Prescription management system

• US 8,239,217 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2009
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Express Scripts Strategic Development, Inc. (The Cigna Group)
• Original Assignee: Medco Health Solutions Incorporated (The Cigna Group)
• Inventors: Helmus, Scott M., Rosen, Donna L., Bressman, Leo H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rines, David
• Application Number:
  US12/372,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20090164244A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,267 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 705/8, 715/700, 645/418
• US Class Current: 705/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• 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

Abstract

An imaging and workflow method, system, computer readable medium and user interface for processing information efficiently for the processing of medical prescription orders. The system includes support for document scanning, automated rules-based order processing, statistical reporting, document generation and document storage and retrieval. The present invention takes advantage of imaging technology to assist the user in scanning information into the system and software modules to improve the processing of orders. The present invention also includes database tables that identify to application processing logic the types and sequences of actions to be implemented for orders.

Claims

1. A system for processing orders for at least one medical prescription comprising:

a computer network;

a computer processor connected to the network;

storage and memory connected to the computer processor for storing orders, images of orders, and software modules;

at least one scanner connected to the computer processor for scanning documents;

communication link connected to the computer processor for communicating with users;

at least one display connected to the computer processor for displaying order images;

at least one protocol resolving database connected to the computer network;

at least one facsimile machine in communication with the network;

an image quality control processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said image quality control processing module executable in said computer processor, said image quality control processing module configured to determine whether the order of the at least one medical prescription requires conversion to an image, monitor the quality of images captures, selectively accept and/or reject images captured by said at least one scanner responsive to the monitored quality;

an order header processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said order header processing module executable in said computer processor, said order header processing module configured to review and receive non-clinical data associated with said order;

an order completion processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said order completion processing module executable in said computer processor, said order completion processing module configured to review and receive clinical data associated with said order;

a protocol resolution processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said protocol resolution processing module executable in said computer processor, said protocol resolution processing module configured to resolve applicable protocols associated with said order;

a doctor calls processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said doctor calls processing module executable in said computer processor, said doctor calls processing module configured to receive and process information regarding said order and determine whether the order requires at least one of communicating and transmitting the information with a prescriber to resolve a protocol;

a command and control processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said command and control processing module executable in said computer processor, said command and control processing module configured to monitor and receive input to said system and to determine whether a prescription remains in any one of a plurality of system queues longer than a predefined value, wherein an alert notification is generated upon exceeding the predefined value.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an order dispensing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said order dispensing module executable in said computer processor, said order dispensing module configured to dispense said order.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a shipping processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said shipping processing module executable in said computer processor, said shipping processing module configured to generate shipping manifests for said order.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an incoming paperless order processing module, stored in a computer readable storage media, said incoming paperless order processing module executable in said computer processor, said incoming paperless order processing module configured to receive said order in electronic format.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the command and control module providing a predetermined level of access to at least one of a plurality of queues by a user responsive to a profile assigned to the user.

5. A graphical user interface embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium and implemented by a management computer for inputting, displaying and managing in real time a prescription order fulfillment system stored in a database, the prescription order fulfillment system comprising at least one queue for resolving at least one prescription order element, the graphical user interface comprising:

at least one process control screen, wherein each at least one process control screen is connected to the management computer system and comprises at least one selectable icon or field or combination thereof where the at least one icon, field or combination thereof is selectable by the management computer system, and graphically depicting one of at least one prescription order element;

at least one queue screen, wherein each at least one queue screen comprises at least one selectable icon or field or combination thereof, depicting, in at least one of graphical or table format, at least one prescription order element in aggregate in a system queue and wherein the at least one system queue is user selectable;

at least one production screen, wherein each at least one production screen comprises at least one selectable icon or field or combination thereof, graphically depicting at least one production element of at least one prescription order element;

at least one system resource screen, wherein each at least one system resource screen comprises at least one selectable icon or field or combination thereof, graphically depicting by the management computer system at least one system resource element in relation to at least one prescription order element and tracking system resource availability; and

at least one status screen, wherein each at least one status screen displays receipt of the at least one prescription order element from a first system queue visually depicting a first status of a first order processing step from a plurality of order processing steps performed by the prescription management system to a second system queue visually depicting a second status of a second order processing step for a specific prescription order element, and the second system queue acknowledging the receipt of the at least one prescription order element from the first system queue.

6. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein each process control screen is a search template with a plurality of fields.

7. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein each process control screen comprises an icon for generating process control report screens.

8. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein each queue screen is a graphical representation of an instrument panel, wherein said instrument panel comprises gauges, wherein said gauges indicate the state of a plurality of system queues.

9. The graphical user interface of claim 8, wherein each gauge is selectable and selecting said selectable gauge drills down from a system queue level of detail screen to an individual order level of detail screen.

10. The graphical user interface of claim 8, wherein said gauges are selected from the queues consisting of:

archive agent, conductor, dispensing, file room, administrative protocols, professional protocols, header entry, order completion, channel service, contact service, customer service, held orders, research, outbound calling application, purge agent, and queue resubmission.

11. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein queue screen is a bar graph, wherein said bar graph depicts the number of orders in each system queue.

12. The graphical user interface of claim 11, wherein each bar in said bar graph is selectable and selecting said selectable bar drills down from a system queue level of detail screen to an individual order level of detail screen.

13. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein each queue screen is a graphic of a table with rows and columns, wherein said table includes entries that comprises information about system queues.

14. The graphical user interface of claim 13, wherein said table includes selectable entries, wherein selecting said selectable entries drills down from a system queue level of detail screen to an individual order level of detail screen.

15. The graphical user interface of claim 13, wherein said columns and rows of said table are configurable by a user.

16. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein said configurable columns are configurable to display the length of time orders have been in a queue.

17. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein selecting an entry from said table links to a screen, wherein said screen comprises information associated with orders represented in selected table entry.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 5, further comprising at least one filter icon, wherein selecting said at least one filter icon filters out select information present in any one of at least one process control screen, at least one queue screen, at least one production screen, at least one system resource screen or combination thereof.

19. The graphical user interface of claim 18, wherein said filters are configurable and allow a user to view all the orders completed by another user of the system.

21. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein the ordinate and abscissa of the displayed graphical format can be configured to represent prescription orders associated with the at least one system queue by variables comprising predetermined intervals to show the distribution of orders in the at least one system queue by time.

22. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein the columns and rows of the displayed table format can be configured to represent prescription orders associated with the at least one system queue by variables comprising predetermined intervals to show the distribution of orders in the at least one system queue by time.

23. The graphical user interface of claim 8, wherein the gauge of the instrument panel is indicative of the quantitative loads in the at least one system queue.

24. The graphical user interface of claim 23, wherein the gauge is color coded to be indicative of at least one of not overloaded, approaching a critical load point and overloaded.

25. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein each queue screen comprises information about system queues including the length of time orders have been in a queue.

26. The graphical user interface of claim 5, wherein the second system queue acknowledges the receipt of the at least one prescription order element from the first system queue and updates the second system queue responsive to the receipt of the at least one prescription order element from the first system queue.

27. The graphical user interface of claim 5, further comprising a user input screen receiving input from a user requesting the location of the at least one prescription order element, determining the location of the at least one prescription order element and displaying the location of the at least one prescription order element.

28. The graphical user interface of claim 5, further comprising a user input screen receiving input from a user requesting the location of the at least one prescription order element, determining the location of the at least one prescription order element, tracking the at least one prescription order element through the prescription order fulfillment system and displaying the location of the at least one prescription order element.

29. The graphical user interface of claim 28, wherein the user input screen receives the input comprising at least one of invoice number, prescription number, member number, and work order identifier from the user requesting the location of the at least one prescription order element, and determining the location of the at least one prescription order element responsive to the input received from the user.

30. The graphical user interface of claim 28, wherein the user input screen receives the input from the user, and determines at least one of:

a queue in which the at least one prescription order element is currently located, a plurality of queues where the at least one prescription order element was processed, an amount of time the at least one prescription order element spent in each of the plurality of queues, and a total elapsed time that the at least one prescription order element has been in the prescription order fulfillment system.