Management of pharmacy kits

• US 9,037,479 B1
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bluesight, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kit Check, Inc.
• Inventors: MacDonald, Kevin William, Kress-Spatz, Timothy James Leo
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Eliza
• Application Number:
  US14/603,962
• Publication Number:
  US 20150142469A1
• Time in Patent Office: 116 Days
• Field of Search: 705 2- 3
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10415 the interrogation device being fixed in its position, such as an access control device for reading wireless access cards, or a wireless ATM banking machines in general G07F19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 15/00 ICT specially adapted for medical reports, e.g. generation or transmission thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for managing pharmacy kits comprises a reading station configured to read tag information from a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags associated with a pharmacy kit, and an information processing system operatively connected to the reading station and configured to receive the tag information from the reading station and determine a status of the pharmacy kit based on the tag information, a plurality of stored templates defining contents to be included in each of a plurality of pharmacy kits, and a plurality of kit records indicating the current contents of a plurality of pharmacy kits.

Claims

1. A system for managing a pharmacy kit, comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers,

wherein the plurality of pharmacy item containers are configured to store a plurality of pharmacy items, and

wherein a first RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags comprises;

a printable portion including an RFID device, and

a tail portion formed of a transparent material and including an adhesive backing for affixing the first RFID tag to a first pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers, wherein the transparent material prevents occlusion of label information of the first pharmacy item container; and

an information processing system communicatively coupled to a RFID reader, the information processing system comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to;

receive tag information of the plurality of RFID based at least in part on an antenna emitting a radio signal at least within a pharmacy kit container,

verify a pharmacy kit using the tag information, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine whether at least one of;

at least one pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold or is subject to a recall, and

cause a display to display results of the verification of the pharmacy kit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the plurality of pharmacy items, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to compare pharmacy item data with a pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data is associated with the tag information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the pharmacy kit template specifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of the pharmacy kit.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to identify one or more missing pharmacy items based at least in part on the comparison of the pharmacy item data with the pharmacy kit template.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine whether the at least one pharmacy item satisfies the expiration threshold, wherein the expiration threshold comprises at least one of:

an expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item or a date prior to the expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the plurality of pharmacy items, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether a quantity of at least one pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies a threshold quantity.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether the at least one pharmacy item is subject to the recall.

8. A method of managing a pharmacy kit, comprising:

receiving tag information of a plurality of RFID tags coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers based at least in part on an antenna emitting a radio signal at least within a pharmacy kit container, wherein the pharmacy kit container provides electromagnetic shielding,

wherein the plurality of pharmacy item containers are configured to store a plurality of pharmacy items, and

wherein a first RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags comprises;

a printable portion including an RFID antenna, and

a tail portion formed of a transparent material and including an adhesive backing for affixing the first RFID tag to a first pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers, wherein the transparent material prevents occlusion of label information of the first pharmacy item container;

verifying a pharmacy kit using the tag information, wherein said verifying the pharmacy kit comprises determining whether at least one of;

at least one pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold or is subject to a recall; and

causing a display to display results of said verifying the pharmacy kit.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said verifying the plurality of pharmacy items further comprises comparing pharmacy item data with a pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data is associated with the tag information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the pharmacy kit template specifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of a pharmacy kit.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said verifying the plurality of pharmacy items further comprises identifying one or more missing pharmacy items of the pharmacy kit based at least in part on said comparing the pharmacy item data with the pharmacy kit template.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said verifying the plurality of pharmacy items comprises determining whether the at least one pharmacy item satisfies the expiration threshold, wherein the expiration threshold comprises at least one of:

an expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item or a date prior to the expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the expiration date is the expiration date is based at least in part on an amount of time since the at least one pharmacy item was removed from refrigeration.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein said verifying the plurality of pharmacy items comprises determining whether the at least one pharmacy item is subject to the recall.

15. A system for managing a pharmacy kit, comprising:

an information processing system communicatively coupled to a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, the information processing system comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to;

receive tag information of a plurality of RFID tags coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers based at least in part on an antenna emitting a radio signal at least within a pharmacy kit container,

wherein the plurality of pharmacy item containers are configured to store a plurality of pharmacy items, and

wherein a first RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags comprises;

a printable portion including an RFID antenna, and

a tail portion formed of a transparent material and including an adhesive backing for affixing the first RFID tag to a first pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers, wherein the transparent material prevents occlusion of label information of the first pharmacy item container;

verify a pharmacy kit using the tag information, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine whether at least one of;

at least one pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold or is subject to a recall; and

cause a display to display results of the verification of the pharmacy kit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein to verify the plurality of pharmacy items, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to compare pharmacy item data with a pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data is associated with the tag information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the pharmacy kit template specifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of the pharmacy kit.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to identify one or more missing pharmacy items based at least in part on the comparison of the pharmacy item data with the pharmacy kit template.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether the at least one pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold, wherein the expiration threshold comprises at least one of:

an expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item or a date prior to the expiration date of the at least one pharmacy item.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein to verify the plurality of pharmacy items, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether a quantity of each pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies a threshold quantity.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether the at least one pharmacy item is subject to the recall.