The MD ordered, “hydromorphone PCA infusion premix 30 mg/ 30ml NS. The order instruction included PCA setting - basal rate 0 mg/hr, bolus dose 0.3mg, lockout 7 min, max dose/hr;1.2mg.  Since this basal rate is, “0” if the patient did not receive a dose of the narcotic, it does not seem appropriate to include the patient in the measure.

In this case, our vendor verified that the logic was working correctly using the mapping for the Rx Norm Code despite the fact that the patient was not receiving any narcotic at that time.

Questions:

1. Do the current RX Norm codes include PCA infusions with a basal rate?
2. If so, why is the logic picking up the a PCA infusion with a 0 basal rate?
3. If not, should there be consideration for an RX Norm code for PCA infusions with a basal rate with a numeric value > 0mg?