HL7 RSP_Z86 (Pharmacy Information Comprehensive Response) | Integration Soup HL7 Reference Guide

HL7 RSP_Z86 Pharmacy Information Comprehensive Response

A pharmacy query response that can return order, dispense, give, administration, and observation detail.

HL7 message structure RSP_Z86 groups and segments from HL7 v2.5.1 Hide structure

These are the generated groups and segments for the version selected at the top of the page. The article explains the workflow, and this panel follows the chosen HL7 version.

Message Structure

Segment	Name	Required	Repeatable
MSH	Message Header	Yes	No
SFT	Software Segment	No	Yes
MSA	Message Acknowledgment	Yes	No
ERR	Error	No	No
QAK	Query Acknowledgment	Yes	No
QPD	Query Parameter Definition	Yes	No
RSP_Z86.QUERY_RESPONSE	Query Response group	Yes	Yes
RSP_Z86.PATIENT	Patient group	No	No
PID	Patient Identification	Yes	No
PD1	Patient Additional Demographic	No	No
NTE	Notes and Comments	No	Yes
AL1	Patient Allergy Information	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.COMMON_ORDER	Common Order group	Yes	Yes
ORC	Common Order	Yes	No
RSP_Z86.TIMING	Timing group	No	Yes
TQ1	Timing/Quantity	Yes	No
TQ2	Timing/Quantity Relationship	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.ORDER_DETAIL	Order Detail group	No	No
RXO	Pharmacy/Treatment Order	Yes	No
RXR	Pharmacy/Treatment Route	Yes	Yes
RXC	Pharmacy/Treatment Component Order	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.ENCODED_ORDER	Encoded Order group	No	No
RXE	Pharmacy/Treatment Encoded Order	Yes	No
RSP_Z86.TIMING_ENCODED	Timing Encoded group	No	Yes
TQ1	Timing/Quantity	Yes	No
TQ2	Timing/Quantity Relationship	No	Yes
RXR	Pharmacy/Treatment Route	Yes	Yes
RXC	Pharmacy/Treatment Component Order	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.DISPENSE	Dispense group	No	No
RXD	Pharmacy/Treatment Dispense	Yes	No
RXR	Pharmacy/Treatment Route	Yes	Yes
RXC	Pharmacy/Treatment Component Order	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.GIVE	Give group	No	No
RXG	Pharmacy/Treatment Give	Yes	No
RXR	Pharmacy/Treatment Route	Yes	Yes
RXC	Pharmacy/Treatment Component Order	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.ADMINISTRATION	Administration group	No	No
RXA	Pharmacy/Treatment Administration	Yes	No
RXR	Pharmacy/Treatment Route	Yes	Yes
RXC	Pharmacy/Treatment Component Order	No	Yes
RSP_Z86.OBSERVATION	Observation group	Yes	Yes
OBX	Observation/Result	No	No
NTE	Notes and Comments	No	Yes
DSC	Continuation Pointer	No	No

RSP_Z86 is the comprehensive pharmacy-information response. It is meant for a query that needs more than one pharmacy slice: the order, the encoded order, dispense information, give information, administration information, routes, components, and observations can all appear under the returned common-order group.

That breadth is useful, but it makes profile discipline essential. A receiver should know which optional pharmacy groups the sender can actually return and which group is authoritative for the workflow being displayed.

A small RSP Z86 example

MSH|^~\&|PHARM|CITYHOSP|MEDREC|CITYHOSP|20260718104000||RSP^Z86^RSP_Z86|RSPZ860001|P|2.5.1 MSA|AA|QBPZ850001 QAK|QPHARM001|OK|Z85^Pharmacy Information Comprehensive^HL7nnn|1|1|0 QPD|Z85^Pharmacy Information Comprehensive^HL7nnn|QPHARM001|123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR|20260701000000|20260717235959 PID|1||123456^^^CITYHOSP^MR||Smith^Jane^Anne^^Ms^^L||19800314|F ORC|RE|MED448811^EHR|RX998877^PHARM RXE|^^^20260715120000|AMOX500^Amoxicillin 500 mg capsule^L|1|CAP^capsule^UCUM|30|CAP^capsule^UCUM RXR|PO^Oral^HL70162 RXD|1|AMOX500^Amoxicillin 500 mg capsule^L|20260715124000|30|CAP^capsule^UCUM|RX998877^PHARM RXG|1||20260715160000|AMOX500^Amoxicillin 500 mg capsule^L|1|CAP^capsule^UCUM RXA|1|1|20260715160500|20260715161000|AMOX500^Amoxicillin 500 mg capsule^L|1|CAP^capsule^UCUM OBX|1|CE|PHARMSTATUS^Pharmacy status^L||ACTIVE^Active therapy^L||||||F

What systems do with it

A medication reconciliation viewer, clinical repository, pharmacy portal, or integration service might request RSP_Z86 when it needs a broad picture of the patient's pharmacy activity. The sender is normally a pharmacy or medication-history system that can combine order and fulfillment data.

Use QAK for the query result, QPD for the echoed question, and then read the pharmacy groups by purpose. RXE is encoded order detail, RXD is dispense detail, RXG is give detail, and RXA is administration detail.

How to read the structure

The query-response group may include patient demographics and allergies, then one or more common-order groups. Each common-order group starts with ORC and can branch into timing, requested order, encoded order, dispense, give, administration, route, component, and observation content.

The local v2.5.1 structure does not include RCP in this response, unlike some nearby response profiles. That makes QAK, QPD, and any continuation pointer especially important for understanding what subset was returned.

Implementation traps

The danger is flattening everything into "medications." Orders, dispenses, gives, and administrations are different events. Mixing them can make a medication look active, supplied, and administered when only one of those things is true.

Another trap is ignoring route and component segments. RXR and RXC often carry the information that makes a compound, infusion, or treatment instruction usable downstream.

Reference notes

HL7 identifies event Z86 as Pharmacy Information Comprehensive (Response). Segment references and generated structure pages show the response grammar using ORC with optional RXO, RXE, RXD, RXG, RXA, RXR, RXC, and OBX content. See HL7 Europe event Z86.