RxNorm May 2023 Monthly Release

RxNorm May 2023 Monthly Release. NLM Tech Bull. 2023 May-Jun;(452):b4.

The RxNorm May 2023 monthly release became available on Monday, May 1, 2023 and includes changes to over-the-counter cough, cold, and flu packs.

DATA CHANGES

Changes to Cough, Cold, and Flu Packs

Quantity factors were simplified to the number one on over-the-counter (OTC) cough, cold, and flu medication packs that are Drug Delivery Devices starting with the RxNorm May 2023 release. This project will take several months to complete.

RxNorm names and RxNorm Concept Unique Identifiers (RXCUIs) were changed. Here are examples of the type of name changes to expect:

Example 1 (Volumes deleted)

Original name:
{1 (240 ML) (acetaminophen 21.7 MG/ML / dextromethorphan hydrobromide 0.667 MG/ML / doxylamine succinate 0.417 MG/ML Oral Solution) / 1 (240 ML) (acetaminophen 21.7 MG/ML / dextromethorphan hydrobromide 0.667 MG Oral Solution) } Pack

New name:
{1 (acetaminophen 21.7 MG/ML / dextromethorphan hydrobromide 0.667 MG/ML / doxylamine succinate 0.417 MG/ML Oral Solution) / 1 (acetaminophen 21.7 MG/ML / dextromethorphan hydrobromide 0.667 MG Oral Solution) } Pack

Example 2 (Quantity factor changed to one)

Original name:
{12 (acetaminophen 325 MG / chlorpheniramine maleate 2 MG / phenylephrine hydrochloride 5 MG Oral Tablet) / 12 (acetaminophen 325 MG / phenylephrine hydrochloride 5 MG Oral Tablet) } Pack

New name:
{1 (acetaminophen 325 MG / chlorpheniramine maleate 2 MG / phenylephrine hydrochloride 5 MG Oral Tablet) / 1 (acetaminophen 325 MG / phenylephrine hydrochloride 5 MG Oral Tablet) } Pack

The RxNorm terminology generally does not include package size in product names. OTC cough, cold, and flu packages are not necessarily intended to be used by one person only and do not require a person to use the entire pack. Thus, it is not critical to include detailed quantity factors for OTC cough, cold, and flu packages. Changing quantity factors on OTC cough, cold, and flu packs will simplify the work of RxNorm editors and improve the quality of RxNorm.

UPCOMING DATA CHANGES

Removal of MeSH from RxNorm

As previously announced on April 4, 2023, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) will no longer include Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in RxNorm after the RxNorm October 2023 release. In other words, the RxNorm October 2023 monthly release will be the last version of RxNorm containing MeSH data. The RxNorm November 2023 release will not contain MeSH data. This will better focus our development efforts on clinical drug vocabularies in RxNorm. Please plan accordingly.

MeSH content will continue to be available from MeSH directly and from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) despite the changes in RxNorm.

More information on how to obtain MeSH and RxNorm data from the UMLS Metathesaurus will be coming soon. In the meantime, we welcome you to become familiar with the UMLS as a resource for obtaining RxNorm and MeSH content in the future.

The MeSH thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary used for indexing, cataloging, and searching for biomedical and health-related information and documents. The UMLS integrates and distributes key terminology, classification and coding standards, and associated resources to promote creation of more effective and interoperable biomedical information systems and services, including electronic health records.