An Examination of the Prescription Renewal Process and Implications for Primary Care Physicians and Community Pharmacists

In physician practices and pharmacies, staff members work to process prescription renewals so that patients receive a steady supply of medications. These functions are essential to ensure patients have continuous access to medications and remain adherent to prescribed therapies. Despite the incorporation of e-prescribing software programs to ease management of these processes, barriers to effective management of the prescription renewal process exist. Mismanagement of pharmacy adherence programs can ultimately lead to patients receiving inappropriate medications and excessive use of staff resources. The objective of this article is to examine the prescription renewal process in both the primary care setting and the pharmacy and report challenges associated with the process. A literature review was conducted to find studies that describe pharmacists' and physicians' handlings of prescription renewals, use of e-prescribing software, and benefits and barriers to using these technologies. Although studies report e-prescribing software improves efficiency in the prescription renewal process, there is a need to reduce technological problems that create challenges in use. It is recommended that staff within physician practices and pharmacies standardize prescription renewal processes and educate patients about the prescription renewal process.

Register-based study on prescription renewal without the prescriber meeting the patient

Renewing prescriptions is important for the continuity of pharmacotherapy. However, renewing without the prescriber meeting the patient might lead to insufficient pharmacotherapy monitoring. This study investigated the prevalence of renewed prescriptions, prescriptions renewed without the prescriber meeting the patient and the factors associated with renewals made without meeting the patient. This register-based study employed data on electronic prescriptions and health care contacts from Finnish registers. Prescriptions were classified as renewed if there was a renewal request or a previous prescription for the same ATC code. Prescriptions were considered as being renewed without meeting the patient if there was no patient contact on the renewal date. Descriptive and logistic generalized estimating equation analyses were conducted. The random sample of prescriptions (10%) from the year 2019 amounted to 2 804 048. Of these, 41.9% were original, 35.4% were renewals without meeting the patient and 22.7% were renewed with meeting the patient. Characteristics such as male sex, age 35-54 years, prescription for cardiovascular system preparations and the prescription being renewed during the summer (June-August) were associated with renewals made without meeting the patient. Further research is needed on the implementation of pharmacotherapy monitoring in the case of renewals without the prescriber meeting the patient.