The Department of Health and Aged Care has updated the national guiding principles for medication management

“As we age, our medication needs increase, making medication safety increasingly important,” said BESTMED CEO, Phil Offer. “The focus on medication safety for ageing Australians as they move from residential aged care facilities, community, and hospital, is vital in ensuring a smooth transition and reducing the risk of medication incidents,” said Mr Offer.

The previous 2012 edition of the guiding principles for medication management in residential aged care was last updated in February 2020, and since then there have been substantial changes to medication management including the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the roll-out of the Transitional Electronic National Residential Medication Chart (eNRMC) and available grant funding.

“We have seen significant steps taken in improving medication management in residential aged care, and these documents highlight the importance of a connected healthcare system to ensure continuity of care,” said Mr Offer.

BESTMED provides a variety of features and integrations to aid in supporting consumers as they move through care to improve medication management. “We know that these transition points are of particular concern in regard to the timely and accurate handover of medication notes and supply of medication,” said Mr Offer.

“We have seen the department take large steps in improving the safety of medication management and coupled with the rise of integrations through Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to improve interoperability between systems, medication continuity for consumers as they move through care is greatly improving”, said Mr Offer.  

As Australia’s favourite end-to-end eNRMC medication management provider, BESTMED is an industry leader in developing systems to improve safety, efficiencies and reporting to meet the changing requirements in aged care. BESTMED invests over $2.5m pa in research and development to eradicate medication errors and is already working on next-generation solutions in partnership with Macquarie University¹ researchers. It’s why over 500 homes and the majority of Australia’s largest providers choose BESTMED’s Connected Medication Management for their consumers.

Guiding principles:

• Guiding principles for medication management in residential aged care facilities
• Guiding principles for medication management in the community
• Guiding principles to achieve continuity in medication management

1. https://www.mq.edu.au/research/research-centres-groups-and-facilities/healthy-people/centres/australian-institute-of-health-innovation/news-and-events/news/news/new-grant-will-transform-medication-safety-in-aged-care