Active Ingredient Prescribing (AIP) in Genie is here! To comply with this new government initiative, you will need to update your Genie software to version 9.3.9 or above and be a current MIMS subscriber by the mandatory 1 February 2021 deadline.
- For assistance upgrading your Genie to v9.3.9 or above, please see our updating article.
- To become a MIMS Integrated subscriber or ensure your subscription is up-to-date, you can contact MIMS on 1800 800 629. If you are already a MIMS subscriber, your MIMS Prescribing Data will automatically update upon upgrading to v9.3.9 or above.
If you do not wish to become a MIMS subscriber and currently use only user-added drugs, we still highly recommend updating to Genie v9.3.9 to ensure your prescriptions are printed in line with the new legislation.
The goal of Active Ingredient Prescribing is to ensure consistent and standardised medicines information on prescriptions by stating the active ingredients of the drug, ultimately providing patients with the means to access and understand what active ingredients they are being prescribed.
What has changed in Genie?
Genie version 9.3.9 contains a software change wherein all active ingredient names will be listed when your prescribers are preparing prescriptions for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) or Repatriation PBS (RPBS) medicines.
The best part about this change is that your prescribing workflow will remain mostly the same! Genie will work in the background to ensure that your prescriptions are in compliance with the AIP legislation, even if you usually prescribe by brand name instead of active ingredient.
Including the brand name on your prescriptions
If clinically appropriate, you can include the brand name on your prescriptions by searching one of two ways for a new prescription:
- Prescribing the brand name (e.g. Roaccutane, Oratane, Dermatane, etc.) - this will also bring in the active ingredient by default; or
- Prescribing the active ingredient (e.g. isotretinoin), then choosing the brand name (e.g. Roaccutane, Oratane, Dermatane, etc.) from the new Brand drop-down in the prescribing window as shown below.
If you have specified a brand name when creating the prescription, you will be presented with the following window when printing the prescription. If you have not specified a brand name and simply prescribed the active ingredient, you can print your prescriptions as before without the below window appearing.
What will the prescription look like?
If a brand name is not included or specified:
Format: Active Ingredient, Form Strength
If a brand name is included or specified:
Format: Active Ingredient (BRAND NAME), Form Strength
Does this apply to all prescriptions?
The Department of Health has changed legislation to require the inclusion of active ingredients on all PBS and RPBS prescriptions, except for:
- Handwritten prescriptions;
- Paper based medication charts in the residential aged care sector;
- Medicinal items with four or more active ingredients;
- Other items excluded for safety or practicality reasons.
For more information and PDF support materials, please see the Department of Health's AIP webpage.
What if I don't want to use MIMS?
If you utilise user added drugs in Genie, these prescriptions will now print with (free text) at the end of the drug as shown below to indicate that this is a user added drug to the pharmacy.
