For EHR / Provider Vendors - Reading the 271
3 min
🟦 audience provider/ehr vendors this content is intended for ehrs, provider systems, and other technology vendors integrating with surescripts provider facing workflows if you support v3 0 read only ref element 2 (ref02) on the fo, cli, ig, and als segments, plus ref n6 (bin/pcn) ignore ref03 and msg segments — surescripts will have already translated the sender's v60 data down into these v3 0 values where the sender was v60 native if you support v60 ref borne files are identified by ref element 3 (ref03) ref fo → element 3 = product exclusion (pe) file id ref cli → element 3 = prior authorization (pa) file id ref ig → element 3 = pharmacy network (pn) file id ref als → element 3 = step therapy products (st) file id all other v60 files are identified by msg segments parse msg01 as <2 char type code>\<file id> — e g , msg alcov pl50 = age limit file cov pl50 ref n6 = bin (iin) and pcn — unchanged detecting the sender's version (absence rule) no ref03 + no msg segments = v3 0 only sender this is the single most useful signal for receivers if a 271 arrives with populated ref02 values but no element 3 values and no msg segments, treat it as a v3 0 only sender and map accordingly identifier constraints you can rely on formulary status id (fo) and alternatives id (al) are ≤10 characters all other file ids are ≤40 characters valid characters a–z, a–z, 0–9, period ( ), dash ( ) the same identifier value may legitimately repeat across multiple ref03/msg fields when a single v3 0 file backs several v60 files — do not treat repetition as an error