FAQs - Medications Feed (HL7)

Question

Response

If I’ve already sent medications in for a patient, how can I delete all of the patient’s medications in PKB?

There isn't a way to delete all medications you sent previously into PKB.

If you have previously sent medications into PKB for a patient, and there is a change that means the patient should no longer have any medications in PKB, you must send an A28/31 message that contains a ZRX segment with at least one medication entry, for example: "No Known medications". 

Note:  There is a place in the HL7 message for a medication’s end date.  If a medication is discontinued, PKB recommends the medication is sent with the end date rather than trying to remove it entirely.

Is there a way to update one medication in PKB and not have to send the whole list?

No.  PKB purges and replaces all medication data for a patient record sent previously from the sending source.  

In order to prevent an existing medication in the PKB record from being removed, we recommend that the full list of medications is always provided.

What’s the minimum data required to create a medication in PKB?

The medication name is the only required field.

What happens if the message sent containing medications gets quarantined in the org admin queue (e.g., status other than 01 or mismatch on dob)

The medications are not processed until the message is manually released from the org admin quarantine queue.

Does a patient get notified if medications are sent into PKB?

Yes, the patient will receive an email notification, but there is a maximum of one notification sent per day for a few data types, including medications.  See our manual for more details on limits placed on notifications.

What happens when an active medication reaches the end date that was sent in with the medication?

If a medication has an end date in the past, the medication will appear in the Past medications section of the UI.

If a medication has an end date in the future, the medication will appear in PKB's UI under “Current Medications” until the end date is reached, at which time the medication will automatically move to the Past medications section of the UI.

What happens if a medication was sent without an end date?

If there is no end date present, the medication will always appear as a Current Medicine in PKB.

What does PKB consider a duplicate medication?

A medication is identified as being duplicate if the medication code, start timestamp, and end timestamp match that of another ZRX segment within the message. 

When coding values are not supplied then the check references the medication text. 

The duplicate check is conducted versus the other ZRX segments in the message.

See our wiki here in the table under the Description field for the ZRX segment for further details.