MANAGEMENT OF PHARMACY KITS USING MULTIPLE ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA FOR PHARMACY KIT SEGMENTS

• US 20140372145A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bluesight, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kitcheck, Inc.
• Inventors: MacDonald, Kevin, Kress-Spatz, Timothy, Pedra, David, Doyle, Christian, Brody, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,449,296 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• 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 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

A pharmacy kit is managed by defining multiple rules for determining whether a segment of a pharmacy kit is satisfactorily stocked, selecting at least one rule among the multiple rules according to a kit stocking contingency, an prompting a user to stock the segment of the pharmacy kit according to the selected at least one rule.

Claims

1. A method of managing a pharmacy kit, comprising:

determining whether a kit stocking contingency has occurred with respect to a segment of the pharmacy kit;

as a consequence of determining that the kit stocking contingency has not occurred, determining whether the segment has been satisfactorily stocked according to a first acceptance criterion; and

as a consequence of determining that the kit stocking contingency has occurred, determining whether the segment has been satisfactorily stocked according to a second acceptance criterion different from the first acceptance criterion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the kit stocking contingency is a shortage of at least one pharmacy item corresponding to the first acceptance criterion.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the kit stocking contingency has occurred comprises receiving a shortage notification for the at least one pharmacy item corresponding to the first acceptance criterion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second acceptance criteria specify different types of items that can be used to stock the segment.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the different types of items are different types of medication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first acceptance criterion specifies a size of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment, and the second acceptance criterion specifies an alternative size of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first acceptance criterion specifies a quantity of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment, and the second acceptance criterion specifies an alternative quantity of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first acceptance criterion specifies a concentration of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment, and the second acceptance criterion specifies an alternative concentration of medication that can be used to satisfactorily stock the segment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether an additional kit stocking contingency has occurred;

and

as a consequence of determining that the additional kit stocking contingency has occurred, determining whether the segment of the pharmacy kit has been satisfactorily stocked according to one or more additional acceptance criterion different from the first and acceptance criteria.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second acceptance criterion and the at least one additional acceptance criterion are ranked in order of user preference.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input defining one or more rules for determining, based on the first criterion or the second criterion, whether the segment is satisfactorily stocked.

12. A method of managing a pharmacy kit using an electronic information processing system, comprising:

defining, in the electronic information processing system, multiple rules for determining whether a segment of a pharmacy kit is satisfactorily stocked;

selecting, by the electronic information processing system, at least one rule among the multiple rules according to a kit stocking contingency; and

prompting, by the electronic information processing system, a user to stock the segment of the pharmacy kit according to the selected at least one rule.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the kit stocking contingency is a shortage of at least one pharmacy item corresponding to the segment.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the multiple rules are ranked in order of user preference and selected according to the ranking.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a query from a user, requesting an amount of time for which the selected at least one rule is to be in effect; and

displaying the requested amount of time to the user.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating a report indicating relative quantities of pharmacy items used to stock the segment according to the multiple rules.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating a report indicating a history of changes made to a template of the pharmacy kit.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating a charge sheet comprising billing information for pharmaceutical items corresponding to the selected at least one rule.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the multiple rules define different types of pharmacy items to be used to stock the segment.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the multiple rules define different quantities, concentrations, or sizes of pharmacy items to be used to stock the segment.