Glossary Definitions

Term	Definition
Category search	A search that enables you to use therapeutic categories to find the list of drugs.
Electronic prescription	A prescription sent directly from the provider to a pharmacy through Surescripts.
Favorite prescription	A medication that you routinely prescribe for your patients. Favorite prescriptions include the sig and strength information. For more information on adding and modifying favorite prescriptions, go to Managing Favorite Prescriptions.
Fax prescription	A prescription sent directly to the pharmacy’s fax machine.
Formulary	A list of drugs that provides information on coverage and copays from the patient’s insurance or health plan. Formulary information is obtained from Surescripts. Surescripts may not, however, provide information for all government-funded formularies and some small regional payers. If a patient has more than one insurance carrier, you can select formulary information for the appropriate insurance carrier when you are prescribing a medication.
Formulary coverage codes	Codes that determine the prescription drug benefit coverage for a particular medication, such as step therapy (ST) or prior authorization (PA). For a list of codes and definitions, go to Formulary Codes (ePrescribing).
Formulary status	A status that is determined by the health plan. Drugs can have a formulary or nonformulary status or a preferred status such as P1, P2, etc. For a list of statuses and definitions, go to Formulary Codes (ePrescribing).
Medication	A drug that the patient is currently taking.
Medication history	A list of medications that the patient has taken in the past. This information may be obtained from ExamWRITER and the medication drug history. The medication drug history contains pharmacy history of up to two years for all patients whose insurance companies and pharmacies provide this information to Surescripts. For more information, go to Viewing Medication History.
Prescription	Oral, written, faxed, or electronic order of medication.
Prescription status	A status that provides transmission information on the prescription you sent and whether it has been received by the pharmacy.
Provider	Health care professional such as MD, DO, NP, or PA.
Refills	The number of times a prescription can be refilled at the pharmacy without requiring a new prescription.
Renewals	Requests from the pharmacy to obtain additional refills on a prescription or to receive an updated prescription if it has expired. For more information on renewing prescriptions, go to Renewing Prescriptions.