System and software of enhanced pharmaceutical operations in long-term care facilities and related methods

• US 7,685,004 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2007
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2003
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Tech Pharmacy Services, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tech Pharmacy Services Incorporated (Partners Pharmacy LLC)
• Inventors: Martin, James J., Moncrief, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilligan; Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOREY, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US11/951,050
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091467A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 1/30 Devices or methods for controlling or determining the quantity or quality or the material fed or filled
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A system, pharmacy management software, and related methods of enhanced pharmaceutical operations in patient care facilities are provided. The pharmacy management software, for example, can include instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the operations of providing instructions to pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts positioned at various patient care facilities according to patient specific prescription requirements, receiving dispensing data from each of the carts, and providing separate billing records including billing data indexed by reimbursement provider for each patient at the patient care facilities. The operations can also include consolidating the billing data by patient, by patient care facility, by remote pharmacy, and/or consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider, and submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims electronically to each respective reimbursement provider.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of remote pharmacy management of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the method comprising:

scheduling on one or more computers one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts according to patient specific prescription requirements, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein and being located at a long term care facility positioned remote from the one or more computers;

controlling from the one or more computers each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts;

individually retrieving responsive to the controlling from the one or more computers at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk;

loading responsive to the controlling from the one or more computers the at least one medication into one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages to thereby package the at least one medication in the one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages;

dispensing responsive to the controlling from the one or more computers the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart prior to the one or more preselected time intervals scheduled to thereby dispense medication by authorized medical personnel after separating the container from the cart when having the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein according to patient specific prescription requirements;

receiving dispensing data to the one or more computers remote from each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;

processing by the one or more computers billing records including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities based on the received dispensing data, the billing data including reimbursement provider;

consolidating the billing data according to reimbursement provider by the one or more computers to thereby generate reimbursements to be provided from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider; and

submitting by the one or more computers separate consolidated reimbursement claims electronically to each respective reimbursement provider.

2. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of controlling includes dispensing the packaged at least one medication into the container during the preselected time intervals prior to a predetermined schedule of distribution of medication dosages to the plurality of patients in each of the plurality of long-term care facilities.

3. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 2, wherein the step of receiving dispensing data further includes dispensing data of medications remaining stored in bulk in and not actually dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

4. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 2, wherein the step of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes consolidating billing data by patient at a long term care facility for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the step of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

5. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 1, further comprises submitting from the one or more computers consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

6. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of consolidating billing data further includes consolidating billing data by long term care facility for each reimbursement provider.

7. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 1, wherein the consolidating step comprises consolidating billing data from a remote pharmacy, and wherein the consolidating step includes consolidating billing data with a plurality of additional billing data from a plurality of additional remote pharmacies.

8. A computer implemented method of remote pharmacy management of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the method comprising:

scheduling on a computer one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein and being located at a patient care facility;

processing control data from a computer by each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts;

individually retrieving responsive to the control data at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk;

loading responsive to the control data the at least one medication into one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages to thereby package the at least one medication in the one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages;

dispensing responsive to the control data the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby dispense medication by authorized medical personnel after separating the container from the cart when having the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein according to patient specific prescription requirements;

receiving by a computer dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;

processing on a computer the received dispensing data so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;

processing on a computer billing records including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities based on the received dispensing data, the billing data including reimbursement provider;

consolidating the billing data according to reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims from a computer to each respective reimbursement provider.

9. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 8, wherein the step of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes consolidating billing data by patient at a patient care facility for each reimbursement provider.

10. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 9, wherein the step of receiving dispensing data further includes dispensing data of medications remaining stored in bulk in and not actually dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

11. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 8, further comprises submitting from the computer consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

12. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 8, wherein the step of processing control data includes dispensing the packaged at least one medication into the container during the preselected time intervals prior to a predetermined schedule of distribution of medication dosages to the plurality of patients in each of the patient care facilities, and wherein the step of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of a plurality of patients at a patient care facility.

13. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 8, wherein the step of consolidating billing data further includes consolidating billing data by long term care facility for each reimbursement provider.

14. A computer implemented method as defined in claim 8, wherein the consolidating step comprises consolidating billing data from a remote pharmacy, and wherein the consolidating step includes consolidating billing data with a plurality of additional billing data from a plurality of additional remote pharmacies.

15. A computer readable pharmacy management program product stored on one or more tangible computer readable storage media, the pharmacy management program product comprising a set of instructions that when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform the following operations:

scheduling one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication according to patient specific prescription requirements through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein;

processing control data by each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts to individually retrieve at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk, load the at least one medication into one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages, package the at least one medication, and dispense the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby have dispensed medication distributed by authorized medical personnel according to the patient specific prescription requirements after separating the container from the cart when having the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein;

receiving dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;

processing the received dispensing data so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;

processing separate billing record data including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities based on the received dispensing data, the billing data being indexed by reimbursement provider;

consolidating the billing data according to reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

16. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the operation of processing control data includes dispensing the packaged at least one medication into the container during preselected time intervals prior to a predetermined schedule of distribution of medication dosages to the plurality of patients in each of a plurality of patient care facilities.

17. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 16, the operation of receiving dispensing data further includes dispensing data of medications remaining stored in bulk in and not actually dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

18. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise submitting consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

19. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

20. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient care facility for each reimbursement provider.

21. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 15, wherein the pharmacy management program product is adapted to provide instructions for the operation of consolidating billing data with a plurality of additional billing data from a plurality of remote pharmacies.

22. A computer readable pharmacy management program product stored on one or more tangible computer readable storage media, the pharmacy management program product comprising a set of instructions that when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform the following operations:

scheduling one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication according to patient specific prescription requirements through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein and being located at a different long term care facility;

controlling each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts to individually retrieve at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk, load the at least one medication into one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages, package the at least one medication, and dispense the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby have dispensed medication distributed by authorized medical personnel according to the patient specific prescription requirements after separating the container from the cart when having the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein;

receiving dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;

processing the received dispensing data so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;

processing billing records based on medication dispensing data received from each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the billing records including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities, the billing data for each long-term care patient being indexed by reimbursement provider;

consolidating the billing data according to reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider; and

submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

23. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the billing data for each patient is indexed by reimbursement provider, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider includes the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider for each of a plurality of patients at the long term care facility.

24. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, the operation of receiving dispensing data further includes dispensing data of medications remaining stored in bulk in and not actually dispensed from a pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing cart.

25. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the operation of consolidating billing data by reimbursement provider further includes the operation of consolidating billing data by patient for each reimbursement provider, and wherein the operation of submitting consolidated reimbursement claims includes electronically submitting the consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider for each associated patient in batch format.

26. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise submitting consolidated reimbursement claims for each patient to a patient representative.

27. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the pharmacy management program product is adapted to provide instructions for the operation of consolidating billing data for medications dispensed to a plurality of patients from a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, and wherein at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts is located at a long term care facility different than another long term care facility.

28. Pharmacy management program product as defined in claim 22, wherein the pharmacy management program product is adapted to provide instructions for the operation of consolidating billing data with a plurality of additional billing data from a plurality of additional remote pharmacies.