Dr. Sean Stevens works full time in general practice, in two areas that generate more PBS authority work than most. He completed his ADHD training a few weeks ago and now initiates and prescribes stimulant medication. He also provides gender affirming healthcare, where testosterone prescribing requires an authority.
Before the Lyrebird integration there were two ways through, and he had run out of patience with both.
The PRODA portal was the faster option. It was also the one he repeated in full, from the top, for every script.
His scepticism was specific and technical. He had watched integrations promise more than they held.
He is open about how it got there. He has been in the beta since the beginning.
He started prescribing stimulants a few weeks ago, which puts him in the same position as the GPs about to follow him.
The minutes came up. He did not stay on them long.
Patients ask for authority scripts the way they ask for anything else. Late in a consult booked for something else, as a small favour on the way out.
One wrong click sent him back to the start. So he asked the patient in front of him to wait.
It depends on the method. Dr Stevens describes the PBS authority phone line as taking anywhere from one minute to six or seven minutes, depending on hold times. The PRODA portal is faster than the phone, but requires logging in, completing two factor authentication, entering patient details, navigating to the authority section and entering the indications, for every script.
Through the PRODA portal directly, yes. Dr Stevens names this as the single biggest change with Authority Scripts, because the PRODA session persists instead of requiring re authentication for each script. In his words, it sounds like not a lot, but it is just continuously logged in.
Yes. Dr Stevens uses Authority Scripts inside Best Practice. He describes patient details and the medication being pulled from Best Practice, leaving him to specify the indications required by PRODA.
It varies by clinical area. Dr Stevens writes two to three a day because he prescribes ADHD stimulant medication and testosterone for gender affirming healthcare, both of which require an authority. A GP without those caseloads would write far fewer.
Because doses change during initiation. Dr Stevens explains that when initiating someone on ADHD medication you often start with lower doses, increase doses and change medications, and every change or increase in the quantity supplied requires another authority script.
Dr Stevens completed his ADHD training a few weeks before this interview. His view is that doing it earlier without the integration would have meant a lot more administrative burden, and that it is quite a time sink without it.
Ten minutes, with a GP who uses it. No slides.
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