RxNorm August 2020 Release

RxNorm August 2020 Release. NLM Tech Bull. 2020 Jul-Aug;(435):b7.

The RxNorm August monthly release became available for download on Monday, August 3, 2020 and includes the new Qualitative Distinction "Twice-Daily." See below for more details. 

New Qualitative Distinction

Qualitative Distinction (QD) modifiers allow flexibility in the RxNorm model to create a new RxNorm Concept Unique Identifier (RXCUI) or differentiate an existing medication concept when needed. The August 2020 release includes the new QD "Twice-Daily" for the following active concepts:

RXCUI              TTY       String

855626            SCD      Twice-Daily diclofenac epolamine 0.013 MG/MG Medicated Patch

855628            SBD      Twice-Daily diclofenac epolamine 0.013 MG/MG Medicated Patch [Flector]

For each SCD or SBD with a QD, there is an associated attribute in RXNSAT with the attribute name (ATN) of 'RXN_QUALITATIVE_DISTINCTION.' The August release contains the following new attribute value (ATV) to match the QD strings found in the SCD and SBD normalized names:

• Twice-Daily

Notice of Upcoming Data Changes

As a courtesy to users, this section provides advance notice of possible upcoming RxNorm data changes. More information about each change will be provided or repeated in the future. Please note that planned data changes and timelines may change if issues arise.

• Unique ISMP Tall Man Lettering Names will be added in September 2020 release
• RxNorm currently uses the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) List of Established Drug Names Recommended to Use Tall Man Lettering (TML), which overlaps heavily with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) List of Look-Alike Drug Names with Recommended Tall Man Letters. The RxNorm September 2020 release will include unique ISMP TML names absent from the FDA list to provide more comprehensive TML medication names.