Readback

Prescription intake that proves it did not mishear

Start a call

Your microphone opens and the agent takes the order one field at a time.

Say the patient's name, the drug and its strength, how to take it, and the prescriber's NPI. Anything that cannot be proved is asked again.

For example

  1. “Patient Sam Rivera.”

    Patient name

  2. “Lisinopril, ten milligrams, one tablet by mouth once daily, thirty tablets.”

    Drug nameStrengthRouteHow to take itQuantity

  3. “Prescriber NPI one two three four five six seven eight nine three.”

    Prescriber NPI1234567893

Judging? Watch the 14-second replay

The drug, its strength, the quantity, how to take it and the patient's name are read back to you before they are written; an NPI or DEA number is checked by arithmetic instead. A drug name on a published look-alike list is asked again, even when the recognizer is certain.

What each field must pass before it is written

Nothing reaches the order on the agent's word. Every value is proved one of four ways, and the call only commits when every required field is.

Asked by name, never by yes

A drug on the ISMP list of confused drug names is asked again even at full recognizer confidence, and only the name you say answers it.

Drug name
Proved by existence in the built NDC catalogue. There is no check digit here.

Read back to you

You hear the value and confirm it aloud before it is written.

Patient namenot required to commit
No checksum and no catalogue exist, so the voice confirmation is the only proof.
Strength
Proved by the drug, strength, form and route tuple existing together.
Quantity
Proved by a documented integer range.
Sig
Checked against the ISMP error-prone abbreviation list.

Checked by arithmetic

A checksum catches a wrong digit, so the number is not read back unless it fails.

Prescriber NPI
Proved arithmetically: Luhn mod-10 over 80840 plus the first nine digits.
Prescriber DEA
Proved arithmetically: the mod-10 rule over the seven digits.

Checked against the catalogue

The value has to exist with the rest of the order in the NDC catalogue, or sit in a documented range. Asked again when it does not.

Dosage form
Proved as part of the combination, not on its own.
Route
Proved as part of the combination, not on its own.
Refillsnot required to commit
Proved by a documented integer range.
Days supplynot required to commit
Proved by a documented integer range and cross-read against quantity and sig.