Methods, systems and computer program products for providing targeted messages for pharmacy interactive voice response (IVR) systems

• US 8,139,731 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ateb, Inc. (Omnicell Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Ateb, Inc. (Omnicell Incorporated)
• Inventors: DiVenuta, Dennis M., Sheppard, Frank, Slater, Jeffrey L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US12/494,651
• Publication Number:
  US 20090262909A1
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.18, 435/7.1, 607/60, 705/2, 705/3, 705/4, 707/736, 707/780, 235/375, 235/381, 235/382, 235/385, 235/462.46, 455/553.1, 600/300, 700/237
• US Class Current: 379/88.18
• 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 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

A pharmacy Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system can identify a targeted message for playing to a caller using criteria that are based on a prescription number that is provided by the caller. The functionality of an IVR system can thereby be enhanced to provide targeted educational messages concerning the pharmaceutical prescription, targeted messages that indicate alternative medications that may substituted for the pharmaceutical prescription, targeted messages that identify other items that may be desired, targeted messages that solicit participation in a study related to the pharmaceutical prescription and/or other targeted messages. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed.

Claims

1. A system for operating a pharmacy Interactive Voice Response (IVR) comprising:

at least one database; and

a module that is configured to query the at least one database using predefined criteria based on an identification of a pharmaceutical prescription from a telephone caller to the pharmacy IVR system, to identify a targeted message comprising a message that relates to a study based on the predefined criteria and to provide the targeted message to the pharmacy IVR system for playing to the caller.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the targeted message solicits participation in a study and/or provides a study question.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription comprise age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.

4. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is further configured to query by performing the following:

querying the at least one database using age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect, based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

identifying the targeted message that relates to a study, wherein the targeted message corresponds to the age of the patient, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.

5. A system according to claim 1 wherein the pharmacy (IVR) system is configured to answer a telephone call from a caller, accept identification of the pharmaceutical prescription from the caller and play the targeted message that relates to a study to the caller.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein the pharmacy IVR system is further configured to execute a refill call flow for the pharmaceutical prescription.

7. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is configured to query the at least one database using the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription to identify a series of targeted messages and to provide a succeeding one of the series of targeted messages to the pharmacy IVR system in response to receipt of a caller response to a preceding one of the series of targeted messages from the pharmacy IVR system, wherein at least one of the series of targeted message comprises a question in the study.

8. A system according to claim 1 wherein the pharmacy IVR system is further configured to receive a caller response to the targeted message, wherein the caller response comprises responses relating to the study that are related to the pharmaceutical prescription.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein the pharmacy IVR system is further configured to log the caller response.

10. A system according to claim 8 wherein the module is further configured to instruct the pharmacy IVR system to perform an action in response to the caller response to the targeted message.

11. A system according to claim 1 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription do not include a personal identification of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription.

12. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is configured to query by performing the following:

querying at least one database using predefined criteria of last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

identifying an educational targeted message that reminds the caller how to use the pharmaceutical prescription if the last fill date is less than a first threshold and the days supply on last fill date is greater than a second threshold.

13. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is configured to query by performing the following:

querying at least one database using predefined criteria of last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

identifying a targeted message that indicates alternative medications that may be substituted for the pharmaceutical prescription if the last fill date is less than a first threshold and the days supply on last fill date exceeds a second threshold.

14. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is configured to query by performing the following:

querying at least one database using predefined criteria of age, gender, last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

identifying a targeted message that indicates other items that may be desired if the gender is female, the age exceeds a first threshold, last fill date is less than a second threshold and days supply on last fill date exceed a third threshold.

15. A system according to claim 1 wherein the module is configured to query by performing the following:

querying at least one database using a predefined criterion of age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

identifying a targeted message that solicits participation of the patient in a study related to the pharmaceutical prescription if the age of the patent qualifies the patient to participate in the study related to the pharmaceutical prescription.

16. A pharmacy Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system comprising:

means for answering a telephone call from a caller;

means for accepting identification of a pharmaceutical prescription from the caller;

means for querying at least one database using predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription to identify a targeted message comprising a message that relates to a study; and

means for playing the targeted message to the caller.

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein the targeted message solicits participation in a study and/or provides a study question.

18. A system according to claim 16 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription comprise age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.

19. A system according to claim 16:

wherein the means for querying comprises means for querying at least one database using the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription to identify a series of targeted messages; and

wherein the means for playing comprises means for playing a succeeding one of the series of targeted messages to the caller in response to receipt of a caller response to a preceding one of the series of targeted messages, wherein at least one of the series of targeted message comprises a question in the study.

20. A system according to claim 16 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription do not include a personal identification of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription.

21. A system according to claim 16 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription do not include a personal identification of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription.

22. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one database using age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect, based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

means for identifying the targeted message that relates to a study, wherein the targeted message corresponds to the age of the patient, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.

23. A system according to claim 16 wherein the targeted message comprises an educational message concerning the pharmaceutical prescription, a message that indicates alternative medications that may be substituted for the pharmaceutical prescription, a message that identifies other items that may be desired and/or a message that solicits participation in a study related to the pharmaceutical prescription.

24. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises means for querying at least one database using the predefined criteria based on the identification of the pharmaceutical prescription to identify an educational targeted message related to the pharmaceutical prescription.

25. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one database using predefined criteria of last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

means for identifying an educational targeted message that reminds the caller how to use the pharmaceutical prescription if the last fill date is less than a first threshold and the days supply on last fill date is greater than a second threshold.

26. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one database using predefined criteria of last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

means for identifying a targeted message that indicates alternative medications that may be substituted for the pharmaceutical prescription if the last fill date is less than a first threshold and the days supply on last fill date exceeds a second threshold.

27. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one database using predefined criteria of age, gender, last fill date and days supply on last fill date based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

means for identifying a targeted message that indicates other items that may be desired if the gender is female, the age exceeds a first threshold, last fill date is less than a second threshold and days supply on last fill date exceed a third threshold.

28. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one database using a predefined criterion of age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription; and

means for identifying a targeted message that solicits participation of the caller in a study related to the pharmaceutical prescription if the age of the patient qualifies the patient to participate in the study related to the pharmaceutical prescription.

29. A system according to claim 16 wherein the means for querying comprises:

means for querying at least one pharmacy dispensing system database using the identification of the pharmaceutical prescription to identify the predetermined criteria; and

means for querying at least one message database using the predetermined criteria to identify a targeted message.

30. A system according to claim 16 further comprising:

means for providing additional targeted messages to allow the patient to participate in the study if the patient agrees to participate.

31. A system according to claim 16 further comprising:

means for receiving a caller response to the targeted message comprising a study question.

32. A system according to claim 16 further comprising:

means for logging the caller response to the targeted message comprising a study question.

33. A method of operating a pharmacy Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system comprising:

accepting identification of a pharmaceutical prescription from a caller; and

querying at least one database using predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription to identify a targeted message comprising a message that relates to a study.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the targeted message solicits participation in a study and/or provides a study question.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

providing additional targeted message(s) to allow the patient to participate in the study if the patient agrees to participate.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the additional targeted messages include study questions.

37. A method of claim 33 further comprising:

receiving a caller response to the study questions.

38. A method of claim 37 further comprising:

logging the caller response to the study questions.

39. A method of claim 33 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription comprise age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.

40. A computer program product is configured to operate a pharmacy Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system in response to a telephone call by a caller to the pharmacy IVR system, the computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program code comprising:

computer-readable program code that is configured to identify a targeted message comprising a message that relates to a study for playing to the caller using predefined criteria that are based on an identification of a pharmaceutical prescription by the caller.

41. A computer program product of claim 40 wherein the targeted message solicits participation in a study and/or provides a study question.

42. A computer program product of claim 40 wherein the predefined criteria based on the identification of a pharmaceutical prescription comprise age of a patient who is using the pharmaceutical prescription, gender of the patient, medication of the pharmaceutical prescription, last fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, days supply on last fill of the pharmaceutical prescription, original fill date of the pharmaceutical prescription, disease state of the patient, physician of the patient and/or other promotions in effect.