Systems and methods for monitoring patient compliance with medication regimens
First Claim
1. A method of monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
- removably receiving a container within a receptacle in an apparatus, wherein the container contains a medicament, wherein the container has an electromagnetic tag attached thereto, wherein the electromagnetic tag contains information about the medicament, and wherein the apparatus includes a reader that is configured to interrogate the electromagnetic tag and retrieve information therefrom;
interrogating the electromagnetic tag via the reader to retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information comprises an identification of the medicament;
alerting a patient to take a dose of the medicament in accordance with a dosage regimen associated with the identified medicament; and
storing in the apparatus a time when removal of the container from the receptacle is detected by the reader.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for facilitating effective self-management of medication treatment by patients. A Smart Tray monitors and reports to third parties a patient'"'"'s compliance with various medication treatment regimens. Medication containers are provided with electromagnetic tags that provide various information about medicament contained within a respective container. A Smart Tray is equipped with a processor and reader that interrogates each respective electromagnetic tag to identify medicament(s) contained within each container. Using the retrieved information, a Smart Tray provides visual and/or audio signals to a patient to remind the patient when and how much of various medicaments to take. A Smart Tray also monitors, via the reader, when a medication container is removed. A Smart Tray can communicate with one or more third parties, such as healthcare providers, pharmacies, and other suppliers of healthcare products and services via a computer network. In addition, a Smart Tray can communicate with various appliances and can modify medication regimens for particular medicaments in response to data received from various appliances.
-
Citations
80 Claims
-
1. A method of monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
-
removably receiving a container within a receptacle in an apparatus, wherein the container contains a medicament, wherein the container has an electromagnetic tag attached thereto, wherein the electromagnetic tag contains information about the medicament, and wherein the apparatus includes a reader that is configured to interrogate the electromagnetic tag and retrieve information therefrom;
interrogating the electromagnetic tag via the reader to retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information comprises an identification of the medicament;
alerting a patient to take a dose of the medicament in accordance with a dosage regimen associated with the identified medicament; and
storing in the apparatus a time when removal of the container from the receptacle is detected by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
establishing communications between the apparatus and an external computing device via a communications network; and
transmitting information from the apparatus to the external computing device.
-
-
13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the container contains a plurality of different medicaments to be taken by a patient at a prescribed time.
-
14. The method according to claim 12 wherein the external computing device is a computing device of a supplier of the medicament and wherein the information transmitted to the external computing device comprises a request for an additional quantity of the medicament.
-
15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
-
establishing communications between the apparatus and an appliance;
retrieving data from the appliance; and
modifying the medication regimen associated with the medicament in response to data received from the appliance.
-
-
16. The method according to claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
-
establishing communications between the apparatus and a third party computing device via a communications network;
retrieving information from the third party computing device about the medicament; and
displaying the retrieved information.
-
-
17. A method of monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
-
removably receiving a container within a first receptacle of an apparatus, wherein the container contains a medicament, wherein the container has an identifier attached thereto, wherein the identifier contains information about the medicament, and wherein the apparatus includes a reader that is configured to interrogate the identifier and retrieve information therefrom;
interrogating the identifier via the reader to retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information comprises an identification of the medicament;
placing a health monitoring device within a second receptacle of the apparatus;
retrieving data from the health monitoring device; and
modifying the dosage regimen associated with the medicament in response to data received from the health monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method of monitoring patient compliance with multiple medication dosage regimens, the method comprising the steps of:
-
removably receiving a plurality of containers within a respective plurality of receptacles in an apparatus, wherein each container contains a medicament, wherein each container has an electromagnetic tag attached thereto, wherein each electromagnetic tag contains information about the medicament within a respective container, and wherein the apparatus includes a reader that is configured to interrogate the electromagnetic tag of each container and retrieve information therefrom;
interrogating each of the electromagnetic tags via the reader to retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information comprises an identification of medicament contained within each respective container;
alerting a patient to take a dose of medicament from respective ones of the containers in accordance with a respective dosage regimen associated with each of the identified medicaments; and
storing in the apparatus a time when removal of each container from a respective receptacle is detected by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. A method of monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, the method comprising the steps of:
-
removably receiving first and second containers within respective first and second receptacles of an apparatus, wherein the first and second containers contain respective different first and second medicaments, wherein the first and second containers have respective first and second identifiers attached thereto, wherein the first and second identifiers contain information about the respective first and second medicaments, and wherein the apparatus includes a reader that is configured to interrogate each identifier and retrieve information therefrom;
interrogating the first and second identifiers via the reader to retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information comprises an identification of the first and second medicaments; and
determining whether the first and second medicaments are contraindicated. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
establishing communications between the apparatus and a third party computing device via a communications network;
retrieving information from the third party computing device about the contraindication of the first and second medicaments; and
displaying the retrieved information.
-
-
42. An apparatus that monitors patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a receptacle for removably receiving a container therein, wherein the container contains a medicament, and wherein the container has an electromagnetic tag attached thereto that contains information about the medicament including an identification of the medicament;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the electromagnetic tag and identify the medicament;
an indicator that alerts a patient to take a dose of the medicament in accordance with a dosage regimen associated with the identified medicament; and
memory associated with the apparatus that stores a time when removal of the container from the receptacle is detected by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
-
-
54. A system for monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a container that contains a medicament, wherein the container has an identifier attached thereto that contains information about the medicament including an identification of the medicament;
an apparatus, comprising;
a receptacle for removably receiving the container therein;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the identifier and retrieve information therefrom;
an indicator that alerts a patient to take a dose of the medicament in accordance with a dosage regimen associated with the identified medicament;
memory associated with the apparatus for storing a time when removal of the container from the receptacle is detected by the reader; and
a modem that is configured to communicate with external computing devices via a communications network; and
a computing device in communication with the apparatus via a communications network, wherein the computing device transmits and receives information to and from the apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
-
-
64. A system for monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a container that contains a medicament, wherein the container has an identifier attached thereto that contains information about the medicament including an identification of the medicament;
an apparatus, comprising;
a receptacle for removably receiving the container therein;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the identifier and retrieve information therefrom; and
memory associated with the apparatus that stores a time when removal of the is container from the receptacle is detected by the reader; and
an appliance in communication with the apparatus, wherein the appliance is configured to transfer data to the apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68)
-
-
69. A system for monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a container that contains a medicament, wherein the container has an identifier attached thereto that contains information about the medicament; and
an apparatus, comprising;
a first receptacle for removably receiving the container therein;
a second receptacle for removably receiving a health monitoring device therein;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the identifier and retrieve information therefrom, and wherein the reader is configured to retrieve data from a health monitoring device within the second receptacle; and
wherein the apparatus is configured to modify a dosage regimen associated with the medicament in response to data retrieved from the health monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72)
-
-
73. A system for monitoring patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a first container that contains a first medicament, wherein the container has a first identifier attached thereto that contains information about the first medicament, including an identification of the first medicament;
a second container that contains a second medicament different from the first medicament, wherein the second container has a second identifier attached thereto that contains information about the second medicament, including an identification of the second medicament;
an apparatus, comprising;
a first receptacle for removably receiving the first container therein;
a second receptacle for removably receiving the second container therein;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the first and second identifiers and retrieve information therefrom, wherein the retrieved information includes an identification of the first and second medicaments; and
wherein the apparatus is configured to determine whether the first and second medicaments are contraindicated. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77)
-
-
78. An apparatus that monitors patient compliance with medication treatment, comprising:
-
a surface for removably receiving a container thereon, wherein the container contains a medicament, and wherein the container has an electromagnetic tag attached thereto that contains information about the medicament including an identification of the medicament;
a reader that is configured to interrogate the electromagnetic tag and identify the medicament;
an indicator that alerts a patient to take a dose of the medicament in accordance with a dosage regimen associated with the identified medicament; and
memory associated with the apparatus that stores a time when removal of the container from the surface is detected by the reader. - View Dependent Claims (79, 80)
-
Specification