Bin allocation systems, methods, and devices

• US 8,140,186 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2008
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Omnicell Incorporated
• Inventors: Vahlberg, John, Cohen, Dan, Cartright, Jennifer, Caldwell, Richard, Blank, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): WAGGONER, TIMOTHY R
• Application Number:
  US12/140,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20080319581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 700/242
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• 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 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices are described related to the assignment and management of patient-specific bins. A dispensing device at a healthcare facility includes a number of bins for storage of medical supplies, with some of the bins designated as patient-specific bins allocated to be assigned to patients for storage of their medications or certain other supplies. A central server computer system, in communication with a computer of the dispensing device, may monitor and assign current and future patient-specific use of the bins for the dispensing device. The assignment and management of patient-specific bins may be performed by devices distributed through the system.

Claims

1. A system for managing an allocation of bins, the system comprising:

a dispensing device for dispensing medications at a healthcare facility, the dispensing device including;

one or more patient-specific bins allocated for exclusive use to a patient of a plurality of patients; and

one or more item-specific bins each allocated for an item available to be used by the plurality of patients; and

a central server computer system, communicatively coupled to the dispensing device, and configured to;

identify a current bin allocation at the dispensing device by identifying bins allocated as patient-specific bins and bins allocated as item-specific bins;

determine occupancy rates associated with the one or more patient-specific bins and the one or more item-specific bins at the dispensing device; and

automatically transmit a reallocation message to direct re-allocation of a subset of the one or more item-specific bins as patient-specific bins, the automatic transmission triggered based at least in part on the identified current bin allocation and the determined occupancy rates.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server computer system is further configured to:

trigger the automatic transmission when the determined occupancy rates associated with the one or more patient-specific bins exceed a threshold.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server computer system is further configured to:

analyze, for the determined occupancy rate, an estimated turn-away rate at which users will be unable to store medications in patient-specific bins at the dispensing device,

wherein the directed re-allocation is based at least in part on the turn-away rate and the automatic transmission is triggered based at least in part on the turn-away rate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein in the determination of occupancy rates, the central server computer system is configured to:

determine occupancy rates for each of a plurality of types of patient-specific bins.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the central server computer system is further configured to:

trigger the automatic transmission when occupancy rates for a selected type of the one or more patient-specific bins exceed a threshold for the selected type,

wherein the directed re-allocation is a re-allocation to the selected type of patient-specific bin.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein in the determination of occupancy rates, the central server computer system is configured to:

analyze past occupancy rates for a plurality of previous time periods to determine an average occupancy rate,

wherein the directed re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the average occupancy rates.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein in the determination of occupancy rates, the central server computer system is configured to:

analyze past occupancy rates for a plurality of previous time periods to determine a variation in occupancy rates,

wherein the directed re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the variation in occupancy rates.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein in the determination of occupancy rates, the central server computer system is configured to:

determine current occupancy rates for the patient-specific bins,

wherein the directed re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the current occupancy rates and wherein the directed re-allocation comprises a recommendation to a user for a re-allocation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server computer system is further configured to:

identify patients to be served from the dispensing device during a future time period; and

identify medication orders to be active for the identified patients during the future time period,

wherein the determined occupancy rates are for the future time period and include storage of medications from the identified medication orders.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server computer system is further configured to:

identify patients to be served from the dispensing device during a future time period, the patients including one or more new and one or more transfer patients; and

estimate patient-specific storage needs for the identified patients during the future time period,

wherein the determined occupancy rates are for the future time period and include the estimated patient-specific storage needs.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the directed re-allocation is scheduled to occur for a finite time period beginning at a future time.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the dispensing device comprises a cabinet;

the patient-specific bins comprise a selection from the group consisting of a container, mechanism, location, zone, and any combination thereof;

a bin is occupied when it is assigned to a patient or is assigned to an item;

the determined occupancy rates are based on past, current, and scheduled future occupancy; and

the central server computer system receives the automatically transmitted re-allocation message, and automatically performs the directed re-allocation in response to the received re-allocation message.

13. A dispensing device with an integrated computer configured to manage an allocation of bins, the dispensing device comprising:

one or more patient-specific bins allocated for assignment to a patient for exclusive storage of medications for the patient; and

a computer, integrated with the dispensing device and communicatively coupled with the one or more patient-specific bins; and

configured to;

identify bins allocated as the one or more patient-specific bins and other bins at the dispensing device;

determining occupancy rates associated with at least a subset of the patient-specific bins and the other bins at the dispensing device; and

automatically re-allocate a subset of the other bins as patient-specific bins, the automatic re-allocation based at least in part on the identified bin allocation and the determined occupancy rates.

14. A method for managing an allocation of bins, the method comprising:

identifying bins of a dispensing device at a healthcare facility allocated as patient-specific bins for exclusive use of a patient;

determining an occupancy rate associated with at least a subset of the patient-specific bins; and

automatically re-allocating other bins at the dispensing device as patient-specific bins, the automatic re-allocation based at least in part on identified bins and the determined occupancy rate.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

analyzing, for the occupancy rate, an estimated turn-away rate at which users will be unable to store medications in patient-specific bins at the dispensing device,

wherein the threshold is based at least in part on the estimated turn-away rate.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining occupancy rates for each of a plurality of types of patient-specific bins; and

identifying a threshold occupancy rate triggering the automatic restocking for each of the plurality of types of patient-specific bins, wherein the threshold differs for at least a subset of the plurality of types.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the occupancy rate comprises:

analyzing past occupancy rates to determine an average occupancy rate over a past period of time,

wherein the automatic re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the average occupancy rate.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the occupancy rate comprises:

analyzing past occupancy rates to determine a variation in occupancy rates over a past period of time,

wherein the automatic re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the variation in occupancy rates.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the occupancy rate comprises:

determining current occupancy rates for the patient-specific bins,

wherein the automatic re-allocation is a re-allocation based at least in part on the current occupancy rates.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the occupancy rate comprises:

identifying patients to be served from the dispensing device during a future time period, the patients including one or more new and one or more transfer patients; and

wherein the determined occupancy rates are for the future time period and are based at least in part on estimated storage needs for the identified patients.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the occupancy rate comprises:

estimating patient-specific storage needs for future patients during a future time period,

wherein the determined occupancy rates are based at least in part the estimated patient-specific storage needs.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the re-allocation is scheduled to recur at a plurality of future times.

23. A method for managing an allocation of bins, the method comprising:

identifying a current allocation between patient-specific bins for exclusive use of a patient and item-specific bins at a dispensing device;

analyzing occupancy rates for past allocations between patient-specific bins and item-specific bins; and

automatically re-allocating a subset of the one or more item-specific bins as patient-specific bins, the automatic re-allocation based at least in part on the identified current allocation and the analysis of past occupancy rates.

24. A method for managing an allocation of bins at a dispensing device, the method comprising:

identifying bins allocated as different types of patient-specific bins for exclusive use of a patient at the dispensing device;

identifying each remaining bin not allocated as a patient-specific bin at the dispensing device;

analyzing occupancy rates for at least a subset of the different types of patient-specific bins; and

automatically re-allocating bins as patient-specific bins of a selected type, the automatic re-allocation based at least in part on the identified current allocation and the analysis of occupancy rates.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the re-allocated bins are re-allocated from the identified remaining bins.