System and method for accurately dispensing prescriptions in a pharmacy
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for accurately dispensing prescriptions in a pharmacy comprising:
- a processing unit;
a reader operably interconnected to the processing unit, at least one of the reader and the processing unit adapted to detect and read indicia on a pharmaceutical product source container containing a pharmaceutical product; and
a converter operably interconnected to at least one of the processing unit and the reader for converting at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia on the pharmaceutical product source container into an NDC number;
whereby when the converter converts the at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia on a pharmaceutical product source container containing a pharmaceutical product into an NDC number, the indicia is standardized to an NDC number to ensure accuracy during the dispensation of a prescription for a product corresponding to the pharmaceutical product in the container having the same NDC number.
0 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A device and method is provided for converting product-specific identification numbers associated with bar code indicia on pharmaceutical products to an industry standard identification number. The process involves reading a bar code indicia, converting the indicia into an input string and standardizing the input string by means of adding or subtracting characters in accordance with rules based on the bar code type and length of the input string. By means of the invention pharmaceutical products of two different sources may be compared to determine if they contain the same drug as determined by the standard identification number. The device can include a removable member for interchanging and updating bar code indicia information rather than reprogramming the device.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A system for accurately dispensing prescriptions in a pharmacy comprising:
-
a processing unit;
a reader operably interconnected to the processing unit, at least one of the reader and the processing unit adapted to detect and read indicia on a pharmaceutical product source container containing a pharmaceutical product; and
a converter operably interconnected to at least one of the processing unit and the reader for converting at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia on the pharmaceutical product source container into an NDC number;
whereby when the converter converts the at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia on a pharmaceutical product source container containing a pharmaceutical product into an NDC number, the indicia is standardized to an NDC number to ensure accuracy during the dispensation of a prescription for a product corresponding to the pharmaceutical product in the container having the same NDC number. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of accurately dispensing prescriptions in a pharmacy having a computerized prescription dispensing system including a reader and having an inventory of pharmaceutical products including the steps of:
-
receiving a prescription for a patient identifying a desired pharmaceutical product and a desired dosage of the desired pharmaceutical product;
entering first data representative of the prescription into the dispensing system;
converting the first data into a first NDC number;
retrieving the desired pharmaceutical product source container from the inventory, said pharmaceutical product source container having at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia;
reading the at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia from the desired pharmaceutical product source container with the reader to convert the indicia into second data representative of the at least one of a manufacturer and a product indicia;
converting the second data into a second NDC number; and
comparing the first NDC number with the second NDC number. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification