SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CACHED REPLENISHMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS
First Claim
1. A computer system to enable a pharmacy that disburses medications to patients of a plurality of health care providers to automatically coordinate cached replenishment of medications disbursed to qualified patients of one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program, the system comprising:
- a processor; and
a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including,an operating system, anda cached replenishment module to perform the method of,monitoring disbursement of medication units by the pharmacy to patients of the plurality of health care providers, including one or more qualified entities;
tracking the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements to qualified patients of the one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program;
determining when the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and
upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaching the replenishment threshold,initiating a purchase of a cached replenishment container from a supplier, wherein the cached replenishment container is purchased from the supplier at a discount price under the qualified program,coordinating delayed shipment of the cached replenishment container to the pharmacy, andassociating the purchased cached replenishment container with the pharmacy, such that when the pharmacy places an order with the supplier for one or more replacement containers the supplier sends the pharmacy the purchased cached replenishment container and reduces by one the number of replacement containers ordered by the pharmacy for the shipped cached replenishment container.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer system and method manages the disbursement and replacement of medication units to patients. Medication unites disbursed to qualified patients under qualified discount plans are replaced by replenishment. Computer systems implementing traditional replenishment, cached replenishment, and prepurchased replenishment are disclosed. The computer system and method monitors medication units disbursed to patients by a pharmacy and tracks the amount of medication units disbursed to qualified patients of health care providers qualified under a discount program. When the amount of disbursed medication units reaches a threshold, replacement medication units are ordered. The medication units disbursed to non-qualified patients are replaced through restocking and the medication units disbursed under a qualified discount program are replaced through traditional replenishment, cached replenishment, and/or prepurchased replenishment.
67 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer system to enable a pharmacy that disburses medications to patients of a plurality of health care providers to automatically coordinate cached replenishment of medications disbursed to qualified patients of one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program, the system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including, an operating system, and a cached replenishment module to perform the method of, monitoring disbursement of medication units by the pharmacy to patients of the plurality of health care providers, including one or more qualified entities; tracking the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements to qualified patients of the one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program; determining when the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaching the replenishment threshold, initiating a purchase of a cached replenishment container from a supplier, wherein the cached replenishment container is purchased from the supplier at a discount price under the qualified program, coordinating delayed shipment of the cached replenishment container to the pharmacy, and associating the purchased cached replenishment container with the pharmacy, such that when the pharmacy places an order with the supplier for one or more replacement containers the supplier sends the pharmacy the purchased cached replenishment container and reduces by one the number of replacement containers ordered by the pharmacy for the shipped cached replenishment container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon computer readable instruction code for a computer system to perform a method of automatic cached replenishment of medications dispersed by a pharmacy to qualified patients of one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program, the method comprising:
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monitoring disbursement of medication units by the pharmacy to patients of a plurality of health care providers, including one or more qualified entities; tracking the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements to qualified patients of the one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program; determining when the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursement reaching the replenishment threshold, initiating a purchase of a cached replenishment container from a supplier, wherein the cached replenishment container is purchased at a discount price under the qualified program, coordinating delayed shipment of the cached replenishment container to the pharmacy, and associating the purchased cached replenishment container with the pharmacy, such that when the pharmacy places an order with the supplier for one or more replacement containers the supplier sends the pharmacy the purchased cached replenishment container and reduces the number of replacement containers ordered by the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer-implemented method of dispersing and replenishing medications for a plurality of health care providers that, in the course of providing health care services to patients, generate pharmaceutical prescriptions to be filled at a pharmacy, the method comprising:
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a computer system monitoring disbursements of medication units by the pharmacy to patients of a plurality of health care providers, including one or more qualified entities; the computer system tracking the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements to qualified patients of one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program; the computer system determining when the number of medication units dispensed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified dispersals reaching the replenishment threshold, the computer system coordinating an order for a cached replenishment by coordinating a purchase of a cached replenishment container from a supplier, wherein the cached replenishment container is purchased from the supplier at a discount price under the qualified program, coordinating delayed shipment of the cached replenishment container to the pharmacy, and associating the purchased cached replenishment container with the pharmacy, such that when the pharmacy places an order with the supplier for one or more replacement containers the supplier sends the pharmacy the purchased cached replenishment container and reduces by one the number of replacement containers ordered by the pharmacy for the shipped cached replenishment container. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer system to enable a pharmacy to disburse medications to patients of a plurality of health care providers and automatically coordinate cached replenishment of medications disbursed to qualified patients of at least one qualified entity under a qualified discount plan, the system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including, an operating system; a monitoring module to monitor disbursements by the pharmacy of medication units to patients of the plurality of health care providers, track the number of medication units dispensed through qualified dispersals, and determine when the number of medication units dispensed through qualified dispersals reaches a replenishment threshold; and a cached replenishment module to, upon the number of medication units dispensed through qualified dispersals reaching the replenishment threshold, initiate a purchase by the qualified entity of a credit from a medication provider for a replacement container at a discount price under the qualified program, wherein the purchased credit is associated with the pharmacy such that when the pharmacy places an order for a replacement container the medication provider sends the pharmacy a replacement container at no charge to offset the purchased credit.
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34. A computer system to enable a pharmacy to disperse medications to patients of a plurality of health care providers and automatically coordinate cached replenishment of medications dispersed to qualified patients of at least one qualified entity under a discount plan, the system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including, an operating system; a monitoring module to monitor disbursements by the pharmacy of medication units to patients of the plurality of health care providers, wherein disbursements of medication units includes qualified disbursements to patients of qualified entities that are qualified under a qualified discount program and disbursements of medication units to patients of one or more non-qualified entities that are not qualified under the qualified discount program a tracking module to track the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements; and a replenishment module to determine when the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and
, upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaching the replenishment threshold, initiating a purchase by the qualified entity of a credit from a medication provider for a replacement container at a discount price under the qualified program, wherein the purchased credit is associated with the pharmacy such that when the pharmacy places an order for a replacement container the medication provider sends the pharmacy a replacement container at no charge to offset the purchased credit.
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35. A computer system to enable a pharmacy to disburse medications to patients of a plurality of health care providers and automatically coordinate cached replenishment of medications disbursed to qualified patients of one or more qualified entities under a qualified discount program, the system comprising:
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a processor; and a memory in electrical communication with the processor, the memory including, an operating system, and a cached replenishment module to perform the method of, monitoring disbursements by the pharmacy of medication units to patients of the plurality of health care providers; tracking the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements to qualified patients of the qualified entity under the qualified discount program; determining when the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaches a replenishment threshold; and upon the number of medication units disbursed through qualified disbursements reaching the replenishment threshold, initiating a purchase from a medication supplier by the one or more qualified entities of a replenishment credit for a replacement container at a discount price under the qualified program, wherein the purchased replenishment credit is associated with the pharmacy such that when the pharmacy places an order for a replacement container the medication supplier sends the pharmacy a replacement container at no charge to offset the purchased replenishment credit.
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Specification