PHYSICIAN PRESCRIBING PRACTICES
Education and quality-improvement help physicians provide safe patient care
IMPROVING YOUR PRESCRIBING PRACTICE
The Physician Prescribing Program (PPP) connects you to information, tools and resources to promote best practice and support safe and effective care for every patient every time.
PPP is evidence-based, collegial and supportive.
“Our program is entirely educational, focused on patients.”Dr. Mark Godel, CPSA Senior Medical Advisor
MD Snapshot – Prescribing
What is MD Snapshot - Prescribing?
MD Snapshot – Prescribing provides physicians with relevant and timely information about their prescribing practice. Customized for each recipient, it focuses on quality improvement, allowing physicians to improve their practice and enhance patient care through increased prescribing awareness.

MD Snapshot-Prescribing is a tool for self-reflection with the dual purpose of increasing your prescribing awareness and supporting you in optimizing care for your patients.
Earning continuing medical education credits
Reviewing MD Snapshot – Prescribing qualifies for continuing medical education credits as a non-certified, self-learning activity. For more details, visit www.cfpc.ca or www.royalcollege.ca
Complete a Linking Learning exercise* for an additional 5 Mainpro+ certified credits or Maintenance of Certification Program (MOC) Section 3 credits for Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) members.
Peer Comparisons
The peer comparison data included in MD Snapshot - Prescribing allows physicians to compare their prescribing activities to the prescribing activity of their peers.
Physicians are assigned to a group representing their primary specialty for comparison. These specialities are self-reported by physicians. Learn about MD Snapshot - Prescribing Comparison groups.
Linking Learning exercise* example:
Select 5 to 10 patients and for each of them, ask yourself the following:
- Is the therapy indicated and appropriate?
- Are there safer pharmaceutical and/or non-pharmaceutical options available?
- Can I further optimize prescribing for my patient?
Where do we get the data for MD Snapshot - Prescribing?
MD Snapshot – Prescribing contains patient-level prescribing data and details on how it relates to clinical practice guidelines. Alberta Netcare’s Pharmaceutical Information Network (PIN) is the primary data source for MD Snapshot – Prescribing however the data we have access to via PIN is limited.
The dispensing information in PIN is entered manually at the community pharmacy level. Manual data input increases the risk of data-entry errors such as transcription and attribution errors. Although the error percentage is low, errors can happen. If you notice an error on your MD Snapshot - Prescribing, please contact us.
Physicians who were asked to pilot the online version of MD Snapshot via the Physician Portal will have access to aggregated and patient-specific data. This data includes long-term prescribing trends.
Learn more about MD Snapshot – Prescribing with this 30-minute webinar:
Prescribing Trends
The College distributes MD Snapshot-Prescribing to help physicians self-reflect, optimize their practice and increase their prescribing awareness. Alberta physicians have told us they value the report and would like to receive it regularly. Our members are using this information to improve their individual practices. This is collectively contributing to safer and more judicious prescribing for Albertans (see below).
“Excellent to have the info, helps bring multi-doc Rx’s to my attention. I also will be interfacing with my Panel Manager to implement a review and proactive plan with each of the patients…. I strongly endorse continuation of this program/feedback.”Alberta Physician who received MD Snapshot - Prescribing
PRESCRIBING RESOURCES
Looking for Practice Tools and Resources? Visit the Prescribing Resources & Tools page to find more information on:
- Opioids
- Benzodiazepines
- Opioid Dependence
- Antimicrobials
- Training
- and more!
Additional Resources
- Prescribing: Drugs Associated with Substance Use Disorders or Substance-Related Harm
- Also see related Advice Document
- Prescribing: Administration
- Also see related Advice Document
- Physician Dispensing of Schedule 1 & 2 Drugs
- Ensuring Safe and Efficient Communication of Medication Prescriptions
- Terms and Conditions for Filling Prescriptions for Ambulatory Patients
- Cannabis for Medical Purposes
- Opioid Agonist Treatment Program
- Opioid Use Disorder – Telephone Consultation (AHS)
- Practical Workshop: Identifying and Treating Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care
- Triplicate Prescription Program (TPP)
- TPP Alberta – OME and DDD Conversion Factors
FAQ – PRESCRIBING
WE CAN HELP
Physician Prescribing Practices Program
780-969-4935 or 1-800-561-3899 Ext. 4935 (in Canada)