PrescripTIon Québec to be deactivated May 29, forcing return to faxed prescriptions
Quebec will end the PrescripTIon Québec pilot on May 29, reverting electronic prescribing to fax and paper and prompting concerns from physicians and pharmacies.
Quebec health authorities have scheduled the deactivation of the PrescripTIon Québec electronic prescribing pilot for May 29, 2026, a move that will require clinicians and community pharmacies to resume sending and receiving prescriptions by fax and on paper. The shutdown, outlined in a Santé Québec deactivation plan dated April 8, has drawn sharp criticism from participating prescribers and retailers who say the digital system sped up workflows and reduced transcription errors.
Deactivation scheduled for May 29, 2026
The plan prepared by Santé Québec states the service will be taken offline on May 29, 2026, and that sites will move to a “return exclusive to fax” model. The timeline, communicated internally, follows months of planning and signals an abrupt halt to a provincial roll‑out that had been intended to reach Quebec’s 1,900 community pharmacies by 2027–2028.
Clinics and pharmacies that took part in the pilot were notified weeks in advance, and local leaders say the certainty of a shutdown has been known within the system for months. Pharmacy chains and community prescribers had been preparing for wider deployment when the decision was cemented.
Clinics and pharmacies report workflow improvements with PrescripTIon Québec
Participating clinicians in the Estrie region described the platform as instant and intuitive compared with faxed or PDF prescriptions. One family medicine group taking part in the pilot said the system eliminated lengthy waits to receive orders and removed the need to decipher handwriting, shortening the time between prescription and dispensing.
A pharmacy owner affiliated with a major Quebec banner reported that incoming faxes could previously take up to 45 minutes to arrive and be processed, whereas the electronic channel transmitted orders immediately. Local participants said the digital link allowed pharmacists and prescribers to spend more time on direct patient care.
Federal funding pullback cited as cause
Provincial officials and industry stakeholders trace the sudden halt to the federal government’s withdrawal of funding for a national electronic prescribing initiative tied to Canada’s health‑IT program. Ottawa decided in recent months to stop funding the national platform and an associated program in which it had invested roughly $250 million, a move that reduced financial support for the service outside Quebec.
Public statements from federal health officials cited low uptake elsewhere in Canada — fewer than 5 percent of prescriptions were transmitted through the service nationally — which led Ottawa to conclude the program was not achieving the expected scale. Sources say pharmacies in other provinces would have faced a per‑transaction fee of about 20 cents, while Quebec had been absorbing those costs during the pilot.
Pharmacy groups warn of operational and safety impacts
Quebec pharmacy associations have urged provincial leaders to reconsider, arguing the technology had already produced measurable gains in participating sites. Association leaders pointed to pilot deployments with major banners where pharmacies reported more than half of patient prescriptions routed through the electronic channel, and warned that reverting to fax will reintroduce time sinks and transcription risks.
The sector emphasized the scale of the task: community pharmacies across the province handle roughly 320 million prescriptions a year. Industry representatives said a rollback risks undermining investments in staff time and training and could compromise the continuity of digital transformation efforts in the health network.
Québec government says it is seeking solutions
The Ministry of Health and Social Services responded in mid‑May that it is working with Santé Québec to “identify solutions to avoid any service disruption and to enable the continuation of electronic prescribing evolution in Quebec.” A ministry spokesperson said the work was ongoing but declined to provide further detail, reflecting unresolved negotiations about funding and operational responsibility.
The deactivation plan is dated April 8, and pharmacy and professional groups say they raised alarms by letter in February to the health minister and Santé Québec leadership. Provincial political leaders had earlier highlighted efforts to move away from fax dependency through other digital initiatives, underscoring the contrast between rhetorical commitments and the immediate impact of the scheduled shutdown.
Stakeholders say both technical and financial questions remain unresolved as the May 29 deadline approaches. Pharmacy chains and prescribers are calling for a short‑term funding bridge or an alternative service to prevent the abrupt reintroduction of paper workflows that many reported had already been largely eliminated in pilot sites.
For clinicians and community pharmacists, the coming weeks will determine whether PrescripTIon Québec is paused temporarily or replaced with a sustainable, provincially funded alternative. The sector says patients stand to be affected by slower processing times and a renewed administrative burden unless officials present a clear plan before the shutdown date.
