| Shared for informational purposes on behalf of the Advance Program Pharmacy Team |
Advance is a multi-year project at Fraser Health designed to improve the quality, consistency and safety of patient care as it moves towards implementing electronic charting at hospitals across the region.
What’s Happening?
As of January 2026, community pharmacies will start seeing electronically signed prescriptions on prescriptions from the following Fraser Health hospitals:
- Eagle Ridge Hospital
- Royal Columbian Hospital
- Mission Memorial Hospital
- Fraser Canyon Hospital
The electronic signature will generate with a printed signature when providers print prescriptions that they have authorized in the Meditech Expanse system. This change excludes prescriptions within the Controlled Prescription Program (CPP), which remain limited to handwritten prescriptions only.
How might this affect you?
You will start seeing electronically signed prescriptions from the above-mentioned Fraser Health sites.
Questions?
Contact the Advance Pharmacy team at [email protected].
To find out more about the Advance project overall, visit Electronic health record - Fraser Health
CPBC Advisory – Electronic SignaturesReminder to Ensure Prescription AuthenticitySection 6(1) of the Community Pharmacy Standards of Practice requires registrants/licensees to ensure that a prescription is authentic. This obligation applies to all prescriptions, including those that are printed, faxed, or electronically generated. The presence of a practitioner’s signature–whether handwritten or electronic–does not on its own guarantee the authenticity of a prescription. Registrants/licensees are expected to use their professional judgment and take appropriate steps to verify the authenticity of all prescriptions. Electronic SignaturesElectronic signatures are permitted under the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act Bylaws. As with all prescriptions, registrants/licensees are expected to evaluate the legitimacy of the prescription authorization and determine whether further verification is required. For additional clarification on electronic signatures and professional obligations, licensees may wish to review the following article: PRP Insights: Electronic Signatures Clarified Questions about professional obligations or standards of practice may be directed to [email protected]. |