System and Software of Enhanced Pharmaceutical Operations in Long-Term Care Facilities and Related Methods

• US 20080091467A1
• Filed: 12/05/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tech Pharmacy Services, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tech Pharmacy Services Incorporated (Partners Pharmacy LLC)
• Inventors: Martin, James, Moncrief, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,685,004 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 1/30 Devices or methods for controlling or determining the quantity or quality or the material fed or filled
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system, pharmacy management software, and related methods of enhanced pharmaceutical operations in patient care facilities are provided. The pharmacy management software, for example, can include instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of providing instructions to pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts positioned at various patient care facilities according to patient specific prescription requirements, receiving dispensing data from each of the carts, and providing separate billing records including billing data indexed by reimbursement provider for each patient at the patient care facilities. The operations can also include consolidating the billing data by patient, by patient care facility, by remote pharmacy, and/or consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider, and submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims electronically to each respective reimbursement provider.

Claims

1. Pharmacy management software stored on a storage media associated with a pharmacy group management computer for managing pharmaceutical operations in a remote pharmaceutical dispensing and storage facility defining a remote pharmacy, and a plurality of remotely positioned long-term care facilities each having at least one remote medication dispensing apparatus, the pharmacy management software comprising a set of instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations:

providing instructions to each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts for dispensing medication to a plurality of long-term care patients at the plurality of long-term care facilities according to patient specific prescription requirements;

receiving dispensing data from each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts;

providing separate billing records including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities, the billing data for each long-term care patient being indexed by reimbursement provider;

consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data including billing data for medications dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts and billing data for medications not dispensed from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims electronically to each respective reimbursement provider.

2. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise submitting consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

3. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 1, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of the plurality of patients.

4. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 1, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

5. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 1, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient care facility for each reimbursement provider.

6. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 1, wherein the remote pharmacy further includes a plurality of remote pharmacies, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by a remote pharmacy for each of the plurality of remote pharmacies, for each reimbursement provider.

7. Pharmacy management software stored on a storage media associated with a pharmacy group management computer for managing pharmaceutical operations in a remote pharmaceutical dispensing and storage facility defining a remote pharmacy, and a plurality of remotely positioned patient care facilities each having at least one remote medication dispensing apparatus, the pharmacy management software comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations:

providing separate billing records for each of a plurality of patients at a patient care facility;

consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data including billing data for medications dispensed to a respective patient from at least one pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

8. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 7, wherein the billing data for each patient is indexed by reimbursement provider, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of the plurality of patients at the patient care facility, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims include electronically submitting the respective consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

9. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 7, wherein the consolidated billing data further includes billing data for medications not dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

10. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 9, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

11. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise submitting consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

12. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 7, wherein the patient care facility includes a plurality of patient care facilities, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient care facility separately for each reimbursement provider.

13. Pharmacy management software as defined in claim 7, wherein the remote pharmacy includes a plurality of remote pharmacies, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by remote pharmacy for each of the plurality of remote pharmacies, for each reimbursement provider.

14. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer to manage pharmaceutical operations, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations:

providing separate billing records for each of a plurality of patients at each of a plurality of long-term care facilities;

consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data including billing data for medications dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts and billing data for medications not dispensed from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts; and

submitting consolidated reimbursement claims to one or more reimbursement providers for each of the plurality of patients.

15. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

16. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

17. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient care facility for each reimbursement provider.

18. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the remote pharmacy includes a plurality of remote pharmacies, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by remote pharmacy for each reimbursement provider.

19. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer to manage pharmaceutical operations, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the following operations:

providing separate billing records for each of a plurality of patients at a patient care facility;

consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data including billing data for medications dispensed to a respective patient from at least one pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

20. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the billing data for each patient is indexed by reimbursement provider, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of the plurality of patients at the patient facility, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims include electronically submitting the respective consolidating consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

21. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the consolidated billing data includes billing data for medications not dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

22. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 21, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

23. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the computer readable medium further include instructions to perform the operations of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

24. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the at least one patient care facility includes a plurality of patient care facilities, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient care facility for each reimbursement provider.

25. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the remote pharmacy includes a plurality of remote pharmacies, and wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by remote pharmacy for each reimbursement provider.