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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.medlistiq.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

This guide covers responses from POST /v1/med-lists/from-documents. The FHIR endpoint (POST /v1/medications/infer) uses a related but different response shape — see Understanding the output for that one. Every medication on a PDF response has the same shape. Some fields are null when they don’t apply, which the sections below explain.

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How specific is the RxNorm code?

rxnorm_code is the RxNorm code we resolved for the medication. rxnorm_tty tells you what kind of RxNorm concept it is.
rxnorm_ttyWhat it representsGood for
SCD / GPCKGeneric drug with ingredient, strength, and dose formPrescribing, dispensing, dose calculations
SBD / BPCKBranded drug or pack with all the same detailSame, plus brand-aware workflows
SCDC / SBDCIngredient and strength, no dose formDose-aware logic that doesn’t need a form
IN / PIN / MIN / BNIngredient level (drug class, not a specific product)Drug-interaction checks, allergy matching
When rxnorm_tty is IN or PIN, treat the medication as a drug-class identifier. Don’t use it for dose-specific reasoning. rxnorm_code is null only when no RxNorm match exists. Rare.

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Ingredients

ingredients[] lists every active substance in the medication, each with its strength. 
"ingredients": [
  {
    "rxnorm_code": "10180",
    "name": "Sulfamethoxazole",
    "rxnorm_tty": "IN",
    "strength_quantity": "800",
    "strength_unit": "mg"
  },
  {
    "rxnorm_code": "10829",
    "name": "Trimethoprim",
    "rxnorm_tty": "IN",
    "strength_quantity": "160",
    "strength_unit": "mg"
  }
]
  • Single-ingredient drugs have one entry.
  • Combos (Bactrim, NuvaRing, amlodipine/valsartan) have one entry per ingredient.
  • Packs (Trinessa-style 28-day kits) have one entry per distinct active ingredient in the pack.
Use the rxnorm_code on each ingredient for drug-interaction and allergy logic. These ingredient-level codes are usually the right key for class-level matching; the top-level rxnorm_code is often too specific. strength_quantity and strength_unit are null when we resolved to an ingredient-only concept, or when no published strength exists for the concept.

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Doses for single drugs, combos, and packs

dose_quantity and dose_unit differ depending on the kind of drug.
A number plus a unit. Example: "250" and "mg".dose_quantity is a string so range values ("1-2") and decimals ("12.5") survive verbatim.
A combo packaged as a single tablet, capsule, patch, or ring uses "1" plus the unit name. Example: Bactrim → dose_quantity: "1", dose_unit: "tablet". Per-ingredient strengths live on ingredients[].
Both dose_quantity and dose_unit are null for packs. The pack’s identity is the rxnorm_code and drug_name; the breakdown is in ingredients[].
Both are null when no dose was found in the source. You’ll still get an ingredient-level rxnorm_code so you can flag the entry for clinical review.

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Routes are double-coded

route is the short abbreviation (PO, IV, VAG, TD, …) every clinician recognizes. Alongside it we surface the matching SNOMED CT and NCI Thesaurus codes: 
"route": "PO",
"route_snomed_code": "26643006",
"route_ncit_code": "C38288"
Two coding systems so you can plug into whichever your downstream system expects. The system URIs are constants and not repeated on every entry:
  • SNOMED CT: http://snomed.info/sct
  • NCI Thesaurus: http://ncithesaurus.nci.nih.gov
Both code fields populate together. Both are null together when route is null or falls outside the common routes we have codes for.

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The evidence trail

sources[] lists every place we found the medication. One entry per mention across all submitted documents. 
"sources": [
  { "document_name": "h_and_p.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "Pen-Vee K 250 MG Oral Tablet" },
  { "document_name": "discharge_summary.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "Penicillin V Potassium 500 MG Oral Tablet" },
  { "document_name": "referral_note.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "STOPPED: Penicillin V Potassium 250 MG Oral Tablet" }
]
A drug mentioned in three documents becomes one medication with three sources. evidence_text is the raw line we found the mention on, which makes it easy to show clinicians exactly which words drove each output.

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Order of medications[]

Ordered most-current first, then alphabetically by drug_name. The top of the list is what you’d hand a clinician for review.

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What’s NOT on the response (yet)

  • status and status_conflict — not surfaced yet; coming in a later release.
  • confidence — not surfaced yet; coming in a later release.
  • Source-vs-derived field provenance — not surfaced yet; coming in a later release.

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A worked example: Bactrim across three documents

H&P says "Bactrim 800/160 mg PO BID". Discharge says "sulfamethoxazole 800 mg / trimethoprim 160 mg oral tablet". Referral says "sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim DS". All three become one entry: 
{
  "drug_name": "sulfamethoxazole 800 MG / trimethoprim 160 MG Oral Tablet",
  "rxnorm_code": "198335",
  "rxnorm_tty": "SCD",
  "ingredients": [
    {
      "rxnorm_code": "10180", "name": "Sulfamethoxazole", "rxnorm_tty": "IN",
      "strength_quantity": "800", "strength_unit": "mg"
    },
    {
      "rxnorm_code": "10829", "name": "Trimethoprim", "rxnorm_tty": "IN",
      "strength_quantity": "160", "strength_unit": "mg"
    }
  ],
  "dose_quantity": "1",
  "dose_unit": "tablet",
  "route": "PO",
  "route_snomed_code": "26643006",
  "route_ncit_code": "C38288",
  "dose_form": "oral tablet",
  "frequency": "BID",
  "sources": [
    { "document_name": "h_and_p.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "Bactrim 800/160 mg PO BID" },
    { "document_name": "discharge_summary.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "sulfamethoxazole 800 mg / trimethoprim 160 mg oral tablet" },
    { "document_name": "referral_note.pdf", "page": 1, "evidence_text": "sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim DS" }
  ]
}
What you can read off this:
  • One entry, not three. Multiple mentions become one medication.
  • Specific drug at the top, with both ingredient codes for class-level checks.
  • Each ingredient carries its own strength.
  • Route is coded in both SNOMED CT and NCI Thesaurus.
  • The original text from each document is preserved in sources.