Remote prescription refill system
First Claim
1. A system for automatically receiving customer prescription refill orders and transmitting prescription refill information to a pharmacy comprising:
- a central station remote from the pharmacy for receiving telephone calls which have been forwarded from the pharmacy;
means at said central station for prompting a caller to provide prescription refill information;
means at said central station for transmitting said prescription refill information to said pharmacy;
said transmitting means including means for periodically transmitting said prescription refill information to said pharmacy by facsimile transmission, E-mail, or pager; and
means at said central station for indicating to said pharmacy whether said caller left a voice message for said pharmacy.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A central station is provided to which the pharmacy can forward calls at the convenience of the pharmacy. A caller will call in to the pharmacy to request a refill and the call will be automatically routed to the central facility unbeknownst to the caller. The central station will obtain the refill information required, preferably by means of an automated computer system as is known in the art. This information can then be transferred to the pharmacist in a number of ways, such as by periodically faxing the information to the pharmacy. Voice messages could be flagged and the pharmacist would have to call into the central facility to obtain the voice mail message. Alternatively, a PC could be installed in the pharmacy having a reduced version of a complete, stand-alone program. The refill information can then be sent to the pharmacy by modem and the pharmacist could see a computer display of the refill orders and could hear voice messages. Alternatively, the information could be e-mailed to the pharmacy. Finally, a pager system may be utilized to alert the pharmacist to retrieve orders by telephone with a password. It should also be noted that orders could be taken by the central station over the Internet rather than merely through customer calls.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A system for automatically receiving customer prescription refill orders and transmitting prescription refill information to a pharmacy comprising:
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a central station remote from the pharmacy for receiving telephone calls which have been forwarded from the pharmacy;
means at said central station for prompting a caller to provide prescription refill information;
means at said central station for transmitting said prescription refill information to said pharmacy;
said transmitting means including means for periodically transmitting said prescription refill information to said pharmacy by facsimile transmission, E-mail, or pager; and
means at said central station for indicating to said pharmacy whether said caller left a voice message for said pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for automatically receiving customer prescription refill orders comprising:
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a central station remote from a pharmacy for receiving telephone calls relating to prescription refills;
means at said central station for prompting a caller to provide prescription refill information; and
means at said central station for transferring said prescription refill information to said pharmacy for refilling said transferring means, including periodically faxing said prescription refill information to said pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for automatically receiving customer prescription refill orders comprising:
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a central station remote from a pharmacy for receiving telephone calls relating to prescription refills;
means at said central station for prompting a caller to provide prescription refill information;
means at said central station for transferring said prescription refill information to said pharmacy for refilling; and
computer means at said pharmacy for displaying said prescription refill information and for playing voice messages. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of refilling prescriptions comprising:
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providing a central station remote from a pharmacy;
allowing a user to communicate with the central station;
gathering refill information from the user at the central station;
transmitting the refill information from the central station to the pharmacy by telephonically calling the central station and listening to the refill information; and
re-filling the prescription at the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A method of refilling prescriptions comprising:
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providing a central station remote from a pharmacy;
allowing a user to communicate with the central station;
gathering refill information from the user at the central station;
transmitting the refill information from the central station to the pharmacy by downloading the refill information from the central station to a computer system at the pharmacy; and
re-filling the prescription at the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A method of refilling prescriptions comprising:
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providing a central station remote from a pharmacy;
allowing a user to communicate with the central station;
gathering refill information from the user at the central station;
allowing a user to leave a voice mail message at the central station;
transmitting the refill information from the central station to the pharmacy;
retrieving and listening to the voice mail message at the pharmacy; and
re-filling the prescription at the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A method of refilling prescriptions comprising:
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providing a central station remote from a pharmacy;
allowing a user to communicate with the central station by providing a user with a telephone number that is directed to the pharmacy but can be forwarded to the central station;
gathering refill information from the user at the central station;
transmitting the refill information from the central station to the pharmacy; and
re-filling the prescription at the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A method of refilling prescriptions comprising:
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providing a central station remote from a pharmacy;
allowing a user to communicate with the central station by calling a telephone number provided by the pharmacy that calls directly to the central station;
gathering refill information from the user at the central station;
transmitting the refill information from the central station to the pharmacy; and
re-filling the prescription at the pharmacy. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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Specification