There is no benefit to an operational biopharmaceutical supply system if those in need cannot get or do not know where to get their medications. It is critical that the general public be able to locate nearby open pharmacies in a disaster or emergency event. In addition, emergency management agencies and departments of health need to quickly understand an event’s impact on public health in a disaster area. Part of that knowledge is understanding the accessibility of medicine within the affected area.

To meet these two critical needs, Rx Response partnered with the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), as well as the pharmacy switches/clearinghouses responsible for processing pharmacy payments – eRx Network (an Emdeon company) and RelayHealth. These partnerships form the basis of the Emergency Pharmacy Status Reporting tool.

Once a request is made by a state emergency or public health official to begin pharmacy status reporting, Rx Response requests a list of all NCPDP pharmacies within an affected disaster area. At the same time, Rx Response requests that the pharmacy switches/clearinghouses begin providing a daily list of all pharmacies that are billing within the affected area.

The data is then merged and filtered to display only those zip codes listed within disaster declarations. Once the data is processed, Rx Response displays both a graphical, searchable map and downloadable Excel file of all known pharmacies (displayed on the map using orange icons), all open pharmacies (green icons), and any known affected/closed pharmacies (red icons). The images below show examples of these icons and what the map may look like if activated for an affected region.

Example Pharmacy Status Reporting Maps and Icons:

Green icon (open, billing pharmacies):

Yellow icon (known, but status unknown pharmacies):

Red icon (pharmacies reporting issues):

Pharmacy Status Reporting Tool as used during the April 2009 Florida and Georgia Flooding