528 results about "Dispensary" patented technology

Methods and systems for rapidly and conveniently creating prescriptions through the use of portable digital assistants (PDAs) and bar code scanning technology are provided. Prescriptions are created using a form-based approach in which prescribing options are presented to the prescriber for selection. The system allows entry of medication and patient ID by scanning bar codes. A bar code is generated for each prescription and is used to access the prescription information in a database. The bar code and prescription information can be printed on a ticket, which can be presented at a pharmacy when the prescription is picked up. The use of bar codes allows several levels of checking to ensure that the correct medication is dispensed and that the prescription is valid. Prescription information is transmitted between prescribers and pharmacies via a central site at which prescription information is stored. In a preferred embodiment of the invention communication occurs over the Internet, and the creation and transmission of prescriptions are coordinated by a World Wide Web service which sends Web pages to PDAs to present and gather prescription information. The Web pages can provide links to patient and medication information, and the system can advise the prescriber if there is a contraindication to the medication about to be prescribed. The Web service transmits prescription information to pharmacies, receives notification when prescriptions are fulfilled, and can perform other functions such as notifying patients or physicians when prescriptions are close to running out. The Web service can further be used to keep track of medication sample package inventories at prescribing locations such as physician offices. Prescription data can be used to perform market research in a timely fashion.

A suite of applications is provided for the administration of implantable medical devices, particularly implantable therapeutic substance infusion devices. The applications may be accessed over a public network, such as the Internet, and may be run using middleware. The applications provide for the administration of medical devices as they pertain to a particular patient, the ordering of therapeutic agents from participating third-party dispensaries, the scheduling of device maintenance and explant events, and the review of literature and educational materials pertaining to a particular medical device or class of devices.

Novel methods for delivering a drug to a patient while preventing the exposure of a foetus or other contraindicated individual to the drug. Embodiments are provided in which the involved prescribers, pharmacies and patients are registered in one or more computer databases. Embodiments are also provided in which registered patients receive counseling information concerning the risks attendant to foetal exposure to the drug. Male patients and female patients who are not pregnant may, in certain circumstances, receive the drug.

A pharmacy post office receives prescriptions and produces through an automated pill dispensing and packaging system, pharmacy letters that are sorted and delivered as first class or priority mail pieces. The system packages the prescription medication in carriers that are sized to fit into mail sorting machines that sort the first class or priority mail pieces by postal delivery routes. The pharmacy letters include patient mailing address information such that the pharmacy letters are then fed to the mail sorting machines and sorted along with the first class or priority mail pieces for delivery by the postal delivery persons along their customary routes. The system includes a robotic subsystem that dispenses the medication from pill canisters supplied by the drug companies and provides the pills to an automated packaging system. The packaging system feeds the pills into compartments of a carrier base or blister pack and prints on the carrier or applies as labels thereto drug identification information, mailing address information and tracking information, such as a machine readable code. The packaging system then assembles and seals the carrier, such that mailing address information is available for reading by mail sorting machines. The assembled pharmacy letters are then supplied to the mail sorting machines and included in the first class or priority delivery operations of the post office. A track and trace system may be included to provide a delivery schedule to the patient and/or prescribing doctor. The track and trace system is informed when the packaging system provides a pharmacy letter to the mail sorting machines, and the system determines if the pharmacy letter will be included in the same day postal delivery operations or in the next day operations. When a pharmacy letter is delivered by the postal delivery person, he or she scans the tracking code and transmits information back to the system, which then updates its delivery schedule to show the completed delivery.

A method, system and apparatus is provided for dispensing drugs quickly, conveniently, securely, and accurately and at relatively less cost than traditional pharmacy-based dispensing systems. A script for a drug prescribed to a user is generated comprising a human readable description of the drug and the user or a machine readable description of the drug and the user. The script is provided to a robotic prescription dispensary operable to recognize either the human readable description or the machine readable description, and validate and dispense the drug accordingly. The robotic prescription dispensary includes a user interface, a teleconferencing or videoconferencing means enabling communication between the user and a human validation agent, and a scanning means for capturing an image of the script. A method for managing inventory and distribution of drugs is also provided.

A child resistant medication package and associated system can enable compliance and anti-diversion features. The medication package can include a timing reminder, can detect and record a compliance history of each dose of medication, and can include anti-tamper capabilities to ensure doses are removed in the intended fashion. The medication package can have the capability to exchange data with other devices, including personal computers. The associated system can include a central database that receives data from the medication package, and provides for the transmission of data between various system locations, including not only the individual medication package, but also, for example, drug manufacturers, pharmacies, physician offices, law enforcement agencies, and a database managing agency.

A computerized medication dispensing station that addresses anesthesia medication management and tracking problems is disclosed. Medications, including narcotic and non-narcotic, and supplies for use in anesthesia, are stored in secured, semi-secured, and unsecured containers of a mobile station. A computer housed in the station is used to track the anesthesiology items that have been removed from the station. For each item removed, the time of removal, who removed it, and to whom it was administered is tracked. Items that are not administered to a patient are returned to the pharmacy or wasted (i.e., disposed in accordance with regulations). Each type of event (administration to a patient, return, or waste) is documented so that a health care institution can track usage of items, including narcotic medications, for use in anesthesia.

A system and method for distributing healthcare products is disclosed. A patient who obtains a prescription from clinic such as a federally qualified 340B health clinic (FQHC) is entered into a retail pharmacy's computer as a third party patient. Prescription information is transmitted to a healthcare product distributor inventory tracking system where the retail pharmacy is credited at its original invoice cost for the product. The healthcare product distributor's system charges the FQHC for the product at the 340B price. The inventory system tracks each 340B product distributed. In some cases, the first time a product is dispensed, the FQHC is charged for a stock package size and subsequent prescriptions are tracked and applied against the original purchase until the amount dispensed equals or exceeds the stock package originally charged to the FQHC. Once the quantity dispensed exceeds the stock package size, the inventory accumulation process is restarted.

A medication administration system that includes a system of pillboxes, a pharmacy workstation, and a system of attendant workstation. The pharmacy workstation reads RFID or barcode tags on the pillboxes and medication wrappers containing medication units as the medication units are checked into the pillboxes to ensure that the pillboxes are filled in accordance the appropriate prescription regimens. The attendant workstations read the RFID or barcode tags on the pillboxes and medication wrappers as the medication units are checked out of the pillboxes to ensure that the medications are administered in accordance the appropriate prescription regimens. The attendant workstations may activate alarms, which may include communicating the alarms to a central monitoring station or mobile communication devices assigned to healthcare providers, when the determine that a pillbox in not correctly filled, when a medication has been checked out of a pillbox improperly, or when a medication has not been checked out on time.

A method of dispensing medical prescriptions that includes scanning the prescription at a location remote from a dispensary, and providing an electronic communication of the prescription to the dispensary, followed by delivery or patient pick up of the prescription medicine or prescription devices. The invention further provides a process for controlling a system of processing medical prescription information that utilizes software that controls scanning of the prescription information and electronic communication of the prescription information to a dispensary. In both embodiments, the patient controls the steps in prescription filling, preferably including entry of the prescription information.

The invention discloses an intelligent pharmacy system capable of supplementing medicines automatically. The intelligent pharmacy system capable of supplementing medicines automatically comprises a medicine cabinet framework, an intelligent pharmacy, a medicine charging mechanical arm, a secondary cache medicine charging mechanism and a central processing unit. The intelligent pharmacy is mounted at a front cavity of the medicine cabinet framework and is used for storing different kinds of medicines and dispensing medicines; the medicine charging mechanical arm is used for transporting the medicines and comprises a medicine delivery groove bracket and a medicine delivery groove; the secondary cache medicine charging mechanism is used for putting the medicines to the medicine delivery groove and temporarily storing the medicines; the central processing unit is in communication connection with the intelligent pharmacy, the medicine charging mechanical arm and the secondary cache medicine charging mechanism and is used for automatically dispensing medicines according to the prescriptions and automatically charging medicines and complementing medicines when the intelligent pharmacy is lack of medicines. The intelligent pharmacy system capable of supplementing medicines automatically is capable of automatically dispensing medicines according to the prescriptions and automatically supplementing medicines to the deficient medicines in the intelligent pharmacy, is capable of lowering the working strength of the pharmacist, and has high automatic degree.

An intake to exit security system for high-volume pharmacies provides maximum security from tampering and assures accuracy. The system immediately assigns bar codes to shipments upon arrival and then tracks them through warehousing, bulk distribution, prescription dispensing and shipping to patients, hospitals and drugstores. Bar-coded lock neck devices secure bulk drug canisters to bar-coded dispensing machines at specified dispensing stations where the machines dispense drugs into pre-labeled prescription bottles according to prescription indicia on the labels. Bottles then undergo content analysis and certification before packaged and shipped to customers. A Ramon laser spectral analysis contrasts the bottle contents to a library of known spectral signatures of drugs, and the pharmacist is alerted to any detected difference. A simultaneously captured visual image of the pills enables the pharmacist visually to compare the contents to a library of known visual appearances of the drugs. Both analyses are recorded for prescriptions certified and forwarded to customers. Deviations are excised without disrupting flow of other prescriptions, and the system automatically reassigns an incorrectly filled prescription to another bottle which starts anew through the system. Full bottles of commonly used drugs and specialized containers for irregularly shaped objects, creams and ointments may be pre-filled and inventoried for later collation with prescription bottles at the packaging and shipping stage.

A semi-automated pill counting system (10) using digital imaging technology and image recognition software including a modified Hough Transform. The system (10) comprises a light source (12); a modified pharmacist's tray (14); a digital camera (16); and a personal computer (PC)(18), with the PC (18) storing and executing the image recognition software. A roughly estimated number of pills are placed upon the tray (16) and illuminated by the light source (12), whereafter a digital image of the pills is produced by the camera (16) and sent via an interface to the PC(18). The image recognition software counts the pills present in the image and displays a count result. Based upon the count result, the pharmacist adds or removes pills to the tray (14), as appropriate, to complete the process.

Medication errors happen frequently in hospital, home, and pharmacy environments. A medication verification and dispensing system provides protection against such errors. The apparatus includes a guide tube that receives a medication and imaging device(s) adjacent to the guide tube that take image(s) of the medication. The imaging devices(s) and light source(s) are oriented for capturing images that reveal markings, color, size, shape, etc., of the medication. A verification system uses a signature of the image to identify the medication or compares the image(s) to reference images to identify the medication and to a prescription record of the patient to ensure it is a correct medication, dose, amount, timing, etc., for administration. If the medication is correct, it is dispensed into a dispensing vessel that locks the medication inside, but unlocks when it recognizes a unique patient identifier worn by a patient that is a correct recipient for the medication.

Systems and methods may be provided for interactive virtual pharmacies. The systems and methods may include receiving, by a non-dispensing virtual pharmacy, an electronic prescription identifying at least a prescribed drug or product for a patient; obtaining, by the virtual pharmacy, a location preference of the patient; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, that the location preference of the patient indicates a current location associated with a patient mobile device; responsive to determining that the location preference indicates the current location, obtaining, by the virtual pharmacy, current location information of the mobile device; determining, by the virtual pharmacy, a plurality of dispensing pharmacies within proximity of the current location provided by the current location information, where the determined dispensing pharmacies are capable of filling the prescription for the patient; and delivering, in real-time from the virtual pharmacy to a mobile device, identification of at least a portion of the determined dispensing pharmacies to the mobile device.

A health care management and delivery system includes a hosted environment that provides health care treatment, diagnosis, and/or management. Health care providers are linked to one another and to a central network, which is linked to patient via the hosted environment. The patient interfaces with the hosted environment, which includes hosted algorithms approved by the provider network. The patient may also have medical devices that facilitate collection of vital sign data (e.g., digital thermometer) and administration of treatment (e.g., medicine dispensary). The health care provider can license the hosted environment to deliver health care services remotely based on globally standardized protocols. The hosted environment includes all patient health records and information which can be accessed globally. The hosted environment conducts data analytics to continuously improve and add new standardized protocols. Additionally, a virtual clinical research organization (CRO) is provided, such that treating physicians and patients can participate in clinical trials and registries and have access to new medical treatments and improved safety and outcomes.

The present invention provides a fresh method and system for truly automated online prescription purchases while providing improved security for issuing prescription simultaneously. Within the said online pharmacy network, both patients and doctors (M.D.s) are registered users. Doctors (M.D.s) will be verified by one of the authorities, such as the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), an organization that maintains a database of physician board certification information on more than 700,000 specialty physicians representing 36 medical specialties and 88 subspecialties. ABMS contains information primary sourced from 24 recognized medical specialty boards, not self reported by physicians, and is fully recognized by key healthcare accreditation organizations for credentialing purposes. Once a doctor's status is verified, he/she has the authority to issue online prescriptions or approve patients' online prescription requests within the said online pharmacy network. Patients who wish to purchase prescription online will register with the said online pharmacy network and provide personal information such as credit card numbers, email addresses, and etc. Once a patient is registered with the said online pharmacy network, he/she has the ability to request an online prescription that will be used towards prescription purchases within the said online pharmacy network. A patient can choose from diverse payment methods and delivery preferences without obtaining or dropping off a conventional paper prescription at a pharmacy that has a physical location for pick-up. The present invention will reduce the likelihood of prescription abuse by avoiding counterfeit paper prescriptions, improve the efficiency of the prescription purchase by automating the processing of prescription writing and dropping off, permitting patients who wish to order discounted prescription drug online without adopting the existing prescription fax-in or mail-in methods.