Prescription Refill Alignment System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face inconvenience and potential health issues due to varying refill dates of multiple prescriptions, leading to missed doses and inefficient manual alignment processes by pharmacists.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for aligning refill dates of multiple prescriptions, determining eligibility, calculating alignment options, and scheduling refill dates to minimize customer burden and pharmacy visits, allowing for centralized distribution and delivery of aligned prescriptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If prescriptions are filled on the day they are written or shortly thereafter, then medication availability is ensured, but customers must visit the pharmacy multiple times at different dates to pick up refills
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations to determine optimal alignment dates and schedules refill dates in advance. By pre-calculating alignment dates that will bring multiple prescriptions into synchronization, the system allows customers to pick up all refills at a single predetermined date rather than making multiple trips at different times.
2Adaptability or versatility
If individual pharmacists manually align prescriptions, then prescription alignment can be achieved, but the process is time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service prescription alignment by automatically calculating alignment dates, determining eligible prescriptions, and scheduling refill dates without requiring pharmacist intervention. The system independently evaluates customer eligibility, identifies which prescriptions can be aligned, and generates the alignment schedule, freeing pharmacists from this time-consuming manual task.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of pharmacist-led prescription alignment with an automated computer-based system. The system uses algorithms to calculate alignment dates and schedule refills, substituting human manual calculation and coordination with automated computational processes that are faster and more efficient.
3Loss of time
If multiple prescriptions are aligned to the same refill date, then customer visits to the pharmacy are reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the prescription alignment process into distinct functional modules: eligibility determination, alignment date calculation, refill scheduling, and customer notification. By dividing the complex alignment task into separate manageable components, each handled by specific system modules, the overall complexity is reduced while still achieving the benefit of reduced pharmacy visits.
Data Source
AI summary
The method, system and user-interface allows alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions, such that the plurality of prescriptions all require refills on the same date, thus limiting the number of occasions on which a customer must visit the pharmacy to retrieve refills of the aligned prescriptions, and increasing the likelihood that the customer will comply with the recommended medication regimen.