WG18 Specialty Pharmacy meets in-person during NCPDP’s Joint Technical Work Group Meetings. Work Groups meet on a quarterly basis (February, May, August, and November). Please click here for information on the next meeting. Registration for NCPDP’s Joint Technical Work Group Meetings provides access to all work group meetings during the event.
There are several Task Groups actively focused on ensuring the successful electronic exchange of information related to specialty pharmacy and products. Other task groups may be addressing items that impact specialty prescribing, dispensing, billing or reporting.
Work Group Co-Chairs:
Pooja Babbrah
Julie Hessick
Laura Topor
Please consider joining one or more of the following Task Groups to share your expertise and gain knowledge. Task group calls are open to NCPDP members and non-members, and you may join a task group at any time. Information and instructions for joining the task groups can be found by clicking here.
WG 18 Specialty Pharmacy Data Exchange Task Group
Task Group will standardize documentation, reporting or data exchange to support programs and agreements between specialty pharmacy stakeholders such as specialty pharmacies, manufacturers, PBMs, hubs, data aggregators, and payers. This could occur via the creation of new standards or the modification of existing NCPDP standards.
Task Group Leads:
Bryan Odegard
Laura Topor
WG 18 Specialty Requirements for ePrescribing Task Group
In the specialty pharmacy realm, there is often additional information needed before a prescription can be dispensed. This information is provided by the prescriber (or someone in the prescriber’s office). This information includes additional patient demographic and clinical information, order-specific clinical information and instructions related to delivery of the medication (i.e. to the patient or the clinic, nursing services required). This information would be added to the appropriate SCRIPT Standard and/or Specialized Standard transactions, depending on analysis.
Task Group Leads:
Maggie Buchinger
Michelle Kidd
WG 18 Stakeholder Outreach and Education Task Group
This task group will identify and provide outreach to Specialty Pharmacy Stakeholders in an effort to facilitate engagement in the Specialty WG 18. Educational opportunities will be identified and facilitated based on input from stakeholders.
Task Group Leads:
Michelle Wong
WG 18 Benefit Coverage Identification Task Group
This task group was created to address the areas of opportunity related to determining if coverage is through the medical or pharmacy benefit.
Task Group Leads:
Harold Barnes
Jason Reed
WG 18 Patient Consent Task Group
The goal of this task group is to allow for the electronic exchange of patient consent information for the purpose of transmitting such information in DME and Specialty Pharmacy related transactions. Patient consent may cover the following: required authorizations under HIPAA, required individual state consent language, authorizations for release of records (including medical records), consent to work with patient’s insurance company, and consent to receive marketing communications. This task group aims to fully capture any necessary electronic patient consent and authorization to allow DME and Specialty Pharmacy prescribers to send electronic prescription information and authorizations when needed in electronic transaction(s).
Task Group Leads:
Tammy Baxter
Amy Konak
Sharon Gruttadauria
WG 18 Facilitating Pre-Prescribing Information Access Task Group
The goal of this task group is to improve communication and access to information around specialty and/or limited distribution products from sources other than the payer. The task group will determine a course of action for each area of opportunity:
- • Specialty Product Distribution
- • Hub Services
Task Group Leads:
Amy Konak
Elizabeth Gibson