Medications

A Data Element type should be named in the singular

To avoid confusion Data Classes can be named in the plural form, but Data Element types should be named in the singular form.

More clarity is needed sooner for the Medications Data Class

Currently, the Medications data class presents many interoperability challenges.  Work done within C-CDA shows there remains a great deal of confusion over how to represent medication information that is gathered from a patient's report of the medications they say they take versus actual medication administration reports documented by providers who are administering medications to the patient. Also challenging is the representation of medications that are prescribed by a provider. Prescribed medications may or may not actually be taken by the patient.  The growing number of data elements in the Medications data class is a sign of the complexity of this data class.  A much larger effort is needed to straighten out the definitions and representations of the many nuanced aspects of this data class. The assessment and planning for this data class needs to be done sooner rather than later. It needs to be a top-down exercise, not a bottom-up exercise in order for all the many data element parts to actually make sense together.