Error Guidance

this section is designed to help prevent and troubleshoot network errors it does not include every error scenario but addresses many of the common errors and provides specific recommendations related to ncpdp script transactionerrorcodes(s), descriptioncode(s), and other errors experienced on the surescripts network when additional assistance is needed, please contact surescripts support or your assigned account manager this supplement will provide guidance on sending various transactionerrorcode and descriptioncode combinations offer recommendations regarding transactionerrorcode(s) and descriptioncode(s) received identify and reduce errors that impact the effectiveness of transacting on the network preventing errors preventing errors begins by ensuring that the information being sent in a message is schematically valid, meets additional business rules, application certification requirements (acrs), and best practice guidance messages that do not pass schema and business rule validations will result in surescripts errors messages that do not align with best practice guidance may result in a partner rejection general best practice guidance follow all ncpdp schema and conditional workflow validations follow surescripts business rules and application certification requirements displaying error details to the end user may help improve corrective actions needed to fix a message prior to retrying check error reports in workbench message search/dashboard or request reports from surescripts support, as applicable it is recommended that software vendors review these reports and errors returned to their system on a regular basis prevent duplicates and looping retrying messages should be limited to a finite number of attempts and over a limited period, such as 3 5 attempts over a 30 minute time frame setting time parameters when retries are appropriate can help prevent endless loop retries implement system features that do not allow the end user to accidentally resend the same message while waiting for the send process to complete script error guidance see the below table for additional information on transaction error codes transactionerrorcode description recommendation 600 communication problem try again later this error is most commonly used when a point in communication is disrupted and the sender should consider resending the message retrying a message with the same messageid and senttime should be reserved for issues with connectivity retrying this message type with or without the same messageid and senttime may also be dependent on the descriptioncode note when no descriptioncode is sent or when sent in combination with a descriptioncode of 008, surescripts will retry and then error or send as a fax if fax criteria are met 601 receiver unable to process a message that received this error should only be retried if the issue can be identified and corrected this error message indicates the need for a new messageid and senttime due to tracking when a message is corrected note when no descriptioncode is sent and the message does meet the fax criteria, then the fax error message faxable error message (fem) would be sent to the recipient faxable error message indicates an communication error has been encountered but the message meets fax criteria and can be faxed to the intended recipient 602 receiver system error this error could be caused from connectivity or other receiver system issues retrying this message type with or without the same messageid and senttime is dependent on the descriptioncode note when no descriptioncode is sent and the message does meet the fax criteria, then the fem would be sent to the recipient 700 configuration error only retry if issue can be identified and corrected this error is most commonly used when transaction types are not supported note when no descriptioncode is sent and the message does meet the fax criteria, then the fem would be sent to the recipient 900 transaction rejected this error should be reserved for issues identified by intermediaries only retry if the issue can be identified and corrected retrying this message type with or without the same messageid and senttime is dependent on the descriptioncode note no faxing occurs for this error type see the table below for additional information on general error description codes error descriptioncode description recommendation 008 request timed out before response could be received best practice use with a 600 or 602 error will be retried and then faxed by surescripts if faxing criteria are met 103 coo cardholder last name is invalid best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 134 sending a quantity sufficient with quantity of 0 is invalid for this pharmacy best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 144 number of refills invalid best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 210 unable to process transaction please resubmit best practice use with transactionerrorcode 600 could also be used with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 it is best to include free text to specifically identify the issue note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 220 transaction is a duplicate best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 do not retry 500 xml syntax error – parser error (error that would be caught by the xml parser xpath of the element must accompany) best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 free text is helpful with this combination note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 1000 unable to identify based on the information submitted (xpath of the element must accompany) best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 additional free text is useful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 2000 data format is valid for the element, but content is invalid for the situation/context (xpath of the element must accompany) best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 additional free text is useful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 3000 does not follow ncpdp standard or implementation guide rules (xpath of the element must accompany) best practice use with transactionerrorcode 601 or 900 additional free text is useful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 4000 intermediary is unable to deliver transaction to the recipient best practice use with transactionerrorcode 600 or 602 sent by intermediaries when used in combination with transactionerrorcode 600, retry is due to connectivity issue when used with transactionerrorcode 602, additional free text may be helpful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 4010 intermediary is unable to process response from recipient best practice use with transactionerrorcode 600 or 602 sent by intermediaries when used in combination with 600, retry is due to connectivity issue when used with 602 additional free text may be helpful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 4020 intermediary system error best practice use with transactionerrorcode 900 sent by intermediaries may also be used with 602 error code, additional free text may be helpful note it is okay to try the message again with a new messageid and senttime when correction has been made 4030 sender not allowed to send this transaction type best practice use with transactionerrorcode 700 configuration error 4040 receiver does not support receiving this transaction type best practice use with transactionerrorcode 700 configuration error null value when no descriptioncode is sent and no free text accompanies the error code best practice transactionerrorcode 600 would be retried by surescripts and then faxed if criteria for faxing are met if transactionerrorcode 601, 602, or 700 are sent and no descriptioncode is sent, then surescripts will fax if the faxing criteria are met transactionerrorcode 900 with no descriptioncode will be passed to the recipient, free text is recommended null value free text best practice when sending free text send enough information to the receiver to identify what corrections (if any) need to be addressed prior to resending or specify not to resend if message should not be resent then specify in free text with reason not to resend (e g , "do not retry, duplicate") if the error has a transactionerrorcode but no descriptioncode and does not meet the fax criteria, then the free text will be passed to the recipient if the error has a transactionerrorcode but no descriptioncode and does meet the fax criteria, then the fem would be sent to the recipient additional error guidance network errors are seen in several forms and are broken down by types or categories of validation this section covers some of the common errors that surescripts validates and related best practice guidance schema validations surescripts validates incoming messages per the ncpdp schema, which can be a large portion of errors seen on the network some common validations that violate schema include datatype errors these errors include invalid character types sent within an element example alpha characters in a numeric only field missing or incomplete elements these errors are usually caused by a system not correctly removing all the appropriate xsd identifiers of an element and sending incomplete tags example a conditional element that has an opening tag, no value, and no closing tag codified values surescripts does not validate that all codified values pointing to an external code set are up to date or accurate per the associated code set (e g , icd 10 or snomed ct codes) sending systems should ensure that the codified values they are sending are accurate and valid prior to sending the electronic message when specific codified values are identified by ncpdp, surescripts will communicate to the network if updates are required to pass validation or if we will allow values to pass and leave it to the receiving system to identify or error datatype designation adhere to the datatype designation to avoid these errors this can be accommodated by restricting character types in the application directory errors when local directory download files are out of alignment or service levels are not present for the intended message types being sent, errors can occur keeping local directories updated with current information can help avoid common directory related errors directory error details replaced/updated routing identifier records if an spi moves refill services for a specific location or if a new ncpdpid replaces an old, expired one, the sender should ensure they are moving activity to the alternate identified route based on service levels and enablement dates out of sync directory records services listed on the surescripts directory do not match up with the owner set up these will often be "partner responded" errors and require the record owner to review/update the surescripts record accordingly directory related content errors can occur when fields do not meet defined business rules or an element is determined (i e , dea number) as expired or does not conform to expected formatting (i e , npi luhn check) missing required elements should be corrected for successful activity permission/record access if a record (spi or ncpdp) has changed owner via a change of vendor, and the previous record owner attempts to use that record to send a message, an authentication error will occur a record must be aligned with the account associated with the authenticating mtls certificate in order to transact contact surescripts support if you encounter an authentication failure and need further assistance best practice guidance/requirements record management ensure that registered records are current and up to date for the location surescripts suggests quarterly review of all owned records learning directory if using the learning directory feature to maintain practice locations, ensure that message content is properly formatted and includes the practice location for the patient encounter use directory messaging to ensure updates made at the local practice/store are pushed in near real time and can be in sync for the most current services when directory messaging is not available, have updates made within 24 hours against the surescripts directory obtain a download export daily and pass along to the end users within 24 hours for more information, please see the application certification requirements section in the directory implementation guide docid\ wewxqy1rx7 g9qxaspwyx the absence of a record in full version of the download export file should be treated as a disabled record frequent receiver validation errors errors can also occur after receipt of a message and be returned by the receiving system, after review of the message content some of the most common partner responded errors returned can be found below duplicate messages are by far the most common customer rejection on the network across e prescribing message types invalid codified values ndc issues for example, mismatched, expired, or unidentifiable codes error messages sent in relation to an expired prescription errors sent for messages after responses were received non electronically epcs issues missing or incorrect dea number missing or incorrect dea schedules digital signatures that are incomplete digital signature indicators that are missing within a fillable transaction exceeding maximum allowed refills validations on response type example incorrect changes made on a rxrenewalresponse > approved expired written date best practice guidance using only approved and up to date codified values of the right datatype and character limits validating controlled substance prescription messages for correct prescriber dea number dea schedule digital signature components of indicator state and federal allowed maximum refills follow the applicable application certification requirements (acrs) and guidance for the fields that can be sent on a response based on the response type validate the written date ncpdp and surescripts provide guidance on this field