Skip to main content

Integration with RxConnect

The myAvatar Order Entry and RxConnect integration determines the formulary status of a medication and communicates pharmacy fill details.

Avatar Order Entry and RxConnect formularies are integrated at the Composite Generic ID (CGI) level. In RxConnect, a given CGI may belong to multiple Composite Size IDs (CSIs), which in RxConnect equate to multiple templates (Drug Masters). As part of this integration, when a medication's on-formulary status is changed in RxConnect, the on-formulary status of the corresponding order codes in myAvatar Order Entry can be updated automatically through the use of the two formulary synchronization registry settings described in the Before You Begin section below.

When a drug is flagged as on-formulary in myAvatar Order Entry, the formulary sync web service invoked by RxConnect will attempt to activate all brand-name versions and one generic-name version of on-formulary items. The corresponding order codes are set as on formulary and are activated. If a drug is flagged as non-formulary, the corresponding order codes are set as non-formulary and are deactivated. Where the CGI is used to determine formulary status and the order codes are on-formulary, myAvatar Order Entry activates the order codes based on the Brand or Generic attribute from the Order Code Setup form:

  • all order codes with the indicated CGI that have the Brand or Generic attribute set to 'Brand'
  • only one order code of those that have the indicated CGI with the Brand or Generic attribute set to 'Generic'
  • if no Generic order codes are found, all order codes that have the indicated CGI that have the Brand or Generic attribute set to 'Branded Generic'

If myAvatar Order Entry 2015 Update 3 is installed, the formulary synchronization process includes the ability to track the activated/deactivated and formulary statuses of pharmacy-type orders based on the Pharmacy Facility ID. This functionality may be useful in situations where more than one actual facility exists within an myAvatar Root System Code or when the clients in one myAvatar Root System Code are split among multiple facility pharmacies and also when user-defined System Codes are in use in myAvatar and are mapped to the separate facility pharmacies. To use this feature, you must re-synchronize the pharmacies' formularies from RxConnect to myAvatar . In addition, Avatar Order Entry users must log in to myAvatar via the user-defined system codes, as the Order Code statuses that are normally tracked at the Root System Code level will be unreliable due to potential differences in the separate pharmacies' formularies. Also as part of this updated process, when setting order codes as being formulary items, the generic order code that is activated is more likely to be an order code that has the medication's actual generic name as the description.

The following graphic shows how formulary information is transmitted between Avatar Order Entry and RxConnect. In myAvatar Order Entry the physician selects a drug with a given CGI in myAvatar and transmits this information to RxConnect. In RxConnect the pharmacist is presented with the hospital templates (drug masters) that have the CGI and selects the appropriate drug master that contains the CGI. RxConnect sends drug information to myAvatar Order Entry that includes each CGI that is on-formulary for the hospital, along with an NDC of a representative drug. This process also sends non-Red Book drugs that are on-formulary. In myAvatar Order Entry this information is displayed to the user at the time of order entry.

Avatar considers all CGIs and non-Red Book drugs included in the web service call from RxConnect to be the only CGIs on formulary in myAvatar Order Entry. In other words, if a CGI is present in myAvatar Order Entry but is not included in the RxConnect web service call, myAvatar assumes the CGI is non-formulary. Essentially, RxConnect controls what drugs are shown as on-formulary in myAvatar Order Entry.

 

HL7 outbound order messages send from myAvatar Order Entry to the pharmacy include a Placer Group Number (ORC-4) for new orders and recurring order messages. The Placer Group Number identifies the pharmacy that fills the order.

Avatar Order Entry does not support the following actions for orders sent to RxConnect:

  • Create an order specifying dispense as written.
  • Change an order
  • Renew a stopped order or discontinued order

See NCPDP Processing for information regarding how pharmacy fill details are handled in myAvatar Order Entry and RxConnect.

Prerequisites:

Complete the following tasks to integrate the myAvatar Order Entry formulary with the RxConnect formulary. Refer to the RxConnect online help for RxConnect setup tasks.

  1. Install the myAvatar RxConnect module in the parent namespace.
  2. Make sure the current root system code is set up to transmit outbound orders to RxConnect via an HL7 connection.
  3. Use the 'Enable Formulary Status Synchronization From Pharmacy System' and 'Deactivate Non-Formulary Order Codes Via Formulary Synchronization' registry settings to synchronize the sharing of formulary information between myAvatar Order Entry and RxConnect. If the Enable Formulary Status Synchronization from Pharmacy System registry setting is set to Y, the formulary status of pharmacy-type order codes is relinquished to the pharmacy system.
  4. Use the Order Code Settings By Root System Code (Auto-Sync) form to mark order codes as formulary/non-formulary at the facility level on an exception basis to the Auto-Sync. The synchronization process will support facility-specific formulary status whenever the synchronization message from the pharmacy (RxConnect) is for a non-master facility in an Auto-Sync environment.
  5. Install myAvatar PM 2008 Enhancement 493 (Update 1168) or its equivalent, and configure the myAvatar HL7 outbound orders integration to enable and support the Placer Group Number functionality.

► Registry Settings

 

  • Was this article helpful?