SCRIPT 2023 represents a major shift in how e-prescribing data is structured and exchanged. Understanding what is new in the standard is important, but for vendors, it is only the beginning. The real work starts when those updates are translated into a stable, production-ready implementation.
With that in mind, preparing for SCRIPT 2023011 requires shifting from awareness to execution, making deliberate decisions around versioning, interface and workflow updates, testing and QA, certification timelines, and the broader operational impact across teams and customer environments. To help with this, we’ll highlight the core areas vendors should be ready to navigate so they can move confidently from planning to implementation while maintaining interoperability, compliance, and operational stability throughout the transition.
Compatibility and Implementation: What Developers Need to Know
No Backward Compatibility (Dual Support During Transition)
One critical detail for implementers is that SCRIPT 2023011 is not backward-compatible with 2017071. In practice, this means a system using the new schema can’t assume a trading partner still on the old schema will understand all its messages (and vice versa).
During the multi-year transition period, vendors will need to support both versions to maintain interoperability with partners who haven’t yet upgraded. As a result, the CMS final rule allows either version to be used until January 1, 2028, after which only 2023011 is permitted. As a developer, you’ll likely need logic in your product to detect or negotiate which version to use when sending or receiving messages. This could involve configuration to switch message formats based on partner capabilities, or using intermediaries that translate between versions.
It’s important to not underestimate this coexistence period. Supporting two different schema sets in parallel can be intricate, but it’s unavoidable if you want to smoothly communicate with all e-prescribing partners as the industry gradually switches over.
“Understanding the changes is just the start. Turning them into reliable, production-ready systems is where the real work begins.”
Critical Updates to Messages and Workflows
Beyond compatibility and interface updates, SCRIPT 2023 introduces enhancements across nearly every message type and workflow that developers and IT teams need to address. Patient details are now expanded to include identifiers, names, gender, and race or ethnicity, along with new fields for patient-level diagnoses and compound medication information.
Renewal and change requests come with stricter handling rules, including expiration enforcement for controlled substances and clear guidance for retracted or pending messages. RxTransfer workflows have been updated with push capabilities, controlled substance support, and mandatory digital signatures to maintain traceability. In long-term care settings, a three-party model allows facilities to provide operational context without altering prescriber-authorized prescription data, while ensuring that all messages are digitally signed at each point of transmission.
Accounting for these updates early helps teams capture, transmit, and validate data accurately across all workflows. It reduces the risk of errors, prevents compliance issues, and ensures messages behave predictably with trading partners. By addressing these details proactively, developers can avoid rework, strengthen interoperability, and set the stage for a smoother, more reliable rollout of SCRIPT 2023.
“Addressing patient details, workflow changes, and new message rules early prevents errors and ensures predictable, compliant data exchange.”
API and Interface Updates
Moving to SCRIPT 2023 affects nearly every layer of an e-prescribing integration. At the API level, vendors may need to update web service endpoints or message wrappers to reflect new version indicators.
Beneath the surface, XML or JSON parsing libraries and data-binding code must be updated to align with the 2023011 schema definitions. Many fields have been added, moved, or restructured, and validation rules are more stringent than in prior versions. As a result, older message-handling code will likely require meaningful refactoring, since incremental changes may not be sufficient when required fields or entire segments have evolved.
This transition is also an opportunity to revisit long-standing assumptions built into existing interfaces. Earlier implementations may assume fixed address formats or limited code lists that no longer hold true under the expanded standard. To avoid downstream issues, teams should plan a comprehensive review of data mapping and validation logic.
In practice, SCRIPT 2023011 is best treated as a new integration rather than a minor update. While much of the foundation from 2017071 still applies, approaching the upgrade with a clean-implementation mindset helps surface gaps early, before they become production issues. Key Takeaway: Modernizing your interface now strengthens data accuracy, improves reliability, and ensures long-term compatibility with the expanded standard.
“Treat SCRIPT 2023011 as a new integration rather than a patch. This helps surface gaps before they become production issues.”
Certification and Testing Requirements
Given the scope of changes, testing and certification will be a major part of the implementation effort. Consequently, Drummond is aligning our test cases and simulators with the new standard requirements.
What does this mean for you?
Plan time in your project for formal testing cycles, not just unit tests. Engage with certification programs or sandbox environments as soon as you have a working implementation, so you can catch deviations from the standard early. Testing against a certified harness or network simulator can surface issues with message formatting, required fields, or workflow handling long before you approach production deadlines.
It’s important to understand how SCRIPT 2023 impacts your EPCS certification. DEA rules require that any EPCS application be audited by a third party at least once every two years, or sooner if you make changes that affect controlled-substance functionality. Because upgrading to SCRIPT 2023 counts as such a change, delaying the update could trigger an extra, unscheduled audit in addition to your normal two-year review.
To save time and effort, it’s best to plan your SCRIPT 2023 rollout so it lines up with your next scheduled EPCS audit. That way, both the standard update and the routine audit can be reviewed at the same time, avoiding duplicate work.
Finally, keep an eye on ONC and CMS certification implications; if you are an EHR vendor, you will likely need to show compliance with SCRIPT 2023011 during your next certification cycle.
Strategic Implementation Path: From Planning to Production
Upgrading to SCRIPT 2023 requires more than understanding the changes and preparing your systems. It demands a deliberate, step-by-step approach to translate those updates into a stable, production-ready implementation that works reliably across all workflows and trading partners.
Without a clear sequence, even well-planned updates can lead to unexpected errors, interoperability issues, or compliance gaps. By moving methodically through assessment, development, testing, and rollout, teams can address dependencies in the right order, validate critical workflows early, and deploy updates in a controlled way.
- Assessment Phase: Begin by identifying which SCRIPT transactions your system relies on and how they appear across real workflows such as new prescriptions, renewals, changes, and cancels. Determine the trading partners involved in each workflow and whether they are moving to 2023011 on a similar timeline. This helps clarify scope, highlight dependencies, and prioritize which transaction paths need attention first.
- Development Phase: Once priorities are clear, focus on building out the updated data models and message logic required for 2023011 support. Keep development efforts organized around specific workflow groups rather than trying to update everything at once. This helps teams work iteratively and validate key paths sooner.
- Testing and Validation Phase: After core development is complete, shift into structured end-to-end testing. Validate message handling, workflow behavior, and interoperability across all high-volume transactions. This is also the point where SCRIPT 2023 testing should be aligned with any required certification cycles so teams can avoid duplicative reviews.
- Production Rollout: Deploy updates in a measured, phased approach to reduce risk. Start with a limited group of users, partners, or transaction types and expand as confidence grows. Monitor logs and message behavior closely during rollout to identify issues early, and adjust as needed based on real-world feedback.
This streamlined sequence helps organizations move from planning to live deployment without rehashing earlier work and ensures the transition to SCRIPT 2023 unfolds in a controlled, predictable manner.
Conclusion: Preparing Your Organization for a Successful SCRIPT 2023
Transition Implementing SCRIPT 2023 is a significant undertaking, and the decisions made during planning, development, and testing will shape how smoothly the transition unfolds. With a multi-year coexistence period and extensive updates across message structures, interfaces, version management, and validation rules, preparing early helps reduce risks, avoid rework, and maintain uninterrupted interoperability with trading partners.
Teams that approach the upgrade methodically will be better equipped to handle the dual-version environment, adapt interfaces to support the expanded schema, and ensure testing is thorough enough to catch issues long before production deployment. Treating SCRIPT 2023011 as a comprehensive modernization effort, rather than a patch or incremental change, positions vendors to deliver more reliable and efficient prescribing workflows once the new version is fully in place.
Drummond’s testing and certification experts are already assisting vendors in aligning SCRIPT 2023 readiness with their existing EPCS, ONC, and interoperability certification timelines. By integrating certification planning into your development cycle and validating early against updated test harnesses, you can streamline approval processes, reduce unexpected delays, and transition with confidence.