Drug request fulfillment system and method

Abstract

To provide a system for implementation of a chemical request corresponding to a chemical inclusion unit and a related method.SOLUTION: The system of the invention can comprise a request implementation logic for providing determination data which is used for selecting one out of plural different implementation places by which a given chemical request is implemented, to a care provider of a patient. A request router can send the chemical request to the selected one out of the plural implementation places. The implementation place can provide chemical request metadata (for example, data related to preparation and handling of the chemical) to a chemical request database corresponding to the chemical request implemented by the implementation place. The chemical request metadata can be stored in the chemical request database, and to which access is possible for promoting improvement of a management function related to a chemical which is distributed by a care provider of a patient.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (Related Applications) This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 695,831, entitled "Pharmaceutical Request Fulfillment System and Method," filed Aug. 31, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present invention relates to a system and associated method for fulfilling a medication order to be delivered by a patient care provider for administration to a patient. [Background technology]

[0003] Patient care providers routinely distribute medications for administration to patients in the course of providing medical services. In this regard, distribution and administration of medications may require authorization by a competent regulatory body. Medications may be prepared and / or otherwise distributed by a pharmacy at a given patient care provider's location, by another affiliated pharmacy, or by a third-party source. For example, many hospitals have in-house pharmacies where medications may be prepared and then distributed.

[0004] Numerous factors may pose logistical challenges for patient care providers in fulfilling drug requests. For example, drugs dispensed on a one-off basis by a given patient care provider may have different associated fulfillment timing requirements to ensure timely distribution and administration of the drug to the corresponding patient. Additionally, maintaining the range of inventory that a pharmacy needs to carry to accommodate a wide range of potential drugs may be difficult, especially in relation to drug ingredients that have expiration dates, handling / storage requirements, and / or that have otherwise experienced supply shortages. Additionally, preparing certain types of drugs may require specialized equipment, facilities, and skills that are not generally available, thereby limiting outsourcing options. Additionally, cost-effectiveness may not be available to many patient care providers.

[0005] In addition to the above, there is an ever-increasing emphasis in the medical field on detailed record-keeping regarding pharmaceuticals. Such record-keeping may involve the acquisition and storage of a variety of data regarding the preparation and handling of pharmaceuticals. In this regard, the administrative burden associated with such record-keeping continues to increase. Currently, existing approaches to drug acquisition primarily involve source selection processes where limited and / or static data is utilized for selection and / or source selection options are otherwise restricted. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present disclosure relates generally to improved systems and related methods for the fulfillment of medication orders to be delivered by a patient care provider for administration to a patient.

[0007] In one aspect, the improved system includes a request generator and request fulfillment logic provided for a patient care provider. The request generator can be used to generate a drug request for at least one drug-containing unit to be distributed by the patient care provider and administered to the patient. The request fulfillment logic can be executed by a computer implemented means for providing decision data for use in processing the drug request and selecting one of a plurality of different fulfillment locations to fulfill the drug request. The decision data can be based at least in part on one of drug request fulfillment cost data and / or drug request fulfillment timing data corresponding to each of the plurality of fulfillment locations. The system can further include a request router for routing the given drug request to a selected fulfillment location selected from the plurality of fulfillment locations for preparation of the drug request.

[0008] Thus, the system relieves and / or assists the patient care provider user in the intellectual task of, for example, recording drug inventory / availability for fulfillment locations. Furthermore, the user can obtain the drug best suited to the patient care provider's needs from the appropriate fulfillment location. The system also provides improved human-machine interaction since the request router can route the drug request to the selected fulfillment location without the need for interaction with the patient care provider user. As used herein, the term patient care provider user may relate to, but is not limited to, a human being, such as an employee or owner of the patient care provider.

[0009] It will be appreciated that providing a system having request fulfillment logic that provides decision data can facilitate achieving increased cost-effectiveness and / or timely fulfillment of medication requests by patient care providers. For example, decision data can be provided to assist patient care providers in evaluating the trade-offs between different fulfillment locations to utilize in connection with a given medication request.

[0010] In contemplated implementations, at least one or more of the multiple fulfillment locations may be remote to the patient care provider. Additionally, at least another one of the multiple fulfillment locations may be at a patient care provider location corresponding to the patient care provider. For example, the patient care provider may have an in-house pharmacy or other affiliated pharmacy. Thus, the system allows the patient care provider user to automatically select the most appropriate one of numerous fulfillment locations without having to access each individual fulfillment location. Additionally, the patient care provider user may reduce the processing power at the patient care provider location by accessing and / or utilizing the processing power of one or more fulfillment locations.

[0011] In contemplated embodiments, a patient care provider may comprise an entity authorized by a competent regulatory agency to distribute drug orders. Additionally, a patient care provider may be an entity authorized by a competent regulatory agency to create drug orders.

[0012] As a prime example, patient care providers: Emergency care location ·hospital Home Inpatient Pharmacy (HIP) · Clinic or · Independent Infusion Clinic may include at least one of the following:

[0013] In accordance with a contemplated system, drug-containing units corresponding to a given drug request can be obtained by a patient's care provider from a selected fulfillment location and distributed by the patient's care provider for administration to a patient. In this regard, a drug-containing unit can include: Patient-specific units that contain drugs designated for administration to a specific patient Non-patient specific units that contain drugs that are subsequently designated for administration to a specific patient, or A unit of a drug component source used in the preparation of a patient-specific or non-patient-specific unit (e.g., a unit designated for administration to a specific patient after preparation). may include one of:

[0014] In some instances, the drug-containing unit may include a nutritional supplement or a component of a nutritional supplement required for administration by the patient's care provider. By way of example, the drug-containing unit may comprise a parenteral nutritional supplement (e.g., total parenteral nutrition or a total nutrient mixture). In some embodiments, a drug-containing unit may be received by a patient care provider from a remote fulfillment location, and the drug-containing unit may be associated with a kit (e.g., a container used to handle the corresponding multiple drugs) that includes multiple drug-containing units. The association may be obtained or defined in a database and / or a table of a database that identifies the corresponding kit for each drug-containing unit. Thus, for each drug-containing unit and kit, there may be a direct relationship between exactly one specific drug-containing unit and one specific kit. In this regard, various drug requests corresponding to multiple drug-containing units that include a kit may be associated with corresponding kit identifiers, thereby facilitating various record-keeping functions (e.g., obtaining and maintaining specific drug request metadata, referenced herein below). For example, the kit identifier (e.g., a machine-readable indicia on a container used to handle the corresponding multiple drugs) may be utilized to facilitate data collection related to the location, handling, etc. of the associated drugs. Thus, the system may conveniently and efficiently provide multiple drug-containing units (i.e., a kit of drug-containing units) for a specific drug-containing unit and maintain records therefor without having to separately obtain / record information for each individual / specific drug. In particular, in view of the complexities of organizing an array of products, the system provides kits of drugs while providing convenient and automated acquisition of specific drugs. The system particularly comprises a computing environment that executes or is part of a request generator and / or request fulfillment logic and / or a request router.

[0015] As described above, the system may include request fulfillment logic for providing decision data based in part on at least one of drug request fulfillment cost data and / or drug request fulfillment timing data corresponding to each of a plurality of fulfillment locations. Such data may be stored or otherwise maintained in a drug request database.

[0016] Drug request fulfillment timing data is Drug request fulfillment lead time data Drug request availability data Drug delivery schedule data Drug request efficacy timing data and / or Drug component efficacy timing data It may include at least one of the following:

[0017] Drug order fulfillment cost data may include data indicative of the cost of fulfilling a given drug order by a given fulfillment location.

[0018] In contemplated system implementations, each of a plurality of fulfillment locations may provide all or at least a portion of the drug order fulfillment cost data and / or drug order fulfillment timing data corresponding to a given fulfillment location. That is, such data (simply referred to as drug request data) may be provided by the fulfillment locations to the drug request database. For example, this data may be provided on a periodic request / response basis or otherwise. As another example, this data may be provided in association with a given type or other specified drug.

[0019] In some embodiments, the order fulfillment logic can include one or more algorithms (e.g., computer readable media) for processing (e.g., by a computer) a drug request in conjunction with drug order fulfillment cost data and / or drug order fulfillment timing data stored in the drug order database. In one approach, the algorithm can selectively establish (e.g., via software program instructions / user input) weightings of parameters associated with each of the drug order fulfillment cost data and / or drug order fulfillment timing data.

[0020] In some applications, the request fulfillment logic may be provided to be customizable by a given patient's care provider, by way of example, a given patient's care provider may set algorithmic weighting parameters and / or define additional logic parameters.

[0021] In certain embodiments, the request fulfillment logic may be operable to automatically select a fulfillment location to fulfill a given medication request based on the generated decision data. It will be appreciated that such automatic selection functionality may be established in association with a given type of medication request. Additionally, in some implementations, the request router may be operable to automatically route the medication request to the selected fulfillment location. Thus, the system may enable efficient fulfillment of medication medication requests without the need for human interaction. In particular, the system may improve efficiency by being more fail-safe since the router is less prone to errors that humans may make.

[0022] In some configurations, the selected fulfillment location may be configured to selectively, automatically, and / or semi-automatically reject a given drug request that is submitted (e.g., in the event of an unexpected or other event). The rejection of the request may then be communicated (e.g., selectively, automatically, and / or semi-automatically) by the fulfillment location to the fulfillment logic and drug request database, which is further utilized to provide decision data for use in selecting a different fulfillment location. The drug request database may be updated accordingly in association with the drug request.

[0023] In contemplated implementations, a fulfillment location selected to fulfill a given drug request can be configured to provide drug request metadata to a drug request database regarding the fulfillment of the drug request. In this regard, the selected fulfillment location may follow a predetermined procedure and / or utilize data collection means to obtain drug request metadata related to the preparation, handling, etc. of drugs matching the given drug request and provide the drug request metadata to the drug request database. Accordingly, the system may be provided to enable patient care providers matching a given drug request to access at least a portion of the corresponding drug request metadata from the drug request database.

[0024] Drug request metadata may include one or more of the following types of data: Drug source data indicating at least one of the following: -Manufacturers of components of chemical-containing units that fulfill chemical requests -Lot numbers of components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request -Expiration dates of components of drug-containing units corresponding to drug requests -Serial numbers of components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request - A drug code indicating the identity of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request Chain of Custody (COC) data showing at least one of the following: -A list of the components of the drug-containing unit that fulfills the drug request or the entities that own the drug-containing unit that fulfills the drug request A list of users who have taken actions related to drug-containing units in response to drug requests, correlated with the specific actions taken by each user. -Tracking information corresponding to the physical movement of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request. Fulfillment data indicating at least one of the following: -Image data of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request -Scan data obtained from components of drug-containing units that fulfill drug requests - analytical data relating to the components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request -Pharmacist review data corresponding to at least one pharmacist review regarding a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request -Compliance data corresponding to best practices related to the components of a drug-containing unit serving a drug request or a drug-containing unit serving a drug request -Evaluation data of the sterility of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request - A list of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a list of procedures corresponding to a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request -timestamp data corresponding to a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a procedure corresponding to a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; or - A list of components of a drug-containing unit serving the drug request or life cycle events that have occurred related to the drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or Environmental data indicating at least one of the following: - The temperature to which the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request have been exposed -The temperature and corresponding time to which the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request have been exposed -Whether the components of the drug-containing unit serving the drug request or the drug-containing unit serving the drug request are refrigerated -Whether the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request are frozen - the temperature profile experienced by components of a drug-containing unit serving the drug request or a drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or -Accelerometer data corresponding to a force experienced by a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request.

[0025] It will be appreciated that the availability and accessibility of drug request metadata can improve the management functions of a drug fulfillment system, in particular by using and / or storing the drug request metadata in a computerized manner, and relieving and / or assisting the patient care provider user in the (intellectual) task of recording and / or organizing said data, in particular without the (computer-assisted) system according to the invention, said data management and data processing would not be possible.

[0026] In various embodiments, contemplated systems may include a distributed drug request management system including a distributed drug request management client in operative communication with a request router to receive drug requests from the request router at each of a plurality of fulfillment locations. Accordingly, the system may further include a drug request management network including the distributed drug request management client, a drug request database, and a request router. In such embodiments, the system may maintain at least a portion of the corresponding drug request metadata at a remote physical location.

[0027] In another aspect, a distributed medication request management system may include a request generator that generates a medication request for at least one medication-containing unit for delivery by a patient care provider and a medication request database operable to store the medication request. The system may further include a plurality of medication request management clients at a plurality of fulfillment locations capable of fulfilling the medication request. A medication request management network may be provided in operative communication with each of the plurality of medication request management clients, the medication request database, and the request generator, the medication request management network operable to provide the medication request to the medication request management client at a selected fulfillment location selected from the plurality of fulfillment locations. The system may be provided such that the patient care provider obtains medication-containing units matching the medication request from the selected fulfillment location for delivery and administration to a corresponding patient, the selected fulfillment location providing medication request metadata to the medication request management network for storage in the medication request database in response to the medication request.

[0028] It will be appreciated that various ones and combinations of the above-described functionality may be utilized in a distributed medication request management system.

[0029] In another aspect, a method of fulfilling a drug request to be delivered by a patient care provider for administration to a patient is provided. In some embodiments, the method may include a patient care provider generating a drug request by using a request generator, the drug request being for at least one drug-containing unit for administration to the patient. The method further includes processing the drug request by using request fulfillment logic used by the patient care provider and executed by computer-implemented means, the processing providing decision data for use in selecting one of a plurality of fulfillment locations for fulfilling the drug request. In this regard, the decision data may be based at least in part on one of drug request fulfillment cost data or drug request fulfillment timing data corresponding to each of the plurality of fulfillment locations. Additionally, the method may include a request router sending the drug request to a selected fulfillment location selected from the plurality of fulfillment locations for creating the drug request.

[0030] In some implementations, the method may further include automatically selecting, via operation of the request fulfillment logic, a selected fulfillment location based at least in part on the decision data. Additionally or alternatively, the method may further include automatically sending, via operation of the router, the drug request to the selected fulfillment location for fulfillment of the drug request. In various method implementations, the method may employ a system having any of the characteristics of the systems described herein.

[0031] According to yet another aspect, there is provided a computer program product, which may be stored on a computer readable medium and / or executed as a computer processable data stream, the computer program product comprising computer processable instructions which, when loaded into a computer's memory and executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the method as outlined above and in further specific examples below.

[0032] Numerous further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art in consideration of the description of embodiments provided below. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0033] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is one embodiment of a system for fulfilling a pharmaceutical request. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an implementation that may be used in the system embodiment of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a system 100 for fulfilling a drug request. A drug request may correspond to at least one drug-containing unit. A containing unit may include, for example, ·Syringe Medicine bottle Bag or · Another drug container used in administering a drug to a patient or used in the process of preparing a drug for administration to a patient may include one of the following:

[0035] System 100 may include a number of components that may be used to generate a medication request, generate decision data for use in selecting a fulfillment location for fulfillment of the medication request, and route a given medication request to a selected fulfillment location. In this regard, the components of system 100 may include a request generator 20, a request fulfillment logic 30, and a request router 40, respectively. By way of example, the request generator 20, the request fulfillment logic 30, and the request router 40 may be located at the patient care provider 10.

[0036] The request generator 20 can generate medication requests corresponding to medications to be used or delivered by the patient care provider 10 for administration to the patient 70. The request generator 20 may be operable to generate medication requests automatically or partially automated based on instructions that include a data stream. By way of example, the instructions may correspond to medications prescribed by a physician.

[0037] In one approach, the request generator 20 may be operable to parse or otherwise derive data from a data stream for drug request generation. Additionally or alternatively, the request generator 20 may generate drug requests based on data received directly from a user (such as by data entry via a user interface).

[0038] The order generator 20 may be operable to provide a drug request for processing by the order fulfillment logic 30. The order fulfillment logic 30 may comprise a computer implemented means (including hardware and / or software, etc.) for providing decision data for use in selecting one of a plurality of fulfillment locations for fulfillment of a given drug request. The computer implemented means may include a memory operable to store non-transitory machine-readable instructions that may be executed by a processor. The order fulfillment logic 30 may further include or have access to a database that may be used by the order fulfillment logic 30 for generation of the decision data.

[0039] The data utilized by the request fulfillment logic 30 to provide decision data may include at least drug request preparation cost data and / or drug request preparation timing data corresponding to multiple potential fulfillment locations capable of fulfilling the drug request. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, remote fulfillment location 60a, remote fulfillment location 60b, or fulfillment location 55 may all be potential fulfillment locations for fulfillment of the drug request.

[0040] In this regard, the request fulfillment logic 30 may provide the decision data to a user (e.g., provided to a user at the patient care provider 10 via a user interface device). The user may then select (e.g., via an input in a user interface) one of a plurality of fulfillment locations for fulfillment of the drug request. In one embodiment, the request fulfillment logic 30 may automatically select a fulfillment location based at least in part on the decision data for a given drug request. Optionally, the determination of whether a fulfillment location is user-selected or automatically selected may depend at least in part on identifiable characteristics of a given drug request (e.g., depending on drug type, drug quantity, timing requirements, or other data associated with the drug request). In this regard, potential time savings and cost reductions may be realized.

[0041] As discussed above, the request router 40 may be configured to route the drug request to a selected fulfillment location for fulfillment of the drug request. As shown generally in FIG. 1, at least one local fulfillment location (e.g., fulfillment location 55) and / or at least one off-site fulfillment location (e.g., fulfillment locations 60a, 60b) may be selectable to fulfill a given drug request.

[0042] Regardless of the relative location of the selected fulfillment location, the request router 40 may be operable to communicate the drug request to the selected fulfillment location. The request router 40 may receive an identification of the selected fulfillment location from a user (such as a user of the patient care provider 10) or may automatically send instructions for the drug request to the selected fulfillment location based on an automatic selection of the fulfillment location by the request fulfillment logic 30.

[0043] One or more of the fulfillment locations 60a, 60b may be configured to selectively, automatically, and / or semi-automatically reject a given drug request sent to it (e.g., in the event of an unforeseen event). The rejection of the request may then be communicated (e.g., selectively, automatically, and / or semi-automatically) by the fulfillment location 60a or 60b to the request fulfillment logic 30 and the drug request database 90, which is further utilized to provide decision data for use in selecting a different fulfillment location. The drug request database 90 may be updated accordingly in connection with the drug request.

[0044] As mentioned above, the fulfillment locations may include one or more remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b that are remote to the patient care provider 10. Furthermore, the patient care provider 10 may include a patient care provider location that may include a pharmacy 50. Accordingly, the pharmacy 50 may include a fulfillment location 55 located within the pharmacy 50. It will also be appreciated that the patient care provider 10 may be affiliated with a pharmacy 50 that is off-site to the patient care provider location. In any event, each of the fulfillment locations 55, 60a, 60b may be capable of fulfilling drug requests and providing drugs corresponding to drug requests to the pharmacy 50. Accordingly, the pharmacy 50 may be operable to dispense the drugs for administration to the patient 70.

[0045] 1, the drug request management network 80 may be in operative communication with the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b as well as the patient care provider 10. The drug request management network 80 may be in operative communication with a drug request database 90. The drug request database 90 may be operable to store one or more sets of data, or portions of data, corresponding to each given drug request.

[0046] The drug request database 90 can reside in a single location that is remote from or local to one or more patient care provider locations or remote fulfillment locations. The drug request database 90 may also be located in a separate location that is different from either the patient care provider locations or remote fulfillment locations. Additionally, the drug request database 90 may have multiple portions or instances, each of which may reside in a separate location that corresponds to or is separate from the patient care provider locations or remote fulfillment locations.

[0047] For example, the drug request database 90 may store drug request metadata relating to a drug request. Additionally, the drug request database 90 may store drug request fulfillment cost data and drug request fulfillment timing data employed by the request fulfillment logic 30 to generate decision data for use in selecting one of a plurality of fulfillment locations for fulfilling the drug request. In this regard, the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b may be in operative communication with the drug request database 90 to provide the drug request database 90 with drug request fulfillment cost data and drug request fulfillment timing data corresponding to each respective fulfillment location.

[0048] The drug request database 90 may be located remotely from the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b as well as the patient care provider 10. Alternatively, the drug request database 90 may be located at one of the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b or at the location of the patient care provider 10. In either case, access to the drug request database 90 may be facilitated via the drug request management network 80.

[0049] It will be appreciated that the patient care provider 10 may include any entity licensed by a competent regulatory body (such as the Board of Medicine) to distribute and prepare drug-containing units for administration to a patient. In this regard, the patient care provider may include any licensed entity that may compound or otherwise prepare drug-containing units for administration to a patient. Primarily, examples of patient care providers include: Emergency care location ·hospital Home Inpatient Pharmacy (HIP) ·Clinic · Independent infusion clinic or Other appropriate medical entities authorized to compound medicines etc.

[0050] In one application, the patient care provider may be a hospital that has an affiliated pharmacy. It will be appreciated that the affiliated pharmacy may be on-site in association with the hospital or the hospital may have an affiliated pharmacy. In either case, the drug associated with the drug request may be administered to the patient by the patient care provider at the patient care provider's location. In the case of an affiliated pharmacy, the affiliated pharmacy may provide services at multiple different affiliated hospital locations.

[0051] As discussed above, the drug requests generated by the request generator 20 may each correspond to a drug-containing unit for administration to a patient. The drug-containing units may be patient-specific units consisting of a drug designated for administration to a particular patient. In one embodiment, the drug-containing units may also include non-patient-specific units that are subsequently designated for administration to a particular patient. In one embodiment, the drug-containing units may be drug source units (e.g., compounded or other components) used in the preparation of the patient-specific and / or non-patient-specific units.

[0052] In various embodiments, the drug-containing unit may correspond to a variety of different substances whose preparation requires a license or other permission from a regulatory agency. Examples of drug-containing units that may correspond to drug requests include: Formulated sterile preparations Injectable drugs chemotherapy drugs or Nutritional supplements that require administration by a patient care provider (sterile injectable nutritional supplements) etc.

[0053] The nutritional supplement may include total parenteral nutrition (TPN) or components of TPN. Additionally, the nutritional supplement may include partial nutritional supplements. The nutritional supplement may include premixed bags, bases and additional components of the nutritional supplements or their components separately or in combination or other forms. The nutritional supplement may be for administration via intravenous injection, in edible form or for use with feeding tubes, etc.

[0054] The drug request generated by the request generator 20 may include data indicative of one or more attributes or requirements of the drug request. In this regard, the drug request may include: Drug identification Amount of medicine Chemical concentration Information related to the patient to be administered the drug related to the drug request · Schedule information (time of administration) for medications related to the medication request; or Any other pertinent information about the drug relevant to the drug request etc. may be included.

[0055] In one embodiment, a drug request including or associated with any of the above data or other related data corresponding to the drug request may be stored in a drug request database 90.

[0056] In any case, the order fulfillment logic 30 may be operable to receive the drug request and compare the drug request (e.g., drug identity, drug quantity, drug concentration, expected delivery time, etc.) associated with the drug request preparation timing data and / or drug request preparation cost data for a plurality of fulfillment locations to determine decision data used in determining which fulfillment location may be capable or best able to fulfill the drug request.

[0057] In one example, the request fulfillment logic 30 may determine which fulfillment location or locations from a plurality of fulfillment locations can fulfill the drug request based on whether the fulfillment location can fulfill the drug request prior to the scheduled delivery time for the drug request. In this regard, the drug request fulfillment timing data may include, for example, Drug request fulfillment lead time data Drug request availability data Drug delivery schedule data Drug request efficacy timing data or Drug component efficacy timing data. It may also include the following.

[0058] Of those fulfillment locations capable of fulfilling the drug request in time for the scheduled administration time, the drug request fulfillment cost data may then be used to determine which of the eligible fulfillment locations exhibits the lowest cost for fulfilling the drug request. In this regard, the fulfillment location with the lowest fulfillment cost capable of fulfilling the drug request in time for the scheduled administration of the drug associated with the drug request may be identified as the selected fulfillment location. However, other logic may also be applied that may, for example, strike a different balance between consideration of the drug request fulfillment cost data, the drug request fulfillment timing data, or other relevant information used to generate the decision data, where the logic applied may be selectively established by a given patient care provider 10. For example, an algorithm may be established with a weighting parameter related to the relative importance of the drug request fulfillment cost data versus the drug request fulfillment timing data. In one example, the patient care provider 10 may predetermine or govern the weighting of the data. Other factors or data may also be weighted in the algorithm used to arrive at the decision data.

[0059] In contemplated embodiments, the patient care provider 10 may be able to customize the algorithms and / or factors that are considered in providing the decision data. For example, the patient care provider may provide overriding conditions that dictate the selection of the selected fulfillment location regardless of the decision data. The overriding conditions may be based on drug requests generated in a particular time period, a particular type for administration in a particular time period, or other factors related to the drug request or fulfillment of the drug request.

[0060] With further reference to the request router 40, as noted above, the request router 40 may be operable to route the drug request to a selected one of a plurality of fulfillment locations. Thus, the request router 40 may be in direct communication with each of the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b as well as the fulfillment location 55 at the pharmacy 50 of the patient care provider 10. In one embodiment, the sending of the drug request from the request router 40 to the selected fulfillment location may occur substantially in real time upon selection of the fulfillment location. In one embodiment, the sending of the drug request to the selected fulfillment location may occur periodically as initiated by either the request router 40 or the selected fulfillment location. The request router 40 may be operable to send a group or batch of individual drug requests to a single fulfillment location at the same time if the fulfillment location is selected as the selected fulfillment location for numerous drug requests.

[0061] In one embodiment, the request router 40 may provide the drug request to the fulfillment location via the drug request management network 80. In this regard, the request router 40 may communicate to the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b via the drug request management network 80, rather than direct communication between the request router 40 and the remote fulfillment locations 60a, 60b.

[0062] Each fulfillment location may be operable to provide drug request metadata (e.g., directly or via the drug request management network 80) to the drug request database 90 regarding fulfillment of a drug request at the fulfillment location. The drug request metadata may include details regarding the composition, preparation, transportation or other data related to the drug request. The drug request metadata may be maintained in correspondence with the drug request record in the drug request database 90. The drug request metadata may be periodically updated by the fulfillment location before, during or after fulfillment of the drug request. This may be particularly advantageous in the case of remote fulfillment locations, since the patient care provider 10 may access the drug request database 90 to obtain information regarding the drug request during fulfillment by the remote fulfillment location. However, even in the case of a local fulfillment location (e.g., fulfillment location 55), the drug request metadata may still be provided to the drug request database (e.g., to maintain records corresponding to the drug request).

[0063] Drug request metadata is Drug source data Chain of Custody (COC) data · Execution quality data or Environmental Data The drug request may include data corresponding to multiple different classes of data related to the drug request, including, but not limited to,

[0064] Drug source data may include, for example: Manufacturers of components in chemical-containing units that handle chemical requests · Lot numbers of components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request - Expiration dates of components in drug-containing units corresponding to drug requests -Serial numbers of components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or Drug code indicating the identity of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request The information may include data indicating the above.

[0065] Chain of Custody (COC) data, for example, A list of the components of the drug-containing unit that fulfills the drug request or the entities that own the drug-containing unit that fulfills the drug request A list of users who have taken actions related to drug-containing units in response to drug requests, correlated with the specific actions taken by each user; or Tracking information corresponding to the physical movement of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request The information may include data indicating the above.

[0066] Execution quality data can be, for example, Image data of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request or image data of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request Scan data obtained from components of drug-containing units in response to drug requests Analytical data relating to the components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request or to a drug-containing unit corresponding to a drug request pharmacist review data corresponding to at least one pharmacist review regarding a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request Compliance data corresponding to best practices related to the components of a drug-containing unit serving a drug request or a drug-containing unit serving a drug request -Evaluation data of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the sterility status of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request A list of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the procedures corresponding to the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request timestamp data corresponding to a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a procedure corresponding to a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; or A list of components of a drug-containing unit serving the drug request or life cycle events that have occurred in relation to a drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or The information may include data indicating the above.

[0067] Environmental data can be, for example, The temperature to which the components of the drug-containing unit serving the drug request or the drug-containing unit serving the drug request have been exposed The temperature and corresponding time to which the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request have been exposed · Whether the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request are refrigerated ·Whether the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request are frozen The temperature profile experienced by the components of or the drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or Accelerometer data corresponding to the forces experienced by the components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request The information may include data indicating the above.

[0068] Thus, the fulfillment location fulfilling the drug request, whether the fulfillment location is the local fulfillment location 55 or a remote fulfillment location 60a or 60b, may provide the drug order metadata associated with the drug request.

[0069] Additionally, in the case of the remote fulfillment location 60a or 60b, the remote fulfillment location may dispatch the medication request for physical delivery to the patient care provider 10 for administration to the patient 70. Thus, the remote fulfillment location 60a, 60b may transport or otherwise physically dispatch the medication request to the patient care provider 10. Thus, the remote fulfillment location may utilize a dedicated delivery vehicle and / or a third party delivery service. In any event, the manner in which the medication request is physically dispatched may include tracking data associated with the transportation of the medication request.

[0070] In one embodiment, a remote fulfillment location may send one or more drug requests in bulk to a patient care provider 10. In this regard, a kit may be sent from a remote fulfillment location to a patient care provider 10. A kit may include multiple drug requests that are destined for the same patient care provider 10. As such, the kit may include a kit identification. Each drug request placed in the kit may be correlated to the kit identification. In this regard, once the kit is received by the patient care provider, the kit identification may be used to determine that each of the multiple drug requests associated with the kit has been received as well. Furthermore, any one of the drug requests identified as associated with the kit may also indicate that each of the other drug requests associated with the kit have been received.

[0071] Thus, the remote fulfillment location may also provide the kit identification and the correlated drug request associated with the kit to the drug order management network 80. In response, data regarding the kit identification and the correlated drug request associated with the kit may be provided to the patient care provider 10 and / or to the drug order database 90 for storage.

[0072] In one embodiment, each fulfillment location may include a drug request management client that may be in operative communication with the drug request management network 80, the drug request management client operable to receive / transmit data corresponding to a drug request from the drug request management network 80. In this regard, the drug request management client may be utilized by the fulfillment location to assist in the preparation of a drug associated with a drug request, such as to generate or document drug request metadata, as described above.

[0073] 2 illustrates an embodiment of a drug request creation and management client 210 that may be used at a fulfillment location 200 to assist in the preparation and / or management of drug requests. The client 210 may be a thick client or a thin client at the fulfillment location. For example, the client 210 may be a thin client, such as a web browser running on a device at the fulfillment location by accessing a service on the web. In this regard, a request receiving interface 220 may be provided to receive drug requests. In accordance with the above, the request receiving interface 220 may be in direct communication with the request router 40 or in operative communication with the request router 40 via the drug request management network 80.

[0074] The drug request may be communicated to a request creation management system 230. The request creation management system 230 may be operable to organize 232 the drug request received at the drug request creation management client 210. Organizing may include prioritization, scheduling, or other tasks related to organizing or managing the drug request. The request creation management system 230 may be operable to route 234 the drug request to an appropriate workstation 240. In this regard, multiple workstations 240 may be provided, each of which may be suitable for different tasks or workflows. Thus, depending on the nature of the drug request, a particular type of workstation 240 may be used to create the request.

[0075] In this regard, the medication request creation and management system 230 may be in operative communication with one or more workstations 240. Routing 234 the medication request may be based at least in part on the nature or type of medication and the capabilities of the various workstations 240. In one embodiment, other parameters such as, for example, technician schedules, workstation schedules, workstation locations, or other information may be used alone or in combination to route 234 the medication request to a particular workstation 240.

[0076] A workflow may be prepared 242 at the workstation 240 for use in creating the drug request. In this regard, a workflow specific to the drug request currently being created at the workstation 240 may be created or presented to the user at the workstation 240. The user may then follow a series of steps to prepare the drug corresponding to the drug request based on the presented pre-created workflow.

[0077] During and / or after the creation of the drug request, the workstation 240 may be used to assist in reviewing 244 the creation of the medical order. For example, the workstation 240 may enable the recording of documentation related to the preparation of the drug, such as a barcode scan of the product, images of equipment during or after use in preparing the drug, or other information related to the preparation of the drug. This data may correspond to at least a portion of the drug request metadata described above.

[0078] Such information collected for the check 244 may be stored for viewing by appropriate personnel (e.g., a pharmacist) so that the pharmacist can review the created drug request before the drug request leaves the fulfillment location 200. In one embodiment, the information and / or data collected at the workstation 240 may be made available to the pharmacist via a network (e.g., the drug request management network 80). In this regard, it will also be appreciated that alternative or additional pharmacists (e.g., a pharmacist at the patient care provider 10) may provide concurrent or additional review of the drug associated with the fulfillment of the drug request. In any event, the pharmacist involved in reviewing the drug request may access the information and / or data remotely (e.g., at the fulfillment location but outside the room where the drug was prepared or entirely away from the fulfillment location premises) via the network 80.

[0079] Once a drug request has been created 242 according to the workflow and checked 242 at the workstation 240, the drug request creation management system 230 may send the drug request metadata to the drug request management network 80 for storage in the drug request database 90 and / or authorization to the patient care provider 10. In response, the drug request creation management system 230 may manage the dispatch 238 of the drug request to the patient care provider 10. In this regard, the drug request creation management system 230, in addition to providing data regarding the drug request to the drug request management network 80, may oversee the physical dispatch of the drug request to the patient care provider 10.

[0080] Patient care providers currently have limited access to sources of medications required for patient care. This limitation stems primarily from the current limitations of these systems and processes, which only allow for static selections for each particular type of medication. These static selections are often determined through a completely manual procurement / evaluation process and are only reviewed on an ad-hoc basis. This often results in higher than optimal costs to meet the provider's medication needs and severely limits the ability of patient care providers to efficiently and quickly respond to events that require a different procurement approach - such as drug shortages or localized events that result in significant supply / demand shifts.

[0081] Implementing the present invention allows patient care providers to define a set of dynamically applied rules for selecting the source of each particular type of drug. This dynamic response capability allows drug needs to be met more reliably in time, allows for more efficient and effective responses to local events and supply problems, and allows for lower cost drugs with new sources in mind.

[0082] The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Thus, modifications and variations commensurate with the above teachings, and the skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. The above-described embodiments are further intended to describe known modes of practicing the invention and to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the invention in these or other embodiments and with various modifications as required by the particular application or applications of the invention. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art.

Claims

1. 1. A pharmacy medicine management system, comprising: Processor-inclusive request creation management system Including, The processor executes machine-readable instructions stored in memory to configure the request creation management system as follows: Organizing the plurality of medication requests received at the medication request management client, where the organizing includes one or more of prioritization and scheduling associated with organizing or managing the plurality of medication requests; in communication with a plurality of pharmacy workstations, each of the plurality of pharmacy workstations having a capability of: selecting an appropriate pharmacy workstation from among said plurality of pharmacy workstations to send one of said plurality of drug requests; receiving drug request metadata from the appropriate pharmacy workstation, the drug request metadata including a bar code scan of a product and an image of an apparatus during or after use in preparing a drug-containing unit, the drug-containing unit having a type and composition; and Transmitting the drug request metadata to a drug request management network, where the request creation and management system determines an appropriate pharmacy workstation from among the plurality of pharmacy workstations based at least in part on the capabilities of the pharmacy workstation and the type of drug-containing unit. A pharmacy drug management system comprising:

2. the appropriate pharmacy workstation is at a pharmacy location of the patient care provider, and the appropriate pharmacy workstation comprises: generating a drug request for the compounded drug-containing unit based on the order; executing request fulfillment logic to evaluate decision data and determine a remote fulfillment location to be selected from among a plurality of remote fulfillment locations, wherein said decision data is based at least in part on information received at said appropriate pharmacy workstation from each of said plurality of remote fulfillment locations; and executing a request router that communicates the drug request to a remote pick-and-fill location, the remote pick-and-fill location including a workstation for preparing and presenting a specific workflow at the workstation with respect to the drug request, and the workstation configured to record data related to preparation of the drug-containing unit based on the workflow; a drug request database operatively in communication with said appropriate pharmacy workstation and configured to receive and store said data regarding fulfillment of said drug request at said remote selected fulfillment location; The function of the present invention is to The appropriate pharmacy workstation associates the data stored in the drug request database with the compounded drug-containing unit. The pharmacy drug management system according to claim 1 .

3. The pharmacy medication management system of claim 2 , wherein the order creation and management system transmits one of the plurality of medication requests to the patient care provider.

4. The pharmacy drug management system of claim 2 or 3, wherein the request creation management system further determines an appropriate pharmacy workstation from among the plurality of pharmacy workstations based at least in part on at least one of a technician's schedule and a workstation location.

5. The patient's care provider may include: Emergency treatment locations, hospital, Home Inpatient Pharmacy (HIP), Clinic or Independent Infusion Clinic, The pharmacy drug management system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising one or more of the following:

6. The pharmacy drug management system of claim 2 , wherein the drug request database stores drug request metadata corresponding to the drug request.

7. The drug-containing unit is Patient-specific units that contain medications designated for administration to a specific patient - non-patient specific units that contain medicines that are subsequently designated for administration to a specific patient, or - Drug ingredient source units used in the preparation of patient-specific or non-patient-specific units in the pharmacy The pharmacy drug management system of claim 2 , comprising at least one of:

8. The pharmacy medication management system of any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the medication-containing unit comprises a nutritional supplement or a component of a nutritional supplement required for administration by the patient's care provider.

9. 9. The pharmacy drug management system of claim 2, wherein the drug-containing units are received in a kit including a plurality of drug-containing units at the appropriate pharmacy workstation, the plurality of drug-containing units each having a corresponding drug request that can be associated with a kit identifier corresponding to the kit, the kit identifier comprising machine-readable indicia on a container used to handle the plurality of drug-containing units at the appropriate pharmacy workstation.

10. The pharmacy drug management system of any one of claims 2 to 9, wherein cost data and timing data are stored in the drug request database.

11. The timing data is Drug request fulfillment lead time data, Drug request availability data; Drug request delivery schedule data, Drug request efficacy timing data or Drug component efficacy timing data; The pharmacy drug management system according to any one of claims 2 to 10, comprising at least one of the following:

12. The pharmacy medication management system of any one of claims 2 to 11, wherein said order fulfillment logic is at least partially customizable by a user of said appropriate pharmacy workstation.

13. The pharmacy drug management system of any one of claims 2 to 12, wherein the order fulfillment logic processes drug orders in association with both cost data and timing data.

14. The pharmacy medication management system of claim 13, wherein the order fulfillment logic includes selectable weighting parameters associated with each of the cost data and the timing data.

15. 15. The pharmacy medication management system of claim 14, wherein weighting parameters relating to cost data and timing data are customizable by a user of the appropriate pharmacy workstation.

16. The pharmacy medication management system of any one of claims 2 to 15, wherein the order fulfillment logic is operable to automatically select a remote selected fulfillment location based at least in part on decision data.

17. The pharmacy medication management system of any one of claims 2 to 16, wherein the request router is operable to automatically route the medication request to the remote selected fulfillment location.

18. The pharmacy drug management system of any one of claims 2 to 17, wherein the appropriate pharmacy workstation receives a rejection of the order from the remote selected fulfillment location and the order fulfillment logic reprocesses the drug order to generate different decision data for use in selecting another one of the plurality of remote fulfillment locations.

19. The pharmacy drug management system of any one of claims 2 to 18, wherein the drug request database receives and stores data regarding fulfillment of additional drug requests at remote fulfillment locations other than the plurality of remote fulfillment locations.

20. The data is Drug source data indicating at least one of the following: Manufacturers of components of drug-containing units that respond to drug requests; Lot numbers of components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; Expiration dates of components of drug-containing units corresponding to drug requests; The serial numbers of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug code indicating the identity of a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; Chain of Custody (COC) data indicating at least one of the following: a list of the components of the drug-containing unit serving the drug request or the entities that own the drug-containing unit serving the drug request; a list of users who have taken actions regarding drug-containing units corresponding to the drug request, correlated to the particular actions taken by each user; tracking information corresponding to the physical movement of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; Fulfillment data indicative of at least one of the following: Image data of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or image data of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; scan data obtained from components of drug-containing units corresponding to the drug request; analytical data relating to the components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; pharmacist review data corresponding to at least one pharmacist review regarding components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; compliance data corresponding to best practices related to components of a drug-containing unit serving a drug request or a drug-containing unit serving a drug request; Evaluation data of the sterility status of the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; a list of components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or procedures corresponding to a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; timestamp data corresponding to a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a procedure corresponding to a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; or A list of components of a drug-containing unit serving the drug request or life cycle events that have occurred in connection with a drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or Environmental data indicative of at least one of the following: the temperature to which the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request have been exposed; the temperatures and corresponding times to which the components of the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or the drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request have been exposed; whether the components of the drug-containing unit serving the drug request or the drug-containing unit serving the drug request are refrigerated; whether a component of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request is frozen; The temperature profile experienced by the components of the drug-containing unit serving the drug request or the drug-containing unit serving the drug request; or accelerometer data corresponding to forces experienced by components of a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request or a drug-containing unit corresponding to the drug request; The pharmacy drug management system according to any one of claims 2 to 19, comprising at least one of the following:

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