The Office of the Secretary (OS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published in the Federal Register today, a proposed rule to modify the HIPAA National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) D.0 Transaction Standard. The published summary of the proposed rule is:
“This proposed rule would adopt a modification to the requirements for the use of the Telecommunication Standard Implementation Guide, Version D, Release 0 (Version D.0), August 2007, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, by requiring covered entities to use the Quantity Prescribed (460–ET) field for retail pharmacy transactions for Schedule II drugs. The modification would enable covered entities to clearly distinguish whether a prescription is a ‘partial fill,’ where less than the full amount prescribed is dispensed, or a refill, in the HIPAA retail pharmacy transactions. We believe this modification is important to ensure information is available to help prevent impermissible refills of Schedule II drugs, which would help to address the public health concerns associated with prescription drug abuse in the United States.”
HHS requests public comment on the proposed rule by April 1, 2019, with information on how to submit public comment in the proposed rule.