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9.2 PharmaNet user enrolment and site registration in PRIME

Last updated on June 6, 2025

General Policy Description

Under the Pharmaceutical Services Act and Information Management Regulation, all PharmaNet users must be granted access to PharmaNet by the Ministry of Health by enrolling in PRIME and all organizations must register their PharmaNet access sites in PRIME to be approved by the Ministry of Health to access PharmaNet.

If an individual is granted access to PharmaNet, it must only be used for the purpose of delivering health services in the user’s scope of practice (under the Health Professions Act or PODSA) directly to the individual whose record they access.

PRIME protects patient and health professional information.

Policy Details

Enrolling for individual access to PharmaNet

All health professionals who need access to PharmaNet must enrol in PRIME and renew their enrolment every year. Under the IM Regulation, if any information collected in PRIME changes (e.g., name, care setting, licence type), PharmaNet users must log in to PRIME and update their profile within 7 days of the change. Users who do not require access to PharmaNet for a period of 90 days or longer must record the absence in PRIME, and advise when they again require access.

In PRIME, health professionals sign the PharmaNet user terms and conditions assigned to them. There are different versions of the terms of access that apply to different types of PharmaNet users.

PRIME assigns a unique global PharmaNet ID code (GPID) to every health professional who is approved to access PharmaNet. Once approved for access, the GPID is shared with their workplace’s PharmaNet software vendor or administrator, who sets up their PharmaNet access. The GPID must be included in the local PharmaNet user profile, and is automatically included on every transaction they make in PharmaNet.

All individuals must be 18 years of age or older to access PRIME.

For guides and links to enrol in PRIME, visit:

Registering a site for PharmaNet access

Pharmacies, community health practices, device providers and health authorities must register every PharmaNet site in PRIME.

A PharmaNet site is a physical location where PharmaNet is used to deliver in-person patient care, plus a PharmaNet software vendor used at that location.

For guides and links to register a site in PRIME, visit:

Community pharmacies are only permitted one connection to PharmaNet, using a single approved PharmaNet software application. If they use a different application to access other systems or information, such as laboratory results, any PharmaNet component of that application must be inactive.

Site registrations in PRIME must be kept up to date.

Remote access to PharmaNet

The option to access PharmaNet from outside a community health practice site (e.g., from home) is only available to physicians and nurse practitioners working in private community health practices, and as an addition to access at the practice.

Such access is only granted as an explicit exception under the IM Regulation, and both approved remote users and the organizations responsible for their associated PharmaNet sites must adhere to specific requirements relating to remote access.

Remote access must be linked to the care of patients of the practice.

Before remote access can occur:

  • The private community health practice has to identify potential remote user(s) in the site’s PRIME registration
  • The PharmaNet user must indicate that they require remote access in their PRIME user enrolment
  • If a physician or nurse practitioner provides care at multiple private practices and wants remote access for all or several of them, each practice site must register them as a remote user, and the remote user must add each practice to their PRIME profile. It is the responsibility of the user to ensure they use the correct site’s connection when they work remotely

All remote access must be done using software approved by the Ministry of Health for this purpose.

On-behalf-of users are never eligible for remote access to PharmaNet, even if they access PharmaNet on behalf of a physician or nurse practitioner who is a remote user.

Remote access for health authority users

If a remote access exception is made for PharmaNet users in health authority facilities, scope and administration of remote access must be included in the Organization Agreement for Use of PharmaNet that is signed directly between the health authority and the Ministry.