Pharmacy implementation of online consultation services, strictly prohibit artificial intelligence software (AI robot) prescription.
Pharmacy consultation, strictly prohibited robot prescription
Recently, the National Healthcare Commission Medical Affairs Bureau issued the "Internet Diagnosis and Treatment Supervision Rules (Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Rules") to further standardize the Internet diagnosis and treatment services.
"Rules" said that medical institutions should fully inform patients of the rules, requirements, risks associated with Internet diagnosis and treatment, and obtain the informed consent of the patient before carrying out Internet diagnosis and treatment activities.
It is worth noting that the "Rules" clearly put forward, physicians need to be authenticated by real name before receiving treatment, to ensure that they are received by me. Other people, artificial intelligence software, etc. shall not impersonate and replace the physician himself.
This means that retail pharmacies open remote consultation services, it is strictly prohibited to use artificial intelligence and other technologies to prescribe to patients, the prescription operation must be completed by the physician to meet the requirements. This means that the use of AI technology to prescribe for patients must be done by a physician who meets the requirements.
China's New Century Economics writes that some platforms use "Internet healthcare" as a front, and use AI technology to reduce labor costs and do marketing in conjunction with infusion, which is contrary to the principle of "health-centeredness". After the implementation of the rules, these chaotic phenomena will undoubtedly face rectification.
In addition, the pharmacy "on-line consultation" after the ban on AI software, although reducing the efficiency of online prescribing, from the macro point of view also slowed down the speed of prescription outflow, but in the long term perspective, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, the entire development of the pharmaceutical industry will be more healthy and stable.
The regulation of prescribing and auditing is tightening, and the threshold of prescription drug sales is increasing
Pharmacy online prescribing, the use of AI technology is strictly prohibited, and must rely on hospitals to practise medicine; the same strict requirements are also strict, the pharmacy remote auditing must be equipped with the premise of licensed pharmacists, and remote auditing can not be replaced by a licensed pharmacist.
In June 2020, the Fujian Provincial Bureau of Pharmaceutical Supervision issued a notice stating that 14 pharmaceutical retail chain enterprises "remote prescription" business problems, including "selling drugs without prescription", "prescription drug sales
Although remote prescribing is convenient and can help pharmacies save on operating costs, the safety issue is still not resolved.
On August 9, the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Pharmaceutical Supervision issued a new draft for comment, proposing that under the premise that drug retail stores are equipped with licensed pharmacists according to regulations, drug retail chains are encouraged to use modern information technology to carry out remote pharmacy services.
And in the old version of the draft, Shaanxi Province, drug retail chain enterprises can voluntarily set up a remote service center for licensed pharmacists to carry out remote review of the prescription during business hours, and its stores are deemed to have been configured with a licensed pharmacist and in the performance of their duties. And the drug retail chain headquarters should be equipped with its business scope and scale of operation to match the number of remote prescribing licensed pharmacist team.
According to the principle, remote service within 30 (including) stores, should be equipped with at least 3 licensed pharmacists; more than 30 stores, each additional 15 stores (less than 15 by 15), should be equipped with an additional licensed pharmacist.
And in the old version of the "Opinions", Shaanxi Province, drug retail chain enterprises can voluntarily set up a practicing pharmacist remote service center to carry out remote review of the prescription during business hours, and its stores are deemed to have been configured with a practicing pharmacist and on duty.
It is not difficult to see that, with the online prescribing, reviewing the prescription regulation is more and more strict, the pharmacy prescription drug sales threshold is also higher and higher.
Pharmacies after the complementary electronic prescriptions, is prohibited
It is important to mention that, according to the "Rules" information, pharmacies can not be complementary prescription. The Rules emphasize that medical institutions to carry out Internet diagnostic and treatment activities should strictly comply with the "prescription management measures" and other prescription management provisions to strengthen drug management, prohibit the unification of the prescription, fill the prescription and other issues. The personal income of medical and health personnel shall not be linked to the income from drugs and medical examinations.
As early as 2019, there was media exposure that some well-known chain pharmacies can fill prescriptions later based on false information. The brief operation process is: first let the patient pick the prescription drugs, and then connected to the pharmacy online consultation platform, randomly provide, fill in false information, the physician issued a prescription order, and finally complete the payment.
There is an industry view that patients should take what medicine, should be decided by the doctor, online platforms, offline pharmacies to sell drugs and then make up the electronic prescription itself is not standardized, medication safety is difficult to be guaranteed. It can be seen, "Rules" the provisions if the implementation of the online platform, offline pharmacy fill prescription will be considered illegal, will be punished accordingly.
Online platforms, not the first diagnosis of patients
For online platforms can be "first diagnosis" of the problem, the "rules" clearly expressed the negative, and whether the platform can be "re-diagnosed"!
According to the rules of information, the patient should be provided with a clear diagnosis of the medical records, such as outpatient medical records, hospitalization records, discharge summary, diagnostic certificates, etc., by the receiving physician to determine whether to meet the conditions of the re-examination, and the collection of proof that the patient has been diagnosed with paper or electronic voucher information.
In addition, if there is a change in the patient's condition, the online consultation is judged by the physician to be the first diagnosis, or there are other unsuitable Internet diagnosis and treatment, the receiving physician should immediately terminate the Internet diagnosis and treatment activities, and guide the patient to the entity medical institutions for consultation and treatment.
At the level of Internet medical supervision, the rules require the implementation of "online and offline integrated supervision" strategy, the provincial health authorities should Internet diagnosis and treatment into the local medical quality control system to ensure medical quality and medical safety.