ADMINISTERING OF MEDICATION

• US 20100114367A1
• Filed: 09/04/2009
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Providence Health Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Advantage Pharmacy Services, LLC
• Inventors: Barrett, John Todd, Barrett, Spencer K., Schoville, Fred P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,731,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/60 for the operation of medical equipment or devices

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses to facilitate administering of medication.

Claims

1. A method of managing medication using an administering apparatus associated with a pharmacy, comprising:

storing patient-unassigned medication from the pharmacy in the administering apparatus;

administering from the administering apparatus a dose of the medication to a patient having a prescription with the pharmacy; and

assigning the dose of the medication to the patient.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the assignment includes updating a computer file to indicate that the dose was actually administered.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising net billing for only doses of medication that are actually administered.

4. A method as set forth in claim 3, wherein a patient or third party is prospectively billed for a predetermined quantity of doses of the medication, and the patient or third party is retroactively credited for any unused doses of the predetermined quantity of doses of medication.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

providing a network including a computer of the pharmacy coupled to a computer of the administering apparatus;

communicating the administering of the dose from the administering apparatus computer to the pharmacy computer; and

carrying out the assignment using at least one of the pharmacy computer or the administering apparatus computer.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 wherein the network further includes a computer of a prescriber and the method further comprises:

transmitting a prescription from the prescriber over the network; and

receiving the prescription over the network at the pharmacy.

7. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein the transmitting and receiving of the prescription is facilitated by a secure Internet website.

8. A method as set forth in claim 5 further comprising:

transmitting a request for a prescription refill from the administering apparatus to the network; and

receiving the prescription refill request over the network at the pharmacy.

9. A method as set forth in claim 6 wherein the transmitting and receiving of the prescription refill request is facilitated by an Internet website.

10. A method as set forth in claim 8 further comprising:

estimating depletion of the inventory of the medication; and

stocking the administering apparatus based on the estimated depletion.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the estimating is carried out based on at least one of historical medication usage in a medical facility in which the administering apparatus is used, current usage of patients who receive medication from the administering apparatus in the medical facility, or projected anticipated use based on patients'"'"' current medication orders.

12. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein the historical medication usage includes a rolling average.

13. A method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising providing a network including a computer of the pharmacy coupled to a computer of the administering apparatus and a computer of a prescriber coupled to at least one of the pharmacy computer or the administering apparatus computer, and the method further comprises allowing the prescriber to access patient records stored in memory of the administering apparatus computer.

14. A method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising allowing the prescriber to make medication changes.

15. A method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

updating an inventory of medication contained in the administering apparatus.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15 wherein quantities of medications to be dispensed during a med-pass may be compared to actual quantities of those medications actually present on the apparatus before the med-pass is conducted.

17. A method of managing medication, comprising

approving administering of medication to a patient in a medical facility from a administering apparatus;

determining whether or not the medication is loaded to the administering apparatus;

if medication is not loaded to the administering apparatus, then determining whether an alternative medication is loaded to the administering apparatus;

if the alternative medication is loaded to the administering apparatus, then submitting a prescription change request to a prescriber; and

administering the alternative medication to the patient if the prescriber approves the change request.

18. A method of managing medication at a pharmacy and a medical facility, comprising:

packing patient-unassigned medication at a pharmacy to a cassette to be used in a administering apparatus located at the medical facility;

associating data about the medication with the cassette using a computer at the pharmacy;

transferring the cassette to the medical facility;

loading the cassette to the administering apparatus; and

identifying the loaded cassette at the administering apparatus using a computer of the administering apparatus.

19. A method as set forth in claim 18, further comprising:

administering the medication from the cassette to a plurality of patients having prescriptions with the pharmacy; and

assigning doses of the medication to the patients who receive the doses.

20. A method as set forth in claim 19, further comprising further comprising billing for only those doses of medication that are actually administered.

21. A method as set forth in claim 18, wherein the medication is individually packaged in a continuous strip.

22. A method as set forth in claim 18, wherein the associating step includes writing the data to a memory of the cassette at the pharmacy, and the identifying step includes reading the data from the memory of the cassette at the administering apparatus.

23. A medication administering cassette for a medication administering apparatus, comprising:

a housing to carry medication;

a device carried by the housing to convey medication out of the housing; and

a memory device carried by the housing to store data about the medication.

24. The medication administering cassette of claim 23, wherein the data includes at least one of the following data:

medication name, medication manufacturer, medication description, medication lot identification, strength of the medication, medication expiration date, medication NDC, medication GCN, cassette identification, medication quantity initially loaded, quantity of medication administered from the cassette, or current medication quantity.

25. A medication administering cassette for a medication administering apparatus, comprising:

a housing to carry medication; and

a motorized powertrain carried by the housing to convey medication out of the housing, wherein the powertrain includes a locking feature to permit medication to be pushed out of the cassette but prevent medication from being pulled out of the cassette.

26. The cassette of claim 25 wherein the motorized powertrain includes a motor including a drive worm on an output shaft coupled to a driven worm gear of a gearbox coupled to drive elements to drive a strip of the medication.

27. The cassette of claim 25 further comprising a relay in communication with the motorized powertrain that, when energized, powers the motorized powertrain for feeding the medication out of the cassette and, when deenergized, acts as a brake to resist pulling of the medication out of the cassette.

28. The cassette of claim 25 wherein the motorized powertrain includes pinwheel drivetrain elements.

29. A medication administering cassette for a medication administering apparatus, comprising:

a housing to carry medication;

a motorized powertrain carried by the housing to convey medication out of the housing; and

a medication counting device operatively coupled to at least one of the medication or the motorized powertrain to count medication administered from the cassette.

30. The cassette of claim 29 wherein the motorized powertrain includes a prime mover, a transmission coupled to the prime mover, laterally spaced drive elements coupled to the transmission, and laterally spaced driven elements operatively coupled to the drive elements, wherein the prime mover drives the transmission and the transmission drives the drive elements and the drive elements engage the strip of material against the driven elements to convey the strip of material along a feed direction, and wherein the counting device includes at least one of a switch or an encoder operatively coupled to at least one of the drive or driven elements.

31. A medication administering cassette for a medication administering apparatus, comprising:

a housing to carry medication;

a motorized powertrain carried by the housing to convey medication out of the housing; and

a status indicator to indicate an open or closed status of the cassette.

32. The cassette of claim 31 wherein the status indicator includes a switch coupled to the housing an operable with a portion of the medication apparatus as the cassette is pulled out of a compartment of the apparatus or fully closed into the compartment.

33. The cassette of claim 31 wherein the status indicator includes an electrical connector carried by the housing.

34. A medication administering apparatus comprising:

a housing including a compartment and a first electrical connector corresponding to the compartment;

a cassette carried in the compartment and including a housing carrying a second electrical connector; and

an electromechanical latch to selectively couple the cassette to the housing;

wherein when the cassette is engaged to the housing, the second electrical connector couples to the first electrical connector and the electromechanical latch locks the cassette to the housing.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the electromechanical latch is carried by the cassette housing.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the electromechanical latch includes an actuator having a pin engaged in a first locking aperture of the housing, wherein the pin includes a cam surface and the housing includes a side portion that has a second locking aperture and that engages the cam surface of the pin to displace the pin from the locking aperture of the housing until the first and second locking apertures align at which point the pin snaps into engagement with the locking apertures to lock the cassette to the housing.

37. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein the electromechanical latch is carried by the housing.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein the housing further includes a backplane and the electromechanical latch is coupled to the backplane.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the electromechanical latch includes an electromechanical actuator coupled to the backplane and including a pin, and a lever pivotably coupled to the backplane and including a front end for coupling to the cassette and a rear end coupled to the pin of the actuator.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the actuator is coupled to a rear surface of the backplane, the front end of the lever extends through an aperture of the backplane and terminates in a bayonet having a cam surface and a barb for engaging the cassette.

41. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the electromechanical latch includes a motor and drivetrain coupled to the backplane and a pivotable lever coupled to an output shaft of the drivetrain, wherein the lever has a first leg to lock the cassette thereto and a second leg to eject the cassette.

42. A medication administering apparatus comprising:

a housing including a compartment and a backplane carrying a first electrical connector corresponding to the compartment;

a cassette carried in the compartment and including a housing carrying a second electrical connector; and

wherein when the cassette is engaged to the housing, the second electrical connector couples to the first electrical connector.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 further comprising a computer in communication with the first electrical connector, wherein when the second electrical connector couples to the first electrical connector the computer recognizes the cassette.

44. The apparatus of claim 43 further comprising a biometric security device coupled to the computer to verify at least one of an identification of an administering attendant who is to administer medication or a patient who is to receive administered medication.

45. The apparatus of claim 44 wherein the biometric security device identifies the administering attendant as he/she approaches the administering apparatus as an initial security measure, and receives access verification from the administering attendant as a secondary security measure.

46. The apparatus of claim 43 further comprising a tamper device in communication with the computer to alert personnel that security of the apparatus is being compromised according to at least one of the following three different alerts:

1) when an attempt is being made to forcibly remove the cassette from the apparatus when the cassette has not been unlocked, wherein the cassette will travel a predetermined distance before a switch is tripped to set off an alarm;

     2) when an attempt is being made to forcibly remove medication from the apparatus out of the cassette, wherein output from a medication administering counter is sensed by the computer when a material handler has not been triggered to move;

or

     3) the apparatus has been tipped from its normal horizontal position, wherein a level sensor is tripped to set off an alarm.

47. The apparatus of claim 43 further comprising a proximity sensing device in communication with the computer to determine when someone other than a presently authorized user is in a position to view a touchscreen of the apparatus.

48. A medication administering cassette for a medication administering apparatus, comprising:

a housing to carry medication; and

a material handler carried by the housing to convey a strip of material out of the housing, and including a prime mover, a transmission coupled to the prime mover, laterally spaced drive elements coupled to the transmission, and laterally spaced driven elements operatively coupled to the drive elements,

wherein the prime mover drives the transmission and the transmission drives the drive elements and the drive elements engage the strip of material against the driven elements to convey the strip of material along a feed direction and to bias the strip of material in opposed directions transverse to the feed direction.

49. The cassette of claim 48 wherein the drive elements and the driven elements include opposed pairs of gears.

50. The cassette of claim 49 wherein the gears are tapered to bias the strip material in the opposed directions.

51. A medication administering system comprising:

a medication administering apparatus including a plurality of cassettes holding medication and an administering computer to track administration of medication to a plurality of patients;

a pharmacy computer networked to the administering computer to facilitate filling of medication orders to be administered out of the medication administering apparatus; and

a prescriber computer networked to the administering computer and providing remote access to patient records stored in memory of the administering computer and to allow a prescriber to remotely generate a new medication order or change an existing medication order or submit a change order to update the existing medication order.

52. The medication administering system of claim 51 wherein the cassettes of the apparatus store patient-unassigned medication.

53. The medication administering system of claim 52 wherein the cassettes administer the medication on a unit dose basis, so that the system may be used to net bill a payor for only doses actually administered to patients.