What is RxNorm primarily used for in healthcare?

RxNorm is primarily utilized in healthcare to provide a standardized vocabulary for medications. It offers normalized names for drugs, along with their various strength forms and packaging, facilitating a common language among healthcare providers, pharmacists, and electronic health record systems. By using a unified terminology, RxNorm aids in reducing confusion and errors related to medication names and dosages, thus improving patient safety and enhancing interoperability between different health systems.

In the context of healthcare data exchange, RxNorm enables seamless communication regarding medications, supporting clinical decision-making and prescription accuracy. The structured vocabulary it provides ensures that all parties involved in a patient's care are effectively informed about the specific drugs involved, their interactions, and proper usage, ultimately contributing to better health outcomes.

The other options are focused on different aspects of healthcare management. Classifying diseases relates to diagnostic coding, tracking patient appointments pertains to scheduling and management systems, and managing billing codes involves financial transactions rather than medication terminology, which is RxNorm's primary focus.