The Big List of Pharmacy Terms at PharmSaver

We take pride in simplifying the PharmSaver® experience for our pharmacy and wholesaler users. Unlike some other platforms, we focus on minimizing the time you spend navigating PharmSaver so that you can maximize the time you dedicate to serving your customers. As you explore our site, you might encounter unfamiliar abbreviations or phrases. To save you the trouble of looking them up, we've compiled an all-inclusive list of pharmacy-related terms.

Terms marked with an asterisk "*" at the end are site/technical specific.

Go: A-C, D-I, J-O, P-R, S-Z

Activity Center*	PharmSaver's easy-to-use navigation panel for pharmacies, chains and wholesalers. Shows work to be done or in process on the organization's home page.
Actual Acquisition Cost (AAC)	The state Medicaid agency's determination of the purchase price a pharmacy pays for a drug. Includes actual price and adjustments.
Analytics	The analysis of data used to determine meaningful patterns in the data, such as determining if a drug price is trending up or down based on sales data.
Application Program Interface (API)*	An agreed upon communication method between two or more computer programs, such as Real-Time Inventory checking used by PharmSaver where PharmSaver queries remote wholesaler data to get actual inventory levels.
Audit	A formal review of pharmacy operations and processes to make sure they are compliant with regulations and other agreements. One common audit is drug purchasing by a pharmacy.
Average Manufacturer Price (AMP)	This price uses sales data and reflects discounts to determine average price from a manufacturer to a wholesaler.
Average Wholesale Price (AWP)	This is the average price for a drug at the wholesale level. It is commonly used by third party payers.
B/G = Brand/Generic	A classification of drugs based on how they are sold where the drug shares the same active ingredients. In PharmSaver you will typically see "B" for Brand and "G" for Generic on web pages and reports.
Beta User or Site*	"Beta" is where a real user tests enhancements and changes to a computer system or web site before the change is available to all users.
Biologic	These are drugs that are manufactured or extracted from biological sources (i.e. living organisms).
Biosimilar	These drugs are an almost identical copy of a drug manufactured by a different company.
Brand Drug	Brands are drugs sold under a trademarked name and protected by a patent. Usually marketed by the company that manufactured the drug.
Bulk Upload*	This is a process in PharmSaver where a wholesaler or pharmacy uploads medium to large amounts of data from their computer to PharmSaver for a specific purpose, such as wholesaler inventory or pharmacy utilization.
Business License	A permit issued by a governmental agency. For PharmSaver this is usually your State Pharmacy License.
Buying Group	Buying groups are groups of individually owned pharmacies that pool their purchasing to get better pricing and service.
Comma Separated Values file (CSV)*	This is a computer text file that uses commas to separate different pieces of data.
Cart Genie*	CartGenie! is PharmSaver's proprietary cart "assistant" that helps pharmacies checkout quickly. It makes it simple to redistribute items between wholesalers, find best pricing, switch NDCs, package sizes and more.
Charge Back	A payment returned to the purchaser after the purchaser disputes the transaction.
Compounding	Compounding is the preparation of custom medications to fit a patient's unique needs.
Controlled Substance	A drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession or use is regulated by the government.

DEA Number	A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Number is a unique identifier assigned to pharmacist or healthcare provider so they can write and fill prescriptions for controlled substances.
Dose/ Dosage	The amount of medicine to be taken at a specific time.
Deal of the Day (DOTD)*	These are special deals provided by the wholesaler, usually for one day only.
Discount Code	This is a code used by the pharmacies’ primary wholesaler to reduce the price on specific drugs. Discount codes are used in PharmSaver during a Purchase Order upload to ensure accurate price matching against a primary wholesaler’s PO.
Distribution Center	A wholesaler’s warehouse that is used to ship products to the pharmacy.
Dosage Form	The physical form of a drug, such as tablets, capsules and injectables.
Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS)*	This is a global standard for creating and sharing data across multiple companies. In PharmSaver, these are represented by XML documents that provide drug chain of custody and serialization data.
EZ Entry*	The EZ Entry tool in PharmSaver lets pharmacies quickly load simple lists of NDCs, Quantity to Order and Desired Pricing and the system automatically selects wholesalers based on best price and availability.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)	The Food and Drug Administration is a governmental organization responsible for public health and safety of food, cosmetics and drugs.
Federal Upper Limits (FUL)	This is the weighted average manufacturer price for drugs available for purchase by pharmacies.
Flat Rate Shipping*	In PharmSaver, wholesalers may offer Flat Rate Shipping where a pharmacy pays a flat rate for overnight or ground shipping regardless of the amount of product ordered.
Formulary	Pharmacies can create drug formularies to ensure they consistently order the correct drugs for their facility. This is commonly used with compounding and long-term care pharmacies. In PharmSaver, formularies can be created to allow or block the purchase of drugs by NDC-9.
Generic Drug	A generic is a drug that has the exact same active ingredients as a brand drug but may have different characteristics, such as color, shape and inactive ingredients.
Generic Product Identifier (GPI)	This is a 14-digit number created by Medi-Span therapeutic classification system that allows for easy grouping and matching of drugs by different manufacturers.
Global Location Number (GLN)*	This is a 13-digit number for identifying individual locations, such as a retail pharmacy location or drug warehouse.
Ground Minimum Shipping*	In PharmSaver, this is the minimum order from an individual wholesaler where the wholesaler will ship all items in the order by ground delivery.
Group Purchasing Organization (GPO)	Similar to Buying Groups, GPOs are groups that leverage the buying power of the group to obtain discounts from vendors.
Handling Fee*	This is a fee applied by the wholesaler to cover the cost of fulfilling an order. It usually includes charges for storage, packaging and labor.
Inline Drug	These are drugs that are licensed and available on the market.

Label	Drug labels identity drug contents and specific instructions for use, storage and sometimes disposal.
Lot Expiration	Lot Expiration Dates are used for safety compliance and to ensure the drug is used within the manufacturer recommended shelf life.
Lot Number	Lot Numbers are used to identify products and movement through the supply chain and to assist in quality control and drug recalls.
Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC)	MAC is the maximum allowable reimbursement paid to a pharmacy for generic drugs that are available from different manufacturers.
Multisource Drug	A multi-source drug is a brand drug that is off patent that is still marketed under the brand name despite that generics are available.
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) Drug Distributor Accreditation (DDA)	NABP DDA is an accreditation awarded to wholesalers who operate legitimate, licensed facilities and that use best practices to safely distribute drugs to pharmacies.
National Drug Code (NDC)	An NDC is a unique identifier provided by the FDA for all drugs intended for human use. The NDC consists of three parts – a labeler (manufacturer ID), product code and package code.
National Provider Identifier (NPI)	This is a unique 10-digit identifier for health care providers that allows them to order drugs and some healthcare services and devices. It is required for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
Over-the-Counter (OTC)	OTCs are drugs sold directly to a consumer without the requirement for a prescription.
Offer*	In PharmSaver, Offers are wholesaler inventory items that contain at minimum an NDC, quantity the wholesaler has available to sell and package pricing.
Offer Expires Date*	This is the last date a drug is available for sale by a wholesaler.
Offer Start Date*	This is the first date a drug is available for sale by a wholesaler.
Overnight Minimum Shipping*	In PharmSaver, this is the minimum order from an individual wholesaler where the wholesaler will ship all items in the order by overnight (next day) delivery. Note that some hazardous or heavy items may still ship ground due to courier restrictions.

Package Price*	Package Price is the wholesaler provided price for a drug and package size X package quantity combination. For example, the wholesaler is selling a quantity of 30 omeprazole in a bottle for $3.00. This is different from Unit (Individual item) Price which is the cost of a single dose (tablet, capsule, etc.), such as 1 omeprazole tablet at 10 cents.
Package Quantity	This is the number of inner-packs within a sellable drug “package”. For most drugs listed on PharmSaver, the Package Quantity will be 1. The Package Quantity is a multiplier with Package Size.
Package Size	Package Size is the number of individual items (e.g. tablets) within the package. Common Package Sizes for tablets and capsules may be 30, 60, 900, 500, 1000. The Package Size and Package Quantity are multiplied to determine the total amount of individual items within a sellable package.
Payment Merchant	This term generally refers to a service that securely transmits financial data and authorizes credit and debit card transactions for a business.
Pedigree	Pedigree is an older FDA term describing the statement of origin for a drug including manufacturer and each prior sale or purchase of the drug from the manufacturer to the wholesaler and eventually to the pharmacy.
PharmSaver*	PharmSaver is a dynamic marketplace that empowers pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, and governmental agencies to purchase pharmaceuticals at substantial discounts. Maximizing savings and managing inventory is easy with our online platform. PharmSaver verifies that all participating pharmacies and wholesalers are properly licensed to conduct business in their respective states and this commitment to safety ensures top-quality pharmaceuticals at fantastic prices. Remember - it's ABSOLUTELY FREE for pharmacies to use!
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM)	PBMs are third-party administrators of drug programs mostly for health care plans. They are responsible for creating formularies and negotiating discounts with manufacturers and paying claims.
Prescription Drug	These drugs are only permitted to be dispensed to those with a medical prescription (Rx).
Pipeline Drug	These are drugs where the manufacturer is still doing research and testing with the hope of gaining FDA approval.
Portable Document Format (PDF)*	A computer format created by Adobe in 1992 to present documents in a consistent manner regardless of software, hardware or operating system.
Purchase Order (PO)	A PO is a document issued by a buyer indicating products, quantities and agreed pricing. PharmSaver has the only PO Upload system that works with all major U.S. primary drug wholesalers.
PO Matching*	Is the PharmSaver process of identifying drugs on a primary wholesaler’s Purchase Order (PO) that can be purchased through a secondary wholesaler for less money.
PO Number	PO Numbers are used for managing and tracking purchases. The uniquely identify a group of items (drugs) that are purchased at one time from a specific wholesaler.
PO Upload*	The PharmSaver process of uploading and extracting drug-related purchasing data from a primary wholesaler purchase order. PharmSaver supports PDF, Excel, CSV, TXT and other formats of uploads.
Primary Wholesaler	Primary wholesalers are the wholesaler a pharmacy contracts with for the purchasing of most drugs. The “Big 3” are Cencora/AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation. They account for over 90 percent of the drugs distributed through wholesalers in the U.S.
QuickCart*	QuickCart is a PharmSaver feature that lets pharmacies save standing orders for future use and build lists of frequently ordered items.
Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Drug	REMS is an FDA program that requires monitoring of specific prescription drugs where the potential of serious adverse effects is possible. Prescribing and dispensing of REMS drugs usually requires training and certification and may require the drug to be administered in medical facilities.
Rebate	Rebates are a contracted way for pharmacies to reduce cost of drugs from primary wholesalers and the benefit for the primary wholesaler is customer retention. Rebates are usually paid on a quarterly basis.
Reimbursement Alert*	A Reimbursement Alert is a special notification in the pharmacy’s cart that indicates the drug you have selected may exceed state or commercial allowed reimbursement rates.
Reimbursement Saver*	Another PharmSaver exclusive, Reimbursement Saver is visible in the pharmacy’s cart when PharmSaver is automatically able to switch a drug from a negative reimbursement situation to one where the price is less than or equal to state or commercial reimbursement rates.
Retail Drug	Drugs that are commonly available at a local pharmacy that do not require special handling or ordering.
Rx	Rx is a common symbol used to indicate a Prescription Drug.
Rx Trends*	PharmSaver offers Rx Trends, an easy way to identify the 20 bestselling generic drugs, along with wholesaler and best price.

Search Conjunction*	Just like in speech, conjunctions connect words and phrases. They are used in PharmSaver on the Ordering page to quickly find drugs. Example: RISP AND ODT finds drugs that contain the letters RISP and also the letters ODT.
Search Synonym*	Another concept from speech. Synonyms are used in PharmSaver on the Ordering page. Most common use is abbreviations such as “TCN” for Tetracycline or “ASA” for Aspirin.
Secondary Wholesaler	Secondary Wholesalers resell products they purchased either directly from the manufacturer or from other wholesalers. While they may only provide a portion of the items carried by a primary wholesaler, they are usually better able to work with the pharmacy on pricing and availability.
Short Cycle	Short Cycle drugs are oral drugs that are usually dispensed to a resident care facility in 14-day or less unit dose packages.
Short Date Savings*	Short Date Savings and Purchasing requires the analysis of a pharmacy’s dispensing history and identifies buying opportunities of short dated drugs, usually at huge savings.
Short Dated	Typically, Short Dated drugs are those where the lot expiration date is less than one year from today.
Shortage Drug	Drug Shortages are drugs that are in short supply and can occur because of manufacturing and quality problems, delays and discontinuations.
Specialty Drug	Specialty drugs are high-cost medications that treat rare or complex health conditions and may require a health care provider to administer.
Specialty Pharmacy	Specialty Pharmacies focus on high cost, high touch medications for patients with rate or complex diseases.
Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)	SKUs are an inventory management term used to identify a distinct type of inventory. In pharmacy, different SKUs are used to identify short dated vs regular dated lots of the same NDC.
Super Saver*	A PharmSaver exclusive – Super Savers are regular dated (not short dated) drugs where the price from one wholesaler is less than that of other wholesalers, and by switching package size means you can get more product and pay less than the original item cost.
Transactional Statement	A Transactional Statement (Track and Trace) is the statement showing transfer of ownership, including manufacturer and each prior sale or trade of the drug from the manufacturer to the wholesaler and eventually to the pharmacy.
Universal Product Code (UPC)	A UPC code is a number and barcode used for tracking items in stores. All retail packages have a UPC code.
Unit Price*	The Unit Price is the price of a single item within a sellable package. For instance, a package of 30 omeprazole is $3.00 while the Unit (or individual) Price is 10 cents.
Utilization	In pharmacy, utilization is a review of drug dispensing and cost of the drugs. By analyzing pharmacy utilization data, pharmacies are able to make better decisions on future purchases.
Verified-Accredited Wholesale Distributors (VAWD)	VAWD is an acronym previously used by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy and drug wholesalers to show the wholesaler operates a licensed facility and uses best practices to safely distribute drugs to pharmacies. Replaced by “DDA”.
WatchList*	This is an easy way for pharmacies to track drugs that may be hard to find or when they need a drug to match a certain price. WatchLists can send email and SMS alerts.
Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC)	This is the average price a manufacturer charges a wholesaler when selling drugs to the wholesaler.
Wholesaler	Wholesalers are intermediaries between pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacies or other retailers.
Wholesaler Account Number*	This is the Account Number provided by a primary or secondary wholesaler.
Wholesaler Cutoff Time*	Cutoff Time is the last time during a day where a wholesaler is able to provide next day shipping. Orders sent to a wholesaler after cutoff are processed the next business day.
X12*	X12 EDI is an older standard for data interchange created by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It consists of a variety of documents, all having a numeric name such as an “832” or product catalog.
XLS*	XLS (and XLSX) are Microsoft Excel format files. These are useful for data analysis and for capturing and transmitting columnar data.
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)*	XML is computer markup language and file format for storing arbitrary data. It defines rules for encoding the data in a human and machine-readable format. Example of an XML data element: 813-123-1234 .

Well, there you have it. A big list of Pharmacy Terms. If you are a U.S. pharmacy, pharmaceutical retail chain or drug wholesaler, we'd like to hear from you. If you like saving time and money, PharmSaver is worth the call. Let's talk soon!