NCPDP Foundation - Home

About the Foundation
The NCPDP Foundation funds research that can transform the way your healthcare providers communicate with one another and with you, leading to better and safer healthcare. Our focus is on increasing the use of standards to make the electronic exchange of healthcare information more accurate, complete and timely.
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Research Priorities
Industry standards provide the framework for an interoperable healthcare ecosystem with better communication and coordination among everyone involved in a patient’s care. Donations to the NCPDP Foundation fund research and pilots to accelerate adoption of those standards. The priority is on projects that validate the benefits of implementing NCPDP standards that improve medication safety, timely access to needed medications, and adherence to medication therapies.
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Recent Grants
Most recently, the Foundation awarded grants for projects that will help: prevent unnecessary dispensing of controlled substances, thereby helping to abate the opioid crisis; provide prescription benefit and patient out-of-pocket cost information at the point of care to increase speed to therapy and adherence to medications; decrease adverse events that harm patients when a prescription is discontinued, but not cancelled.
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NCPDP Foundation Awards $102,300 Research Grant to University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy to Evaluate the NCPDP/HL7 Specialty Medication Enrollment Standard

The NCPDP Foundation Board of Trustees announced it has awarded a $102,300 research grant to the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy to evaluate the quality of data obtained from EHRs using the NCPDP/HL7 Specialty Medication Enrollment Standard. The Standard provides for the exchange of patient demographic data, as well as coverage, prescription, and clinical data for pharmacy dispensing of specialty medications. It also facilitates enrollment of patients in programs offered by third parties such as hub vendors and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The research project aims to evaluate the frequency at which information received by specialty pharmacy from EHRs is populated; evaluate the quality of information received by specialty pharmacy from EHRs using a comprehensive evidence-based data quality framework; and evaluate the clinical usefulness of information received by specialty pharmacy. Read More.

Foundation Funded Pilot Project Announced: NCPDP Announces Pilot Launch of its National Facilitator Model to Strengthen Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness & Response and Support Public Health Surveillance

Funding for the pilot project is provided by an NCPDP Foundation grant of $150,000 awarded to STChealth. NCPDP announced the pilot launch of its National Facilitator Model which can be used to provide real-time information on prescription, testing, immunization, and related data to pharmacies, prescribers and government agencies to aid in pandemic and epidemic response, proactive intervention and public health surveillance. Read More.

NCPDP Foundation Awards $295,000 in Grants to Enhance Patient Safety, Expand Patient Access to Care, & Expand the Role & Value of Pharmacists

Three grants were awarded in the NCPDP Foundation’s first grant cycle of 2022. Research projects will explore the value and untapped potential of the RxFill or RxChange transactions in the NCPDP SCRIPT Standard. The grants support the NCPDP Foundation’s strategic initiatives to Enhance Patient Safety, Expand Patient Access to Care, and Expand the Role and Value of the Pharmacist. Read More.

NCPDP Foundation Awards Grant to University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy to Identify Barriers to Using Indication/Diagnosis Fields in NCPDP Standards

Research Project Will Explore Barriers to the Use of Clinical Indication or Diagnosis – Underutilized Fields in NCPDP’s SCRIPT and Telecommunication Standards – Which Can Aid Pharmacists in DUR, Reduce Prescribing Errors, Improve Medication Counseling, and Speed Patient Access to Medications and Adherence. Read More.

NCPDP Foundation Announces its Second 2022 Call for Grant Proposals

The NCPDP Foundation Board of Trustees announced its second 2022 call for grant proposals that demonstrate the value of NCPDP standards in supporting patient safety, access to care and the expanded role of pharmacists. Grant proposals must meet the grant proposal requirements and be submitted electronically by August 18, 2022, to be considered for the current grant funding cycle. Read More.

NCPDP Foundation Awards $157,433 Grant to Xact Laboratories to Integrate Pharmacogenomic Data into PBM Systems and Help Inform Pharmacists’ Clinical Decision-Making via NCPDP Standards

The NCPDP Foundation Board of Trustees has awarded a $157,433 grant to Xact Laboratories to integrate pharmacogenomic (PGx) data into Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) systems and/or Pharmacy Benefit Administrator modules to share clinical alerts with pharmacists using NCPDP Standards. Read More.

NCPDP Foundation Announces GoodRx as its Access to Care Founders Gift Donor to Advance Research Priorities

The NCPDP Foundation is pleased to have named GoodRx as its Patient Access to Care Founders Gift Donor. Frannie McGowan, Chief Executive Officer of Scriptcycle, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of GoodRx), will serve as the Patient Access to Care Chair for the Foundation’s Newly Established National Advisory Council (NAC). GoodRx’s donation of $100,000 and Frannie’s support as Chair will support future research projects to help enhance patient access to quality health care. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Announces Surescripts as its Role & Value of Pharmacists Founders Gift Donor to Advance Research Priorities

The NCPDP Foundation today announced Surescripts as its Role & Value of Pharmacist Founders Gift Donor. Surescripts’ donation of $100,000 will support future research projects over the next two years that demonstrate and measure one or more existing or future NCPDP standards that align with the Foundation’s strategic initiative to Expand the Role and Value of the Pharmacist. Surescripts’ Chief Marketing Officer, Melanie Marcus, will serve as the NCPDP Foundation’s National Advisory Council (NAC) Chair for Role and Value of the Pharmacist with support from senior pharmacists and pharmacy experts at Surescripts, NCPA and NACDS. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Announces FDB as its Inaugural Patient Safety Founders Gift Donor to Advance Research Priorities

The NCPDP Foundation today announced FDB (First Databank, Inc.) as its inaugural Patient Safety Founders Gift Donor. FDB’s donation of $100,000 will support future research projects over the next two years that demonstrate and measure one or more existing or future NCPDP standards that align with the Foundation’s strategic initiative to enhance patient safety. FDB President Robert C. (“Bob”) Katter will serve as the NCPDP Foundation’s National Advisory Council (NAC) Chair for Patient Safety. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Announces a Call for Grant Proposals

The NCPDP Foundation is seeking to fund more research projects that demonstrate the value of NCPDP standards in supporting patient safety, access to care, and the expanded role of pharmacists. This may be by providing up-to-date information for improved clinical decision making at the point of care, improving the patient experience, and/or improving workflow efficiencies to reduce provider burden. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Awards Grant to Point-of-Care Partners to Document Clinical and Patient Care Value in NCPDP’s Formulary & Benefit Standard & Added Value of Real-Time Prescription Benefit Standard

The NCPDP Foundation Board of Trustees has awarded a $77,000 grant to Point-of-Care Partners to research and document the value and cost savings of the newly enhanced NCPDP Formulary & Benefit Standard V53, as well as V3. The Standard, which was first developed for use in 2005, enables prescribers to view plan-specific prescription benefit information - including medications on formulary, alternative medications, coverage limitations such as age limits or step therapy rules, and the copay for one product option versus another - prior to prescribing a medication. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Announces Call for Proposals

The NCPDP Foundation is seeking to fund more research projects that demonstrate the value of NCPDP standards in supporting patient safety, access to care and the expanded role of pharmacists, providing up-to[1]date information for improved clinical decision making at the point of care and improving the patient experience. The Foundation has increased both the number and the dollar amount of grants being awarded in the past couple of years. Read More

NCPDP Foundation Awards $115,000 Grant to Point-of-Care Partners to Help Migrate NCPDP Telecommunication Standard to JSON Format

The NCPDP Foundation Board of Trustees announced it awarded a $115,000 grant to Point-of-Care Partners to support the migration of NCPDP’s Telecommunication Standard to a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, enhancing its extensibility and modernizing the real-time pharmacy claims standard. NCPDP’s Telecommunication Standard was first developed in 1988, ushering in a new and unprecedented era of real-time transactions in the pharmacy segment of healthcare. The Telecommunication Standard provides the standardized format to submit prescription drug claims, and includes transactions for eligibility verification, claim and service billing, predetermination of benefits, prior authorization, and information reporting. JSON is an open standard file format, and data interchange format, that uses human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consisting of attribute–value pairs and array data types. Read More.