Bill on electronic medical prescriptions

The bill filed in the Argentine Congress aims to allow the use of electronic medical prescriptions throughout the territory of the Argentine Republic. The bill will be applicable to all medical prescriptions, dental or other medical professionals legally authorized to prescribe, in the respective areas of healthcare and public and private pharmaceutical care.

This bill provides that medicines prescribed through an electronic prescription may be dispensed at any pharmacy in the national territory, pharmacy services of health facilities and health sector establishments authorized for this purpose.

For the purposes of its implementation, the bill indicates that existing electronic systems must be developed and/or adapted, standardizing their functions to use electronic recipes. The Argentine Executive and each jurisdiction must designate the governmental agencies responsible for controlling the electronic prescription systems, who must guarantee the custody of the prescription, dispensing and archiving databases, as well as establishing the authorization and control criteria for accessing to these databases and guarantee the normal operation and strict compliance with the applicable regulations.

The bill proposes the modification of subsection 7 of article 19 of Law on the Practice of the Medical Profession No. 17,132, allowing medical professionals to write prescriptions on physical or electronic forms and to sign them with a handwritten, electronic or digital signature. The bill states that if such prescriptions are written electronically, the signatures and other technical and legal requirements must comply with the special legislation in force.

The bill also proposes the modification of section 10 of Law No. 17,132 to authorize pharmacies to keep their mandatory records (pharmacy books) electronically, in accordance with the applicable special legislation.

Furthermore, the bill proposes the inclusion of a section in Law on Narcotic Drugs No. 17,818, and in Law on Psychotropic Drugs No. 19,303, allowing the prescriptions mentioned in those laws to be electronically drafted.