System and method for managing prescrption data to generate prescription refill data

Abstract

A system for managing prescription data is provided. The system for managing prescription data includes a switch system. The switch system is configured to receive prescription submissions from pharmacy systems. Each prescription submission identifies a prescription having a prescription item, a fill date, a number of dosages, an identification of whether the prescription requires refilling, and a dose frequency. The switch system is further configured to submit the prescription submissions to approval systems, receive responses from the approval systems, and transmit the responses to the pharmacy systems. The switch system is further configured to determine, using the plurality of prescription submissions, when each of the prescriptions identified by the plurality of prescription submissions should be refilled.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of the filing date of, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 371,593 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING PRESCRIPTION DATA, filed Feb. 21, 2003.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention pertains to prescription data processing, and more specifically to a system and method for prescription data processing that allow data of interest to pharmacies and manufacturers to be identified and provided.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Systems for processing prescription data are known in the art. These systems include prescription authorization switches that are used to submit prescription data to insurance companies for approval of charges. The pharmacy will typically submit the prescription data to the insurance company with a submitted price, and the insurance company will then respond with an indication of whether the charge is approved, approved with a different...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

Enables pharmacists to receive real-time market price information and rebate data, optimizing sales volume and improving incentive programs by providing necessary feedback, while allowing manufacturers to optimize rebate plans based on sales data.

Problems solved by technology

Although such switch systems process prescription data, no data management functionality is provided.

For example, a manufacturer rebate program implemented in conjunction with prior art switch systems did not provide feedback to pharmacists during the period that the rebate marketing program was active.

Thus, although pharmacists received an incentive for selling a predetermined volume of product, they were not receiving information that alerted them as to the additional amount of product that had to be sold to reach a bonus or rebate level.

As a result, the incentive programs resulted in incentive payments to pharmacists but were not creating an incentive for the pharmacist to sell more of a given product.

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