The Pharmacy Product System (PPS) is intended to improve the VA’s current formulary processes. The current VA National Formulary consists of items such as medications and supplies that have been identified by VA organizations for inclusion. The status change of all items with regard to the VA National Formulary is governed by a process that is already in place. Upon approval, the item status is changed in the VA National Formulary, and updates are issued to the local drug files via software patches.
PPS is envisioned as two distinct processes. The first process covers PPS at the National level (called PPS-N). The PPS-N environment provides for the ability to manage pharmacy-specific data across the enterprise, ensuring that all facilities are using the same base data for their operations. The second process encompasses PPS processes at the Local level (called PPS-L). The PPS-L application environment will provide services that enact business logic for the daily operations of pharmacy users at the VA’s medical centers and clinics.
The focus of the current PPS software development efforts and this Help file User Guide is on the PPS-N system. The PPS-N application is used to manage the VA National Formulary.