Photo: Dr Andrew Rochford at a pharmacy

Electronic prescriptions

A convenient alternative to paper prescriptions.

Getting started

Quick tips

  • When you contact your doctor and pharmacy next, check that they are ready for electronic prescriptions and that your contact details are up to date.
  • If your pharmacy already has an app, check that you can use it for electronic prescriptions. That way you don't need to keep track of the SMS or emails.   
  • Remember to name the contact details from the doctor or pharmacy as something easy to remember, so you can find the message easily when you need the medicine dispensed. 
Before your next appointment
  • Check that your doctor can prescribe medicines via electronic prescriptions.
  • Check that your pharmacy can dispense medicines via electronic prescriptions and if they deliver medicines.
  • Ensure your address, email address and mobile number are up to date.
During your consultation
  • Ask for an electronic prescription instead of a paper prescription.
  • Your doctor will send you a unique QR barcode known as a 'token' via SMS or email to your mobile phone or computer.
  • You will get a separate token for each medicine you are prescribed.
  • Check that you have received your token before you finish the consultation.
Getting your medicine

At the pharmacy:

  • Your pharmacist will scan the token as a key to unlock the electronic prescription from an encrypted and secure electronic prescription delivery service.
  • Once you receive your medicine, you should delete the token that was used to get that medicine.
  • If you lose your token, you will need to ask your doctor to cancel the electronic prescription and issue a new one.
  • If your pharmacy does home delivery, you can forward your token to them instead of going into the pharmacy.
Storing repeat prescriptions
  • If you have repeats on your prescription, your pharmacy will send you a new token for your next repeat which you will need to give to the pharmacist when it is time to get your medicine.
Information for prescribers

If you are a prescriber, find out more.

Information for dispensers

If you are a dispenser, find out more.

Contact us

General enquiries

Phone: 1300 901 001
8am - 5pm (AEST/AEDT) Monday - Friday
Email: [email protected]

More information

What is an electronic prescription?

An electronic prescription is a digital version of a paper prescription. During your consultation, your healthcare provider can send your electronic prescription to you as an SMS or email. 

What are the benefits?

All medicines can be prescribed using an electronic prescription. The message with a link to your electronic prescription is stored on your digital device, so you can access it whenever you’re ready - saving you time, streamlining the process and improving medicine safety.

Over 18 million original and repeat electronic prescriptions have been issued already. 

- September 2021

How to get an electronic prescription

  • During your consultation your doctor will send your electronic prescription to you as an SMS or an email

  • You will then take it to your pharmacy or send it to them 

  • If you have repeats, a new SMS or email will be sent to you when you get your medicine from the pharmacy

How to get your medicines

After your consultation and once you have received your electronic prescription, you will have two options to get your medicines.

Collecting your medicine in person 

  • Take your electronic prescription to a pharmacy so it can be scanned

Getting your medicine delivered 

  • For home delivery, forward the SMS or email to a pharmacy so they can scan it

If you accidentally deleted the SMS or email with your electronic prescription token, you can ask for it to be resent.  For original prescriptions, contact the prescriber. For repeats, contact the pharmacy that issued the repeat.

You can manage your electronic prescriptions through a mobile app. See the list of mobile apps that are conformant for ePrescribing.

Getting your medicines from home.

Active Script List (ASL)

A token management solution for all your electronic prescriptions and repeats

The ASL is a solution that can help people who are taking multiple medicines. It provides a consolidated list of all the medicines a patient can have their pharmacy dispense for them. The patient no longer needs to handle multiple tokens on their phone to show the pharmacist; having an ASL means the patient can walk into any pharmacy, give consent for them to access their ASL, and have that pharmacy dispense their medicines. Having a trusted relationship with a doctor and pharmacist means they can use the ASL to help their patient manage their medicines more easily.

How it will work

  1. Visit a pharmacy to set up your list.
  2. If your doctor needs to prescribe medicine, you can choose an electronic prescription and it will be automatically added to your list, unless you ask your doctor not to add it. You can still get an SMS or email as well.  
  3. Go to your pharmacy, forward the SMS or email to them or call them to validate your ID so that they can access your list and dispense your medicine. 

Hear from healthcare providers about the benefits and learnings of electronic prescriptions

If needed, you can forward the SMS or email to a family member or carer so they can collect your medicine 

Back to the top