Policies

Guidelines for NCPDP Commitment

• Only certain staff and the Board of Trustees can commit financial or other resources of the Council
• NCPDP’s Antitrust Policy must be adhered to at all times
• Due diligence and consensus building procedures must be followed that allow for fair and balanced representation of all aspects of an issue

Work group co-chairs, task group leaders, committee chairs and committee vice chairs are the only ones authorized to meet to speak on behalf of the task groups or work groups, efforts and business. They must report back to the appropriate work group, task group or committee on the outcome of any such meetings. Only the authorized designee should be meeting with these groups which must be approved by the Standardization Co-Chairs and the President of NCPDP.

Any commitment made outside of these guidelines will result in NCPDP being unable to support, financially or otherwise, that commitment.

Work group co-chairs, task group leaders, committee chairs and committee vice chairs do not have the authority to commit the organization to anything – engage NCPDP staff early and often.

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, Inc. (NCPDP) has throughout its existence followed a rigorous program of compliance with the Sherman Act and other antitrust statutes. This Policy statement provides a reference for members of NCPDP and others who attend Council functions. All who attend NCPDP meetings should read and understand this statement.

Adherence to the guidelines below will avoid potential violations by individuals, member firms, and NCPDP itself. Violations of the antitrust laws are serious criminal violations, punishable by jail terms and substantial monetary fines, as well as treble damage civil penalties.

NCPDP is committed to full compliance with antitrust laws. The guidelines set forth below have been established by the Board of Trustees to prevent any possibility of violation.

Subjects Which May Not Be Discussed
Any agreement as to price among competitors is a violation of the Sherman Act, regardless of the reasonableness of the price set or whether the agreement is to raise, lower, peg, or stabilize price levels. It follows that any discussion of price or price levels at Council meetings is not permitted. This includes any discussion of prices of products, supplies, or service. Similarly, there must be no discussion of any elements of company operations which might influence price, such as:

1. company costs of operations, supplies, or services;
2. allowances or discounts;
3. terms of sale;
4. margins;
5. plans of individual companies concerning production, distribution or marketing of particular products;
6. changes in industry production, capacity or inventories, except historical data.

Any agreement not to compete among business firms also violates the antitrust laws. Accordingly, no discussion of division of territories or customers, or limitation on nature of business, may be held at any NCPDP function. Joint refusals to deal (boycotts) are likewise unlawful, and no discussions related to this practice are permitted. Included within this prohibition are any discussions of black lists and any unfavorable reports involving particular suppliers.

Meetings
These standards apply to all Board, Executive Committee, committee and all other meetings sponsored by NCPDP and all meetings attended by NCPDP members in that capacity. The agenda should be strictly followed; there must be no deviations, particularly in so far as subjects described in "a" above. During meetings, participants should conduct themselves as though the meeting were open to the public. Minutes of each meeting should be prepared by a designated secretary or staff member, and circulated to all in attendance following the meeting.

In the case of NCPDP-sponsored meetings, NCPDP staff or a member of the Executive Committee will be in attendance at all times. NCPDP’s President, Chairman, and its legal counsel may direct that certain meetings shall be attended by legal counsel.

Informal, unofficial meetings between competitors are dangerous from a legal standpoint, and have often led to antitrust investigations and indictments. Therefore, NCPDP urges its members not to hold any meetings that are not conducted in strict adherence to these guidelines.

If counsel announces that a particular question, statement, or discussion at a meeting borders on an area of antitrust sensitivity, the discussion will end immediately. If anyone in attendance at an NCPDP meeting has a question about whether a discussion is proper or not, the question should be raised immediately and counsel will determine whether the discussion should be terminated. If counsel is not present, the attendee should request the President or Chairman to end the discussion until legal advice can be obtained; if the discussion is not ended, the attendee should leave the meeting.

While it is impossible to cover every contingency that might arise, it is essential that all NCPDP members and staff have at least a basic understanding of the Federal Antitrust Laws. These guidelines are offered as part of NCPDP’s commitment of maintaining healthy competition necessary to a strong business community.

Memberships are nonrefundable but may be transferred from one individual to another one time in each anniversary year. There is a $100 USD processing fee for the transfer. Whoever pays for the membership owns it. If your company pays for an individual membership for you, the company may transfer the membership to another individual within your company. If you pay for your individual membership, the membership may move with you if you change jobs.

NCPDP Members and Staff will uphold NCPDP's core values of Collaboration, Inclusiveness, Integrity and Ethical Behavior, Leadership and Innovation to the best of our ability and abide by the following Code of Conduct:

• We will not engage in disruptive, inappropriate, verbally or sexually harassing behavior toward others and will observe the personal boundaries set by others while participating in NCPDP events.
• We will comply with all applicable copyright and intellectual property laws and will adhere to any related guidelines issued by NCPDP.
• We will respect the privacy of fellow members and staff.
• Members will not represent themselves or their companies using NCPDP’s name in such a manner as to imply endorsement by NCPDP in order to advance personal or company sales, leads or other gain.

Revised: December 2015

National Council for Prescription Drugs Programs, Inc. (NCPDP) publications are owned by NCPDP, 9240 East Raintree Drive Scottsdale, AZ 85260, and protected by the copyright laws of the United States and other countries. 17 U.S.C. §101, et. seq.

Subject to the restrictions described below, NCPDP grants permission to NCPDP members to copy and use NCPDP publications in connection with the business purposes of the Council members solely in support of healthcare transactions conducted wholly within the United States. The NCPDP publications may not be changed or altered. The NCPDP publications may be shared with employees within the member company with a reasonable need to know but may not be (1) disclosed or distributed to any unauthorized party ; (2) used without NCPDP’s express written permission outside the United States; and (3) placed into any artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology including but not limited to statistical learning algorithms, models (including large language models), neural networks, and other AI tools or methodologies, software implementations of such AI technology, related hardware or equipment which generates content based on user-supplied prompts. The NCPDP publications may not be disclosed, copied, modified, compiled, sold, used, published, or exploited for commercial purposes except as expressly authorized herein. This permission may be revoked by NCPDP at any time. NCPDP is not responsible for any errors or damage in any way associated with the use of NCPDP publications. Except as expressly permitted herein, NCPDP publications may not be provided to third parties without NCPDP’s express written authorization, and members and other recipients of NCPDP publications must not, directly or indirectly, (1) publish or participate in the publication, sharing, or disclosure of any NCPDP publication to any third party, or (2) authorize, permit, or encourage any third party to do so. Any such member or other recipient of an NCPDP publication waives all rights to share NCPDP publications, including any right based on “fair use,” and will be responsible for any and all such disclosures, including but not limited to disclosures by employees, agents, contractors, affiliates, or other third parties acting on behalf of or with the knowledge or consent of such member or other recipient.

All NCPDP publications and other material are provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, and non-infringement of third-party rights. In no event shall NCPDP, its members, or its contributors be liable for any claim, or any direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages, or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence, or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of NCPDP publications or other NCPDP material.

NCPDP recognizes the confidentiality of certain information exchanged electronically through the use of its standards. It is the responsibility of users to be familiar with the federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and codes requiring confidentiality of this information and should utilize the standards accordingly. NCPDP standards must not be used outside the United States without the express written permission of NCPDP.

NOTICE: In addition, certain NCPDP standards contain certain data fields and elements that may be completed by users with the proprietary information of third parties. The use and distribution of third parties' proprietary information without such third parties' consent, or the execution of a license or other agreement with such third party, could subject the user to numerous legal claims. All users are encouraged to contact such third parties to determine whether such information is proprietary and, if necessary, to consult with legal counsel to make arrangements for the use and distribution of such proprietary information.

Revised:  December 2025

The official logo of NCPDP is intended for use on the website pages, published documents, banners and other products utilized by NCPDP as deemed appropriate by the NCPDP Board of Trustees. The logo may not be used in a manner that would imply endorsement or approval of any products, services events or policy/position statement not specifically approved by the Board of Trustees.

Permission may be granted, for example, for use of the official logo at the discretion of the NCPDP Board of Trustees or its designated agent(s) in the following circumstances:

Display by a NCPDP Member or Members organization in good standing on websites, program announcements, booth displays and other published materials for the purpose of signifying membership in and/or support of NCPDP and its mission and goals.

Display by an industry organization in collaboration with NCPDP to signify sponsorship/co-sponsorship of an educational event or joint support of an industry initiative.

NCPDP members/members’ organizations or other organizations desiring to use the logo must submit their request in writing to the President of NCPDP stating the explicit use intended. The President will review the request and approve or deny the request according to the approved policy guidelines. The President may consult with legal counsel if necessary to evaluate any specific request deemed to be questionable.

Any identified use of the logo that is perceived to be inappropriate should be reported to the President for review and follow-up action as deemed in accordance with this policy.

Revised: August 2014

Last updated: February 11, 2021

Your privacy is important to us. The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, Inc. ("NCPDP") maintains high standards for the protection of your privacy at our website. This Privacy Notice provides you with information about how we might collect, store and use information about you and your use of this website.

NOTE: This Privacy Notice covers only the data collection and use practices for NCPDP.org, hcidea.ncpdp.org, dataq.ncpdp.org, resq.ncpdp.org, standards.ncpdp.org and MyNCPDP.org, all official websites of NCPDP. NCPDP's Privacy Notices may differ at other NCPDP websites or in its off-line data collection and reporting practices. Questions regarding the Privacy Notice of any other website should be directed to that website.

Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time in our discretion. The "Last Updated" legend at the top of this page indicates when this Privacy Notice was last revised. Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Notice on the Site. Your use of the Site following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Notice.

Information Collected
Our web servers automatically capture your domain name, the IP address of the web page from which you enter our site, the pages you visit on our site and the amount of time you spend here. We do not collect any information that can reveal your personal identity unless you voluntarily provide it when you register to use interactive features of the site, including the sales portal, or to receive information from us or NCPDP members. The information we collect is not part of any designated record set.

Use of the Information the Website Gathers/Tracks
Any information you give us will be used to provide the product, service or information you have requested, or to access other NCPDP controlled websites or services. The non-personally identifiable information we gather in aggregate form may be used to improve our site, and we may share that information with NCPDP members. Personally identifiable information may be used by NCPDP for its own internal purposes, including to create and maintain a list of Members. That information may be shared with other Members or used by NCPDP to communicate with Members about NCPDP events, send emails, contact by mail or telephone, and market products and services. Personally identifiable information may also be used by NCPDP in accordance with the privacy notice related to the service being provided. For example, if you apply for a NCPDP Provider ID, the information you provide is governed by the privacy notice located here.

We May Retain the Information You Provide to Us
Information that you voluntarily provide will be maintained as long as NCPDP deems appropriate to fulfill the purpose for which you provided the information.

Cookies and Other Technologies
Like many other websites and online services, we collect information about Site traffic and usage patterns through the use of cookies, Web server logs, and other, similar technologies. We use this information for various purposes, such as to ensure that the Site functions properly, to facilitate navigation, to personalize your experience, to understand use of the Site, to diagnose problems, and to otherwise administer the Site.

Cookies are small computer files we transfer to your computer's hard drive. These small text files help us personalize content on our pages. Your browser software can be set to reject or accept cookies. Instructions for resetting the browser are available in the Help section of most browsers.

Our use of cookies also allows us to collect and retain certain information about a website user, such as the type of Web browser used by our customer. Reviewing our Web server logs and our customers' use of our site helps us to, among other purposes, statistically monitor how many people are using the Site and for what purpose.

Your IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the Site, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels of the Site, helping diagnose server problems, and administering the Site.

You may use your browser controls to refuse to allow cookies to be placed on your computer. Refusing cookies disables our ability to include information about your visit in our regular monitoring of site traffic.

Sites We Link To
If you choose to use any of the links we provide to our member companies, sponsors, and other third party resources, you will be leaving our website and going to a new website. Protection of your privacy at those other sites will be governed by the privacy policy at that site. We have taken special care selecting the companies that appear in NCPDP.org to ensure that they respect your privacy as we do, but please take the time to read the privacy policies at their sites.

Contact Information
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or about the way your information is collected and used, please send us an email at privacy@ncpdp.org.