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11.1 PharmaNet Help Desk

Last updated on September 11, 2024

Functions

The PharmaNet Help Desk is the first point of contact for all PharmaCare and PharmaNet–related enquiries. 

The PharmaNet Help Desk’s role is to respond to enquiries, and to record, monitor, report and resolve problems in a timely manner.

The Help Desk cannot answer pharmacy practice questions. Please direct such enquiries to the College of Pharmacists.

For questions about a medication history, call the PharmaNet Data Quality team at 1-844-660-3200, fax to 250-953-0486 or email pharmanet@gov.bc.ca

The Help Desk is available to health care providers and practitioners 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including statutory holidays (except Christmas Day).

Contact information

Telephone numbers

Provider-only telephone numbers should not be given out to the public.

From the Lower Mainland, call 604-682-7120

From the rest of B.C., call toll-free 1-800-554-0225

Fax number

From anywhere in B.C., fax to 250-405-3587 (Victoria number)

Information required by the Help Desk

For every call

Before calling the PharmaNet Help Desk, please be prepared to provide the following information:

  • Site ID
  • your name
  • problem number, if this problem has been reported previously 
  • a brief description of the problem

For calls about a patient

If you are calling regarding a patient, please have the following patient information ready:

  • PHN
  • full name
  • address
  • gender

For calls about a practitioner

If calling regarding a practitioner, please have the following practitioner information ready:

  • full name
  • address
  • Practitioner Identification Number (if known)—which is also called the College number or Prescriber ID

The MSP billing number may be given if the Practitioner ID is unknown.

Reporting problems to the Help Desk

Obtaining a call number

Each time you call the PharmaNet Help Desk, a Client Service Representative (CSR) logs details of the call using call-tracking software which automatically assigns a call number to each call.

If the Help Desk is not able to answer your inquiry immediately, ask for the call number. 

If you have to call for an update, quote this number to enable the Help Desk to find your previous call information quickly.

Problem assessment and escalation

The normal response intervals for calls depend on the severity of the problem as documented in the Service Level Agreement with each pharmacy software vendor (PSV). These agreements precisely define the escalation procedures and reporting structure between your PSV and the PharmaNet Help Desk. You may request a copy of the agreement from your PSV.

Note: Not all calls are subject to the Service Level Agreement.

Assessment

The PharmaNet Help Desk assigns a severity level to each problem call based on the pharmacy’s resulting ability to conduct normal business. “Normal business functions” are defined as:

  • Recording the dispensing of drugs
  • Maintaining patient medication information
  • Receiving DUE results
  • Receiving PharmaNet adjudication results

A malfunction of your pharmacy local software or the PharmaNet network may interfere with one or more of these functions.

The four levels, in descending order of severity, are as follows:

Severity 1

A total inability to perform one or more normal business functions. All involved parties are expected to work continuously until the problem is resolved or the severity level is reduced.

Severity 2

All normal business functions work to some degree, but one or more are severely degraded. Work by all involved parties is expected to continue on a priority basis until a solution is in place.

Severity 3

All critical functions work, but one or more normal business functions are somewhat impaired.

Severity 4

The problem has been circumvented and is not seriously affecting normal business functions.

Escalation

Escalation procedures and response times depend on the problem severity.

  • High-severity problems that affect a single store are escalated to the PharmaNet Help Desk administrator. 
  • Problems that affect a number of stores or the province as a whole are escalated to the Manager Customer Services and from there to the HIBC Director of Operations.

HIBC informs the Directors of both PharmaNet and PharmaCare whenever a pharmacy is unable to perform normal business functions.