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Evaluation of the NCPDP Structured and Codified Sig Format for e-prescriptions.
Hangsheng Liu1, Q Burkhart, Douglas S Bell
1RAND Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts 02116, USA. hliu@rand.org
Summary
The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Structured and Codified Sig Format can represent most ambulatory electronic prescriptions, but further work is needed for codifying terms and addressing ambiguities in multi-step instructions.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Pharmacy Practice
- Electronic Health Records
Background:
- Electronic prescribing systems aim to improve medication safety and efficiency.
- Standardized formats are crucial for interoperability and accurate data representation in e-prescriptions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the capability of the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) Structured and Codified Sig Format.
- To evaluate its effectiveness in representing ambulatory electronic prescriptions.
Main Methods:
- Parsed 20,161 ambulatory e-prescriptions into the NCPDP Sig Format fields.
- Expert review of a random sample of these representations.
- Attempted to map prescriber terms to designated terminology for codified fields.
Main Results:
- The NCPDP Sig Format fully represented 95% of prescriptions.
- Significant ambiguities noted in multi-step instructions.
- Codification success varied: dose delivery (60%), dose forms (84%), vehicles (82%), routes (95%), sites (70%), administration timings (33%), indications (93%).
Conclusions:
- The NCPDP Sig Format effectively represents most ambulatory prescription instructions.
- Further development is required to address ambiguities and ensure comprehensive terminology for codified fields before mandatory adoption.
- Findings are based on a primary care physician-heavy retrospective sample.
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