System and software for pharmaceutical prescription compliance
First Claim
1. An apparatus for automatically contacting customers of a pharmacist to remind them of the need to have a prescription refilled, said apparatus comprisingmemory means for storing information concerning each customer'"'"'s name, phone number, the medication prescribed for the customer, the prescribed schedule for taking the drug, the number of doses to be dispensed, the number of refills prescribed and dispensed and the date on which the prescription will require refilling if each dose is taken on schedule,telephone dialer means for dialing telephone numbers,communicating means for communicating prescription drug refill information along a telephone connection made by the telephone dialer means,computer means for interacting with and controlling operation of the memory means, telephone dialer means and communicating means, andprogram control means for controlling said computer means to dial the telephone number of customers to communicate prescription drug refill information based on information stored in the memory means.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for contacting customers of a pharmacy automatically to remind them that their prescriptions need to be refilled does so using a computer, memory, and automatic telephone dialing and voice synthesizing equipment. Information concerning each customer and his or her prescription is placed in a database in the memory. A schedule file which lists customer name, phone number, the drug prescribed and refill due date is created from this information. The schedule file is kept in chronological order by refill due date. At selected times, customers whose prescriptions are due to be refilled within selected time periods are automatically contacted by the computer using the automatic telephone dialer. When the telephone is answered, the voice synthesizer identifies the customer by name, the prescribed drug and prescription number. The voice synthesizer then reminds the customer that the prescription is due to be refilled if the medication was taken as prescribed. The system generates various reports for the pharmacist concerning its automatic activities.
325 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus for automatically contacting customers of a pharmacist to remind them of the need to have a prescription refilled, said apparatus comprising
memory means for storing information concerning each customer'"'"'s name, phone number, the medication prescribed for the customer, the prescribed schedule for taking the drug, the number of doses to be dispensed, the number of refills prescribed and dispensed and the date on which the prescription will require refilling if each dose is taken on schedule, telephone dialer means for dialing telephone numbers, communicating means for communicating prescription drug refill information along a telephone connection made by the telephone dialer means, computer means for interacting with and controlling operation of the memory means, telephone dialer means and communicating means, and program control means for controlling said computer means to dial the telephone number of customers to communicate prescription drug refill information based on information stored in the memory means.
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7. A method for automatically contacting customers of a pharmacist to remind them of the need to have a prescription refilled, said method comprising the steps of
receiving information concerning each customer'"'"'s name, phone number, the medication prescribed, the schedule prescribed for taking the medication, the number of doses to be dispensed and the number of refills prescribed and dispensed, computing from the information received a refill due date corresponding to the day on which each prescription will require refilling, storing at least a portion of the information received together with the associated refill due date in chronological order, using a computer receiving the stored information and refill due date to detect prescriptions requiring refill, and using automatic telephone dialing means for automatically dialing the telephone number of a customer whose prescription requires refilling for communicating the information that the prescription requires refilling to the customer.
Specification