Systems and methods for look-alike sound-alike medication error messaging

• US 7,555,435 B2
• Filed: 01/09/2003
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NDCHealth Corp. (McKesson Corp.)
• Original Assignee: NDCHealth Corp. (McKesson Corp.)
• Inventors: Coffman, Suzanne Agner, Pinsonneault, Roger George, Ball, Sarah Johnston
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; C. Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sorey; Robert
• Application Number:
  US10/339,000
• Publication Number:
  US 20040059600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,364 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for look-alike sound-alike medication error messaging. Prescription data relating to a prescription is parsed to identify a submitted drug product and a submitted daily dosage. An absolute dose screening process may be executed to determine whether the submitted daily dosage meets absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product. A typical dose screening process may be executed to determine whether the submitted daily dosage meets statistically derived typical dosing criteria for the submitted drug product and any look-alike sound-alike alternative drug products. In addition, one or more likelihood indicators may be assigned to the submitted drug product in relation to associated look-alike sound-alike drug pairs. If it is determined that the prescription should be rejected based on typical dosing criteria, absolute dosing criteria, or the likelihood indicator(s), a reject message may be built for presentation to the pharmacist.

Claims

1. A method for look-alike sound-alike medication error messaging, comprising:

calculating, by a host server, a set of most common daily dosage (MCDD) values or a set of common daily dosage (CDD) values for each of a plurality of drug products, based at least in part on dosage values from previously received prescription claim transactions received by the host server from a plurality of pharmacy point of service (POS) devices;

storing, in a database accessible by the host server, the MCDD or CDD value sets for each of the plurality of drug products;

receiving, at the host server, a prescription claim transaction from a pharmacy POS device;

determining, from the prescription claim transaction received at the host server, a submitted drug product and a submitted daily dosage for the submitted drug product, wherein the submitted drug product is one of the plurality of drug products stored in the database;

determining, by the host server, that the submitted drug product is associated with at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

determining, by the host server, that the submitted daily dosage is not within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the submitted drug product based on a comparison of the submitted daily dosage to the MCDD or CDD value sets for the submitted drug product;

determining, by the host server, that the submitted daily dosage is within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product based on a comparison of the submitted daily dosage to the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

determining that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected based at least in part on the determination that the submitted daily dosage is within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

generating a reject message at the host server, wherein the reject message indicates a potential prescription error has been detected; and

transmitting the reject message from the host server to the pharmacy POS device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected includes determining a likelihood indicator, wherein the likelihood indicator represents a relative probability of whether the submitted drug product is involved in a look-alike sound-alike medication error involving the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the likelihood indicator is determined based on a degree of similarity between drug names of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product, prescribing frequencies of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product, and whether the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product are available in similar strengths.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the prescribing frequencies of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product are categorized as being either high, medium or low;

and wherein a low-low, high-low or low-high combination of prescribing frequencies is considered to have the potential for confirmation bias.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected includes determining whether the submitted daily dosage meets absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the absolute dosing criteria is specific to at least one of the group consisting of:

patient demographic group, treatment type and illness type.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the submitted daily dosage is determined to not meet the absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product because the submitted daily dosage is lower than an absolute minimum daily dosage for the submitted drug product.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the submitted daily dosage is determined to not meet the absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product because the submitted daily dosage exceeds an absolute maximum daily dosage for the submitted drug product.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the CDD value set for each of a plurality of drug products is within a daily dosage range above a predefined percentage of all dosage values of the previously received prescription claim transactions associated with the submitted drug product.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the MCDD value set for a particular drug product is within a daily dosage range above a predefined percentage of all dosage values of the previously received prescription claim transactions associated with the submitted drug product, the percentage being larger and the range being narrower than that used to determine the CDD value set for that particular drug product.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the submitted daily dosage is not within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the submitted drug product includes determining that the submitted daily dosage is not within a deviation of at least one value of the MCDD or CDD value sets.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the MCDD or CDD value sets includes one or more values.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected includes determining whether the prescription relates to the new prescription or a refill.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected includes determining a clinical significance for the look-alike sound-alike drug pair, the clinical significance being a value used to quantify the consequences of a look-alike sound-alike medication error involving the look-alike sound-alike drug pair.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the MCDD or CDD value sets is specific to at least one of the group consisting of:

patient demographic group, treatment type, illness type and physician specialty.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the reject message identifies the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product.

17. A system for look-alike sound-alike medication error messaging, comprising:

a network interface;

a database; and

a processor, located at a host server, in communication with the network interface and the database, wherein the processor is configured to;

calculate a set of most common daily dosage (MCDD) values or a set of common daily dosage (CDD) values for each of a plurality of drug products, based at least in part on dosage values from previously received prescription claim transactions received by the host server from a plurality of pharmacy point of service (POS) devices;

store, in the database, the MCDD or CDD value sets for each of the plurality of drug products;

receive, via the network interface, a prescription claim transaction from a pharmacy point of service (POS) device;

determine, from the prescription claim transaction, a submitted drug product and a submitted daily dosage for the submitted drug product, wherein the submitted drug product is one of the plurality of drug products stored in the database;

determine that the submitted drug product is associated with at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

determine that the submitted daily dosage is not within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the submitted drug product based on a comparison of the submitted daily dosage to the MCDD or CDD value sets for the submitted drug product;

determine that the submitted daily dosage is within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product based on a comparison of the submitted daily dosage to the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

determine that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected based at least in part on the determination that the submitted daily dosage is within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product;

generate a reject message, wherein the reject message indicates a potential prescription error has been detected; and

transmit the reject message from the host server to the pharmacy POS device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected include computer-executable instructions to determine a likelihood indicator, wherein the likelihood indicator represents a relative probability of whether the submitted drug product is involved in a look-alike sound-alike medication error involving the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the likelihood indicator is determined based on a degree of similarity between drug names of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product, prescribing frequencies of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product, and whether the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product are available in similar strengths.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the prescribing frequencies of the submitted drug product and the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product are categorized as being either high, medium or low;

and wherein a low-low, high-low or low-high combination of prescribing frequencies is considered to have the potential for confirmation bias.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected include computer-executable instructions to determine whether the submitted daily dosage meets absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the absolute dosing criteria are specific to at least one of the group consisting of:

patient demographic group, treatment type and illness type.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the submitted daily dosage is determined to not meet the absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product because the submitted daily dosage is lower than an absolute minimum daily dosage for the submitted drug product.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the submitted daily dosage is determined to not meet the absolute dosing criteria for the submitted drug product because the submitted daily dosage exceeds an absolute maximum daily dosage for the submitted drug product.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the CDD value set for each of a plurality of drug products is within a daily dosage range above a predefined percentage of all dosage values of the previously received prescription claim transactions associated with the submitted drug product.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the MCDD value set for a particular drug product is within a daily dosage range above a predefined percentage of all dosage values of the previously received prescription claim transactions associated with the submitted drug product, the percentage being larger and the range being narrower than that used to determine the CDD value set for that particular drug product.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein determining that the submitted daily dosage is within the MCDD or CDD value sets for the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product includes determining that the submitted daily dosage is within a deviation of at least one value of the MCDD or CDD value sets.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein each of the MCDD or CDD value sets includes one or more values.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected include computer-executable instructions to determine whether the prescription relates to the new prescription or a refill.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine that the prescription claim transaction should be rejected include computer-executable instructions to determine a clinical significance for the look-alike sound-alike drug pair, the clinical significance being a value used to quantify the consequences of a look-alike sound-alike medication error involving the look-alike sound-alike drug pair.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the MCDD or CDD value sets is specific to at least one of the group consisting of:

patient demographic group, treatment type, illness type and physician specialty.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein the reject message identifies the at least one look-alike sound-alike alternative drug product.