Management of pharmacy kits

• US 9,367,665 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2015
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• 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 ANNE
• Application Number:
  US14/818,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20150339623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 315 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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, comprising:

a pharmacy kit container that includes an enclosed space for receiving a pharmacy kit and at least one door, wherein the enclosed space is accessible through the at least one door, and wherein the pharmacy kit container provides electromagnetic shielding; and

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;

cause an antenna coupled to the pharmacy kit container to emit a radio signal at least within the enclosed space of the pharmacy kit container when the at least one door is closed;

receive tag information associated with a plurality of RFID tags located within the enclosed space based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the enclosed space of the pharmacy kit container, the plurality of RFID tags being coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers,

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

wherein a particular RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is coupled to a particular pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers and the particular pharmacy item container is configured to store a particular pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items, and

wherein the particular RFID tag is associated with particular pharmacy item data comprising at least an identifier of the particular pharmacy item;

verify the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the received tag information and a pharmacy kit template stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the pharmacy kit template identifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of the pharmacy kit, and wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions cause the one or more processors to compare pharmacy item data associated with the tag information with the pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data associated with the tag information comprises at least the particular pharmacy item data; and

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

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tag information associated with the plurality of RFID tags coupled to the plurality of pharmacy item containers is first tag information, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive second tag information associated with an RFID tag associated with the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the enclosed space of the pharmacy kit container;

determine a kit type based at least in part on the second tag information; and

identify the pharmacy kit template from a plurality of pharmacy kit templates based at least in part on the determined kit type, wherein the pharmacy kit is verified based at least in part on the first tag information and the identified pharmacy kit template.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine that a first pharmacy item is not present and determine that a second pharmacy item container configured to store a substitute pharmacy item for the first pharmacy item is present based at least in part on the comparison of the pharmacy item data associated with the tag information with the pharmacy kit template.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine that a first pharmacy item is an extra item based at least in part on a determination that the first pharmacy item exceeds a threshold number of the group of pharmacy items identified by the pharmacy kit template.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to identify at least one missing pharmacy item not present in the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the comparison of the pharmacy item data associated with the tag information with the pharmacy kit template.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether any of the plurality of pharmacy items are subject to a recall.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to determine whether an expiration of each of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the expiration threshold comprises at least one of:

an expiration date for each of the plurality of pharmacy items or a date prior to the expiration date for each of the plurality of pharmacy items.

9. A method, comprising:

causing an antenna coupled to a pharmacy kit container to emit a radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container, the pharmacy kit container including an enclosed space for receiving a pharmacy kit and at least one door, wherein the enclosed space is accessible through the at least one door;

receiving tag information associated with a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags located within the pharmacy kit container based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal, the plurality of RFID tags being coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers,

wherein the pharmacy kit container provides electromagnetic shielding,

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

wherein a particular RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is coupled to a particular pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers and the particular pharmacy item container is configured to store a particular pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items, and

wherein the particular RFID tag is associated with particular pharmacy item data comprising at least an identifier of the particular pharmacy item;

verifying the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the received tag information and a pharmacy kit template stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the pharmacy kit template identifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of the pharmacy kit, and wherein said verify the pharmacy kit comprises comparing pharmacy item data associated with the plurality of RFID tags with the pharmacy kit template; and

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

10. The method claim 9, wherein the tag information associated with the plurality of RFID tags coupled to the plurality of pharmacy item containers is first tag information, the method further comprising:

receiving second tag information associated with an RFID tag associated with the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the enclosed space of the pharmacy kit container;

determining a kit type based at least in part on the second tag information; and

identifying the pharmacy kit template from a plurality of pharmacy kit templates based at least in part on the determined kit type, wherein the pharmacy kit is verified based at least in part on the first tag information and the identified pharmacy kit template.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein verifying the pharmacy kit comprises determining that a first pharmacy item is not present and determine that a second pharmacy item container configured to store a substitute pharmacy item for the first pharmacy item is present based at least in part on said comparing the pharmacy item data associated with the plurality of RFID tags with the pharmacy kit template.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein verifying the pharmacy kit comprises identifying at least one missing pharmacy item not present in the pharmacy kit by said comparing the pharmacy item data associated with the plurality of RFID tags with the pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data associated with the plurality of RFID tags is associated with the tag information and comprises at least the particular pharmacy item data.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein verifying the pharmacy kit comprises determining that a first pharmacy item is an extra item based at least in part on a determination that the first pharmacy item exceeds a threshold number of the group of pharmacy items identified by the pharmacy kit template.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein verifying the pharmacy kit comprises determining whether any of the plurality of pharmacy items are subject to a recall.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein verifying the pharmacy kit comprises determining whether an expiration of each of the plurality of pharmacy items satisfies an expiration threshold.

16. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to at least;

cause an antenna coupled to a pharmacy kit container to emit a radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container, the pharmacy kit container providing electromagnetic shielding;

receive tag information associated with a plurality of RFID tags coupled to a plurality of pharmacy item containers based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container, wherein a particular RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is coupled to a particular pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers and the particular pharmacy item container is configured to store a particular pharmacy item;

verify a pharmacy kit based at least in part on the received tag information, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to at least one of;

determine that a first RFID tag associated with a first pharmacy item container configured to store a first pharmacy item is not present, and determine that a third RFID tag associated with a substitute pharmacy item container configured to store a substitute pharmacy item is present,

determine that a second pharmacy item associated with a second RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is subject to a recall, or

identify the second pharmacy item associated with the second RFID tag as an expired pharmacy item based at least in part on a determination that an expiration of the second pharmacy item does not satisfy an expiration threshold; and

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

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the tag information associated with the plurality of RFID tags coupled to the plurality of pharmacy item containers is first tag information, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive second tag information associated with an RFID tag associated with the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container;

determine a kit type based at least in part on the second tag information;

identify a pharmacy kit template from a plurality of pharmacy kit templates based at least in part on the determined kit type; and

verify the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the first tag information and the identified pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy kit template identifies 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 based at least in part on the first tag information and the pharmacy kit template, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to compare at least a portion of the first tag information with the pharmacy kit template.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the first tag information and the pharmacy kit template, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to compare pharmacy item data with the pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data is associated with the first tag information.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the pharmacy item data is stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium apart from the plurality of RFID tags and the tag information is used to access the pharmacy item data.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine that the first RFID tag associated with the first pharmacy item container configured to store the first pharmacy item is not present, and determine that the third RFID tag associated with the substitute pharmacy item container configured to store the substitute pharmacy item is present.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine that the second pharmacy item is subject to the recall.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to identify the second pharmacy item as an expired pharmacy item based at least in part on the determination that the expiration of the second pharmacy item does not satisfy the expiration threshold.

24. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to at least:

cause an antenna coupled to a pharmacy kit container to emit a radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container, the pharmacy kit container providing electromagnetic shielding;

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

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

wherein a particular RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is coupled to a particular pharmacy item container of the plurality of pharmacy item containers and the particular pharmacy item container is configured to store a particular pharmacy item of the plurality of pharmacy items;

verify a pharmacy kit based at least in part on the received tag information, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to at least one of;

determine that a first RFID tag associated with a first pharmacy item is not located within the pharmacy kit container, and that a third RFID tag associated with a substitute pharmacy item for the first pharmacy item is located within the pharmacy kit container,

determine that a second pharmacy item associated with a second RFID tag of the plurality of RFID tags is subject to a recall, or

identify the second pharmacy item as an expired pharmacy item based at least in part on a determination that an expiration of the second pharmacy item does not satisfy an expiration threshold; and

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

25. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the tag information associated with the plurality of RFID tags coupled to the plurality of pharmacy item containers is first tag information, and wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive second tag information associated with an RFID tag associated with the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the antenna emitting the radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container;

determine a kit type based at least in part on the second tag information;

identify a pharmacy kit template from a plurality of pharmacy kit templates based at least in part on the determined kit type; and

verify the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the first tag information and the identified pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy kit template identifies a group of pharmacy items that form at least a portion of the pharmacy kit.

26. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the pharmacy kit container comprises at least one door and the antenna emits the radio signal at least within the pharmacy kit container when the at least one door is closed.

27. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit based at least in part on the first tag information and the pharmacy kit template, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to compare at least a portion of pharmacy item data with the pharmacy kit template, wherein the pharmacy item data is associated with the tag information.

28. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine that the first RFID tag associated with the first pharmacy item is not located within the pharmacy kit container, and determine that the third RFID tag associated with the substitute pharmacy item for the first pharmacy item is located within the pharmacy kit container.

29. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to determine that the second pharmacy item is subject to the recall.

30. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein to verify the pharmacy kit, the computer-executable instructions when executed cause the one or more processors to identify the second pharmacy item as an expired pharmacy item based at least in part on the determination that the expiration of the second pharmacy item does not satisfy the expiration threshold.