Medication Tags are visual indicators that label Routine and PRN orders with specific characteristics. They help your clinical team audit medications, stay compliant with state regulations, and keep staff informed during med passes. You can customize the list of available tags in Medications Settings.
About Medication Tags
Medication Tags serve as safety alerts for your clinical team, supporting compliance with state regulations and keeping staff informed of specific protocols (such as "Crush") during a med pass.
Once a tag is applied, it is prominently displayed in the following ALIS locations:
Pass Meds: Alerts Med Techs to specific protocols in real-time.
Manage Orders: Allows for easy auditing of a resident's profile.
MAR Documents: Ensures paper and digital records remain consistent.
Medication List Report: Facilitates high-level oversight of medication types.
Manual vs. Automatic Tagging: While most tags (like "Antibiotic") are manually selected when creating or processing orders, ALIS can be configured to automatically tag Controlled Substances and Psychotropic medications using the integrated Drug Database.
Customize the Medication Tags list
You can tailor the list of available tags to match your community's specific needs by navigating to Medications Settings > Medcation Tags section. ALIS auto-generates a list of options that can be fully customized.
The ALIS default Medication Tag list is:
Antibiotic
Controlled Substance* (Can be automated via Drug Database)
Narcotic* (Can be used to separate Narcotic vs. Non-Narcotic drug counts)
Psychotropic Drug* (Can be automated via Drug Database and custom rules)
Court Ordered
Hazardous
Crush / Do Not Crush
Non-standard Psychotropic
*The Narcotic, Controlled, and Psychotropic tags are permanent and cannot be disabled. All other auto-generated tags can be disabled by clicking Disable on the righthand side of the settings table.
To add a new tag:
Click +Add Tag.
In the pop-up that appears, type the Name.
Click Submit.
Automate Medication Tags
ALIS can apply some tags automatically, which reduces manual entry errors for sensitive medications. Automatic tagging requires the Drug Database entitlement. For enablement assistance, contact your Account Manager or our ALIS Customer Support Team.
| Tag | How it's applied | Setup required |
|---|---|---|
Controlled |
When the RX NDC number sent by your pharmacy matches a controlled substance in the Drug Database. | Requires an active pharmacy integration. |
Psychotropic Drug |
When an order matches the psychotropic rules your community defines | Build your rules list on the Drug Tagging tab of Medications Settings. |
Antibiotic and Antipsychotic |
When a new or edited order's drug falls in that GPI drug class. | Click Enable for each class in the Drug Class Auto-Tagging section of the Drug Tagging tab. |
Note: If the Controlled checkbox is grayed out on an order, ALIS applied it automatically and it cannot be edited.
Manually Apply Medication Tags
If a medication does not meet auto-tagging criteria (like "Do Not Crush"), you must manually apply them to an order.
-
Go to the resident’s Manage Orders page or the Pharmacy Inbox.
Manage Orders: Click +Add Routine/PRN or click Edit on an existing order.
Pharmacy Inbox (Incoming Orders tab): Click Process.
In the order details, look for the Medication Tags multi-select dropdown.
Select the appropriate tags. They will now be visible to the Med Tech during the pass.
Click Create Order, Update Order, or Process to apply the tags.
Bulk Apply or Remove Medication Tags
Use Bulk Tag to apply or remove one medication tag, such as Crush, across several of a resident's Routines or PRNs at once. Bulk Tag is available to users who can edit medication orders.
- Go to the resident's Manage Orders page.
- On the Orders tab, click Bulk Tag in the Routines or PRNs section header.
- Select the medication tag from the dropdown menu.
- Choose Apply or Remove.
- Check each order to update. Orders at any status (Active, On Hold, or Disabled) are listed.
- Click the submit button, which describes the change (for example Apply Crush to 5 routines).
To undo a tag, open Bulk Tag again, select the same tag, choose Remove, and check the same orders.
Changing the selected tag does not clear the orders you already checked. Treatments and discontinued orders cannot be bulk tagged. Each updated order gets its own entry in the Audit tab.
Medication List Report
Using tags consistently allows for powerful medications oversight through the Medication List Report.
Go to Reports > Medication List.
Use the Medication Tags dropdown filter to select specific categories (e.g., "Narcotic" or "Psychotropic").
Click Refresh.
Export to Excel: The tags will occupy their own column, allowing you to sort and filter your entire community's medication data instantly.