IMPORTANT: Read this update on the sunsetting of DAW A – DAW A Update

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) has introduced a new Dispense As Written (DAW) code, DAW “A”. This new DAW A code is defined as – “Multi-payer Brand/Reference Product Formulary Conflict”. It is included in the External Code List (ECL) 202404 (April 2024) and more recent versions and is available for use based on the standard. However, PBMs and pharmacies must ensure their systems can handle this new value.

Definition and Use Case

DAW “A” is designed to be used in conjunction with DAW 9, which is defined as “Substitution Allowed By Prescriber but Plan Requests Brand or Reference Product.” DAW 9 is used when a payer requires the brand drug to be dispensed, despite a generic being available. The introduction of DAW “A” addresses scenarios where there are two or more payers involved, and one payer (primary or secondary) will only cover the brand drug via DAW 9, while the other payer prefers that the generic product be dispensed. In such cases, the pharmacy must use DAW “A” for the non-DAW 9 payer. This helps prevent a cycle where one payer requires the brand and the other requires the generic or biosimilar, creating an unresolved payment conflict that impacts the patient and their financial ability to pay for the prescription.

Current Adoption

Despite its availability, we have not seen the use of DAW “A” to date. To investigate further, we reviewed five processor payer sheets.  The summary of those reviews is captured in the chart below.

All five payer sheets reviewed in March 2025 do not yet utilize the updated ECL, and therefore, they would not be able to process a claim with the DAW “A” submitted. For now, stakeholders should keep the following key points in mind:

• Pharmacies should ensure that DAW “A” is on the radar for their pharmacy management system vendor and monitor communications from processors about the use of the updated ECL and the ability to receive the new value.
• Pharmacists should proactively identify patients and prescriptions that may need or use this code once available.
• Pharmacists and technicians should understand if manual intervention will be required to apply the DAW “A” value on only a primary or secondary claim, because today, a single DAW value applies to all of the transactions and is not adjusted during the coordination of benefits.
• Payers and dispensing software systems should update their systems to accept DAW “A” transactions and establish the appropriate rule sets.
• Data aggregators and reconciliation support vendors should prepare their systems to accept and monitor for the alphanumeric “A” in a field that only consisted of values until now.

For further information, we recommend reviewing Page 22 section 3.1.3 of the NCPDP document, “Telecommunication Version D and Above Questions, Answers, and Editorial Updates,” published in February 2025. This section details the use of DAW “A” and how it is linked to DAW 9. The two described examples demonstrate that DAW “A” may be included on either the primary or secondary payer request.

How impactful will this new value be once it is available?

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