Inventory control, bed allocation and accounting data handling system

• US 4,135,241 A
• Filed: 11/04/1974
• Issued: 01/16/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Medelco, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Medelco, Inc.
• Inventors: Philipps, Louis E., Stanis, Eugene A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chapnick, Melvin B.
• Application Number:
  US05/520,718
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• Field of Search: 340/172.5, 340/147 R, 340/147 A, 340/147 CN, 340/150, 340/153, 444/1, 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 364/403, 364/404, 235/61.7 B, 235/379, 235/385
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

A data handling system for a hospital or like establishment. The system keeps track of bed allocation, changes in inventory, and charges to patients, and also serves as a communication network for the hospital. Data is fed into the system in the form of pre-punched cards bearing patient information, inventory data, and commands or messages, and thus unskilled personnel can quickly feed data into the system without error. Message data is routed directly to teleprinters at addressed locations. Bed allocation and patient data, and charge and inventory data are respectively stored in separate magnetic drum storage areas. Searching facilities are provided which can locate desired data entries in either storage area and mark these entries for printout, and separate printout circuitry then transfers marked data items to the proper addresses in the proper format. At the end of each day, a final search is performed which produces a printout of all charges organized by patient number. A tally inventory search is also performed which produces a printout of inventory changes organized by item number and by department number. The tally search is cumulative, and a tally arithmetic unit summarizes inventory data for each separate item before printout. A running record is kept of each day'"'"'s total charges, credits, and payments on account in a central core memory, and this record is continually updated by a central arithmetic unit.

Claims

1. An automated inventory control and accounting system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data and inventory data and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for items or services to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said items comprising

means for receiving said data messages, said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific item code of said plurality of item codes corresponding to one of said items or one of said services into said remote station and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said one item or service into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific charge code, said specific item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage location,

means for monitoring said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for automatically extracting said charge codes, item codes and multipliers from said data messages and for transmitting said charge codes, item codes and multipliers to said second information storage location for storage therein,

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresponding to said predetermined charge code and

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code.

2. An automated inventory control and accounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said charge code entering means, said item code entering means and said multiplier entering means of said manually entering means includes a plurality of prepared machine-readable records at said some of said remote stations.

3. An automated inventory control and accounting system as defined in claim 1 wherein said charge code entering means is a first plurality of prepared machine-readable records and said item code entering means and said multiplier entering means are a second plurality of prepared machine-readable records.

4. A machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing inventory data and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of inventory items comprising.

means for receiving said data messages, said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including a plurality of machine-readable records at said some of said remote stations, each machine-readable record of said plurality of machine-readable records including an item code in machine-readable form corresponding to a specific inventory item and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said inventory item into said remote station;

each of at least some of said data messages including said item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage location,

means for extracting said item codes and said multipliers from the data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting the extracted item codes and multipliers to said second information storage location for storage therein and

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code.

5. A machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data and inventory data and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for charge items to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said charge items comprising

means for receiving said data messages, said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific item code of a plurality of item codes corresponding to a specific charge item of said charge items into said remote station and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said specific charge item into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific charge code, said specific item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage means,

means for extracting said charge codes, said item codes and said multipliers from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting the extracted charge codes, item codes and mulipliers to said second information storage means for storage therein

means for retrieving said item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes from said second information storage means and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresponding to said predetermined charge code and

means for retrieving said items codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage means and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code.

6. A machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 5 wherein

said data messages contain institutional bed data in the form of status information of the institutional beds organized by a plurality of bed designation codes,

said machine implemented data handling system automatically maintains a record of the institutional bed allocation,

said manual entering means further comprises means for entering a specific bed designation code of said plurality of bed designation codes into said remote station and means for entering a specific status code of a plurality of status codes corresponding to the specific status of one of said beds into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific bed designation code and said specific status code, and

said second information storage means further comprises a plurality of bed information storage locations, each of said plurality of bed information storage locations being associated with a specific one of said plurality of bed designation codes,

said machine implemented data handling system further comprising

means for extracting said bed designation codes and said status codes from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting the specific status codes corresponding to specific bed designation codes to the respective bed information storage locations of said plurality of bed information storage locations associated with said specific bed designation codes and

means for retrieving and for automatically outputting a record of all of said bed designation codes corresponding to a specific status code of said plurality of status codes to thereby provide a record of the status of said institutional beds.

7. A machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 5 wherein

said data messages contain institutional bed data organized by a plurality of bed designation codes for the institutional beds and by a plurality of status codes corresponding to the identity of the occupants of said institutional beds,

said machine implemented data handling system automatically maintains a record of the institutional bed occupancy status,

said manual entering means further comprises means for entering a specific bed designation code of said plurality of bed designation codes into said remote station and means for entering a specific status code of said plurality of status codes into said station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific bed designation code and said specific status code, and

said second information storage means further comprising a plurality of bed information storage locations,

said machine implemented data handling system further comprising

means for assigning a specific bed designation code to each of said plurality of bed information storage locations,

means for extracting said bed designation codes and said status codes from said data messages stored in said first information storage means and for transmitting the extracted status codes corresponding to specific extracted bed designation codes to the specific ones of said plurality of bed information storage locations respectively assigned to said specific extracted bed designation codes for storage therein and

means for automatically retrieving and for automatically outputting specific bed designation codes associated with a specific status code to thereby enable the rapid identification and location of a particular occupant of an institutional bed by knowledge of the identity of said particular occupant.

8. A machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 5 wherein

said data messages contain institutional bed identification data in the form of a plurality of bed designation codes institutional bed occupant status data in the form of a plurality of occupant codes and institutional bed status data in the form of a plurality of status codes,

said machine implemented data handling system automatically maintains a record of institutional bed allocation, occupancy and status,

said manual entering means further comprises means for entering a specific bed designation code of said plurality of bed designation codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific occupant code of said plurality of occupant codes into said remote station and means for entering a specific status code of said plurality of status codes into said remote stations each of at least some of said data messages including at least one of said specific bed designation code and said specific occupant code and said specific status code, and

said second information storage means further comprises a plurality of bed information storage locations,

said machine implemented data handling system further comprising,

means for assigning a specific one of said plurality of bed designation codes to each one of said plurality of bed information storage locations,

means for extracting said bed designation codes, said occupant codes and said status codes from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting said bed designation codes, said occupant codes and said status codes to said plurality of bed information storage locations, each of said plurality of bed information storage locations receiving specific occupant and status codes corresponding to its assigned bed designation code and

means for automatically retrieving from said plurality of bed information storage locations and for automatically outputting a report of the bed designation codes associated with a particular status code and associated with a particular occupant code.

9. A machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 8 further comprising

means for segregating said plurality of bed information storage locations into a plurality of categories and for assigning a category code to each of said plurality of categories and

means for conditioning said retrieving and outputting means to retrieve said bed designation codes associated with said particular status code and associated with said particular occupant code only from the portion of said plurality of bed information storage locations associated with a specific one of said category codes to thereby limit said report of said bed designation codes to those associated with said portion of said plurality of bed information storage locations associated with said specific one of said category codes.

10. A machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 5 wherein

said data messages contain institutional bed allocation data in the form of a plurality of bed designation codes institutional bed occupant identification data in the form of a plurality of occupant codes and institutional bed status data in the form of a plurality of status codes,

said machine implemented data handling system automatically maintains a record of institutional bed allocation, occupancy and status,

each of said remote stations has a specific remote station address code

said manual entering means further comprises means for entering a specific remote station address code corresponding to one of said remote stations into said remote station means for entering a specific bed designation code of said plurality of bed designation codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific occupant code of said plurality of occupant codes into said remote station and means for entering a specific status code of said plurality of status codes into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including at least one of said specific remote station address code, said specific designation code and said specific occupant code and said specific status code, and

said second information storage means further comprises a plurality of bed information storage locations,

said machine implemented data handling system further comprising

means for extracting from said first information storage location said data messages stored therein and for transmitting said extracted data messages to said remote stations in accordance with the remote station address codes in said data messages,

means for assigning a specific one of said plurality of bed designation codes to each one of said plurality of bed information storage locations,

means for extracting said bed designation codes, said occupant codes and said status codes from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting said bed designation codes, said occupant codes and said status codes to said plurality of bed information storage locations, each of said plurality of bed information storage locations receiving specific occupant and status codes corresponding to its assigned bed designation code and

means for automatically retrieving from said plurality of bed information storage locations and for automatically outputting a report of the bed designation codes associated with a particular status code and associated with a particular occupant code.

11. A machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data and inventory data and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for charge items to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said charge items and for periodically compiling a complete record of all of said charge records for all of said charge codes and of all of said inventory records for all of said item codes comprising

means for receiving said data messages;

said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific item code of a plurality of item codes corresponding to a specific charge item of said charge items into said remote station and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said specific charge item into said remote station;

each of at least some of said data messages including said specific charge code, said specific item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage location,

means for extracting said charge codes, said item codes and said multipliers from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting the extracted charge codes, item codes and multipliers to said second information storage location for storage therein and

means for retrieving all of said item codes and multipliers associated with each and every charge code of said plurality of said charge codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting sequentially by charge code a complete record of all of the charge data corresponding to each and every charge code and

means for retrieving all of said item codes and multipliers associated with each and every item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting sequentially by item code a complete record of all of the inventory data corresponding to each and every item code.

12. A machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data in the form of monetary charges organized by a first and a second plurality of charge codes for charge items to be charged to various ones of said first plurality of charge codes and corresponding to a first charge category and to be charged to various ones of said second plurality of charge codes and corresponding to a second charge category comprising

means for receiving said data messages;

said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific charge code of said first plurality of charge codes or of said second plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a category indication corresponding to at least said first charge category into said remote station to distinguish the charge codes associated with said first charge category from the charge codes associated with said second charge category, means for entering a specific item code of a plurality of item codes corresponding to a specific charge item of said charge items into said remote station and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said specific charge item into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific charge code, said category indication, if present, said specific item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage location,

means for extracting said charge codes, said category indications, said item codes and said multipliers from said data messages stored in said first information storage location and for transmitting the extracted charge codes, category indications, item codes and multipliers to said second information storage location for storage therein and

means for retrieving all of said item codes and said multipliers associated with each and every one of said charge codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting sequentially by charge category and sequentially within said charge category by charge code all of the charge data corresponding to each and every charge code to thereby compile a complete record of all the charge data associated with all the charge codes in said first charge category and a complete record of all of the charge data associated with all of the charge codes within said second charge category.

13. A machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data and inventory data and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for items or services to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said items and for automatically compiling and outputting upon demand a monetary charge summary in the form of a total sum of all of the monetary charges for said items and services charged to all of said charge codes comprising

means for receiving said data messages;

said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific item code of said plurality of item codes corresponding to one of said items or one of said services into said remote station and means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said one item or service into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific charge code, said specific item code and said multiplier,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for storage therein,

a second information storage location,

means for monitoring said data messages stored in said first information storage location, for automatically extracting the stored charge codes, item codes and multipliers from said data messages and for transmitting said charge codes, item codes and multipliers to said second information storage location for storage therein,

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresponding to said predetermined charge code,

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code and

means for automatically compiling a monetary charge summary in the form of a total sum of all of the monetary charges for all of the items and services corresponding to all of the item codes and multipliers extracted from said data messages stored in said first information storage location by said data messages monitoring means and for maintaining said monetary charge summary current by incrementing said total sum by the monetary charge for additional items and services corresponding to additional item codes and multipliers as said additional item codes and multipliers are extracted by said data messages monitoring means from said data messages stored in said first information storage location,

means for storing said monetary charge summary and

means for outputting said monetary charge summary upon the receipt of an output demand signal.

14. A multistation machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data, inventory data and station address data and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for items or services to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said items comprising

means for receiving said data messages, said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations having a unique remote station address code, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific remote station address code corresponding to one of said remote stations, means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, and means for entering a specific item code of said plurality of item codes corresponding to one of said items or one of said services into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including said specific remote station address code, said specific charge code, and said specific item code,

a first information storage location,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage location for at least temproary storage therein,

means for extracting from said first information storage location said data messages stored therein and for transmitting said extracted data messages to said remote stations in accordance with the remote station address codes in said data messages,

a second information storage information,

means for monitoring said data messages stored in said first information storage location, for automatically extracting said charge codes and item codes from said data messages and for transmitting said charge codes, and item codes to said second information storage location for storage therein,

means for retrieving item codes associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresponding to said predetermined charge code and

means for retrieving item codes associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage location and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code.

15. A multistation machine implemented data handling system for processing a plurality of data messages containing charge data, inventory data, institutional bed allocation data, institutional bed occupancy data and institutional bed status data flowing between a central processing unit and at least one of a plurality of remote stations and for automatically compiling charge records organized by a plurality of charge codes from said charge data in the form of monetary charges for items or services to be charged to various ones of said plurality of charge codes and for automatically compiling inventory records organized by a plurality of item codes from said inventory data reflecting the inventory of said items and for automatically compiling institutional bed allocation data in the form of occupancy and status information of institutional beds organized by a plurality of bed designation codes and by a plurality of occupant codes corresponding to said occupancy information and by a plurality of status codes corresponding to said status information comprising

means for receiving said data messages;

said data messages receiving means comprising a plurality of remote stations, each of at least some of said remote stations having a specific one of a plurality of remote station address codes, each of at least some of said remote stations including means for manually entering said data messages into said remote stations, said manually entering means including means for entering a specific remote station address code of said plurality of remote station address codes corresponding to one of said remote stations into said remote station, means for entering a specific charge code of said plurality of charge codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific item code of said plurality of item codes corresponding to one of said items or one of said services into said remote station, means for entering a multiplier corresponding to the quantity of said one item or service into said remote station, means for entering a specific bed designation code of said plurality of bed designation codes into said remote station, means for entering a specific occupant code of said plurality of occupant codes into said remote station and means for entering a specific status code of said plurality of status codes into said remote station, each of at least some of said data messages including at least one of said specific remote station address code, said specific charge code, said specific item code, said multiplier, said bed designation code, said occupant code and said status code,

a first information storage means within said central processing unit,

means for transmitting said data messages from said remote stations to said first information storage means for at least temporary storage therein,

means for extracting from said first information storage means said data messages stored therein and for transmitting said extracted data messages to said remote stations in accordance with the remote station address codes in said data messages,

a second information storage means within said central processing unit,

means for monitoring said data messages stored in said first information storage means, for automatically extracting said charge codes, said item codes and said multipliers from said data messages and for transmitting said charge codes, said item codes and said multipliers to said second information storage means for storage therein,

a third information storage means, said third information storage means comprising a plurality of bed information storage locations within said central processing unit,

means for associating a specific bed designation code with each one of said plurality of bed information storage locations,

means for monitoring said data messages stored in said first information storage means, for automatically extracting said bed designation codes, said occupant codes and said status codes from said data messages and for transmitting specific occupant and status codes corresponding to a specific bed designation code to the specific one of said plurality of bed information storage locations associated with said specific bed designation code for storage therein,

means for retrieving from said plurality of bed information storage locations and for automatically outputting a report of bed designation codes corresponding to a specific occupant code or a specific status code,

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes from said second information storage means and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresponding to said predetermined charge code and

means for retrieving item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined item code of said plurality of item codes from said second information storage means and for automatically compiling and outputting an inventory record corresponding to said predetermined item code.

16. A multistation machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 15 further comprising

means for associating each one of said plurality of said occupant codes with a specific one of said plurality of charge codes,

means for retrieving all of said occupant codes from said plurality of bed information storage locations and

means for retrieving from said second information storage means all of the item codes and multipliers associated with a predetermined charge code of said plurality of charge codes having an associated occupant code and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record corresonding to said predetermined charge code having said associated occupant code.

17. A multistation machine implemented data handling system as defined in claim 16 further comprising means for retrieving all of the item codes and multipliers associated with all of the charge codes of said plurality of charge codes that lack associated occupant codes and for automatically compiling and outputting a charge record for each and every one of said plurality of charge codes that lacks an associated occupant code.