The American Society for Automation in Pharmacy (ASAP) has begun work on the next release of its standard used nationwide by prescription-monitoring programs (PMPs). The organization reviews the standard every two years to see what needs to be changed or added in order to improve the quality of the information reported on controlled substances dispensed in this country. Another reason for the review is to consider changes that will reduce the number of records being rejected that must be resubmitted by pharmacies.

The ASAP PMP workgroup involves participation by all industry stakeholders, ranging from prescription-monitoring programs to drug chains and system vendors.

The next release of the standard will also be available in XML. The current 4.1 version of the standard was published in 2009.

See Conference Circuit of the July/August 2011 issue, page 51, for coverage of the ASAP 2011 Midyear Conference.