include information about the clinical reasoning<\/a> for prescribing. <\/p>\n

My Health Record<\/a> is a government-run platform providing a secure, online collection of a patient\u2019s health information. Both patients and their treating health-care professionals can access it. <\/p>\n

So any medication or related clinical information uploaded by a prescriber would be accessible via My Health Record, to the patient as well as to their health-care providers and pharmacists. <\/p>\n

Many general practices already upload<\/a> this information, but online prescribing platforms may not. Organisations representing pharmacists<\/a> have long called for this kind of change. <\/p>\n

Will it work?<\/p>\n

In theory, it is a step forward. The challenge is that the My Health Record system remains under-used. One in 10 Australians<\/a> have no My Health Record (the system is opt-out). <\/p>\n

For the millions of Australians who do have a My Health Record, usage is increasing. But many still have never accessed their own record. <\/p>\n

It is also not clear whether, and how, a patient\u2019s access to their own My Health Record would reduce medication harm (particularly if the patient is deliberately stockpiling medication). <\/p>\n

Almost all GPs, pharmacies and public hospitals are registered for My Health Record and have used the system. But data shows<\/a> pharmacies are mainly using it to upload information rather than looking at records others have uploaded. <\/p>\n

Overall, ensuring that all medicines information is available on the My Health Record is a positive step. <\/p>\n

But it does not mean that the information will be accessed (or understood) by others who are prescribing and dispensing medication to a patient. <\/p>\n

Indeed, sadly, the warnings that were placed by hospital services on the My Health Record of the young woman who died from an overdose were not accessed by telehealth services nor pharmacies<\/a> prescribing and supplying her with medication. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s ahead?<\/p>\n

As a second step, the government says it will design and build a National Medicines Record. This would be an overarching platform linked to My Health Record and other digital health systems, to register all current prescriptions.<\/p>\n

At this stage, detail is lacking, but health-care practitioner<\/a> and pharmacy bodies<\/a> are broadly supportive. <\/p>\n

A consultation<\/a> is underway. <\/p>\n

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you\u2019re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, the federal government announced plans to reform how medications are dispensed and tracked, aiming to reduce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-263253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}