Surescripts Upcoming Changes Effective October 2024

Created September 17, 2024 By MDScripts

Article Summary

Surescripts Upcoming change that will affect a very small number of NewRx messages.


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FAQ

What are some examples of Sigs that will be affected by these changes?

The criteria for SigReturn:

  1. Incomplete sigtext strings:
    1. Composed solely of one character or only special characters
      • Examples: ?1?, ?---?, ?.?
    2. Missing several essential sig elements such as dose, route or frequency
      • Examples: ?oral?, ?once?, ?IM?, ?n/a?, ?po?
    3. Conflicting sigtext strings:
      1. Contain one or more instructions that conflict and require pharmacy clarification
        • Example: ?Take 1 capsule by mouth twice a day once daily?
      2. Exclusions: Controlled substances and meds without NDCs (ie most supplies or compounds)
        1. We made the decision to exclude controlled substances because they could potentially be harder for the clinical teams to resend the scripts

Are there limitations regarding this intervention?

This logic will only look at the field, so if there are Sig instructions inappropriately placed in the field, for example, that information will not be taken into consideration. Furthermore, this intervention will only capture pre-defined Sig strings, so it will NOT capture all conflicting or incomplete Sigs due to free-text nature of the Sig field.

What will the error for Sig return look like?

It will be a 900-error code, meaning the transaction will be immediately rejected, sent back to the provider in their EHR, and will not be sent to the pharmacy. For reference, other examples of 900 errors include invalid schema or missing requirements for EPCS transmission.

Will our EHR customers have to do any additional development or work related to this change?

No, the 900-error type is not unique, but we encourage EHRs to evaluate their error management process to ensure clinical teams have timely insight into this type of error.

Can my organization opt out of the SigReturn intervention?

No, to reduce the risk of patient safety events, Surescripts is proactively rolling out this intervention to address the these issues with Sig on the network