Introduction
The following steps will assist prescribing and dispensing Clinical Information System (CIS) software developers connect to the National Prescription Delivery Service (NPDS) and declare software conformance with the Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency’s) electronic prescribing technical framework.
Pre-requisites
If your product will support electronic prescribing, please be familiar with the conformance process:
Step 1: Connect to the National Prescription Delivery Service (NPDS)
To connect your product to the NPDS, please contact the NPDS provider listed below. Your provider will make specifications and test environment access available to enable development and testing of your product.
| Delivery Services | ||
| NPDS | eRX Script Exchange | E: eprescribing@erx.com.au |
| Active Script List Register | Medication Knowledge | E: info@medicationknowledge.com.au |
Step 2: Develop Your Product
Review the Electronic Prescribing Conformance Profile here:
Identify the applicable requirements/conformance points that apply to your product. Each requirement identifies if it is applicable to the NPDS model. Applicable requirements have a “yes” in the “National PDS” column. Where “No” appears in the “National PDS” column, it means the requirement is not applicable.
Conformance Test Specifications and test data are available to assist your development and testing here:
Commence developing your product using the specifications and test environment access provided by the NPDS provider.
Note:
Please ensure you check the specific requirements of the states and/or territories in which you intend to release your product. Some states and territories have established approval criteria software developers must meet prior to deployment. Details available here:
Step 3: Conduct Internal Testing
Conduct a self assessment against the applicable requirements/conformance points and your own internal testing.
Step 4: Complete the Conformance Test Specification
Complete the Electronic Prescribing Conformance Test Specification (CTS) and submit to the NPDS Provider. If your product is owned (fully or partially) by the NPDS (or vice versa) listed, submission should be made to the Agency.
Please ensure the CTS for your product is completed in full, with:
- the relevant test outcomes (pass, fail, N/A) recorded against each test case
- a corresponding reason documented for any test marked as N/A
- completed Test Summary Report (TSR) worksheet
- relevant evidence for each test outcome including screenshots, recordings, documentation or other.
Step 5: Conduct Conformance Assessment
The NPDS Provider will conduct your Conformance Assessment observation session . If your product is owned (fully or partially) by the NPDS (or vice versa) listed, the Agency will conduct your observation session.
The purpose of the observed Conformance Assessment is to verify and confirm the results recorded in your submitted (CTS) and validate any further information requested by the NPDS provider.
The NPDS provider will inform you if you are ready to undergo observation and will schedule the session at a mutually agreeable time.
During and following your observed Conformance Assessment, the NPDS provider may request further evidence for specific test cases to ensure the record of the test is full and accurate.
Step 6: Declare Conformance
Complete the Electronic Prescribing – Conformance Vendor Declaration form after the observed conformance assessment is successfully completed. Email your form to help@digitalhealth.gov.au. Please ensure that:
- all relevant information, such as inclusion of companion software details in section 1.3. Companion software may include PDS adaptor(s), workflow engine(s), mobile gateway(s), etc.
- the information in the form matches the information in the Test Summary Report tab in the final CTS.
Please note that:
- the entry in the ‘Connection name’ field for the National PDS your software product is integrated with is not required. We recognise that this is the NPDS, eRx.
- the entry in the ‘Connection name’ field for the ASLR your software product is integrated with is not required. We recognise that this is Medication Knowledge.
Note: The Conformance ID requested in the form is a string of no more than 36 printable characters containing a text string representing the product name, a single character delimiter (“|”) and an alphanumeric string representing the software product version. As the Conformance ID may help with issue identification and is used to manage participation, it is strongly advised that you declare accurate version information. It is, however, recognised that some software products update version information regularly and in response to changes that do not impact electronic prescribing functionality. For this reason, software vendors may ascertain for themselves the granularity of version information declared in the Conformance ID and the occasions at which it is declared.
If the Agency identifies any issues in your submission, then the Agency will inform you directly. Upon successful processing, you will be notified by the Agency directly and your product will be added to the register of conformance. This register is communicated by the Agency to Services Australia, State and Territory Health departments and PDS providers for operational purposes.
Step 7: Deploy Updated Product
Once you have received a notification that your product has been included on the list of conformant products you may commence deploying electronic prescribing functionality into production and conduct associated training to your end users.
Conclusion
You should now be able to gain product conformance with the Agency’s Electronic Prescribing Technical Framework for your CIS product/s connecting to the NPDS. If you need any further assistance please contact help@digitalhealth.gov.au.