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Inventory control and prescription dispensing system

a control system and inventory technology, applied in the direction of burglar alarm mechanical actuation, locking devices, instruments, etc., can solve the problems of most prescriptions produced, series of potential errors, and many people experiencing the frustration of a long wait, so as to ensure the integrity and security of dispensed medications, maintain control, and ensure the integrity of dispensed medications.

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-11-12
DRAPER LONNIE
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention is a new system and method for prescribing, dispensing, managing inventory, and ensuring the integrity and security of dispensed medications. It is a self-contained dispensing system that stores commonly filled prescription drugs and is connected with various providers, banks, and credit card companies. The system allows for remote dispensing of medications while maintaining their security and integrity. It also allows for communications between patients and remote or local pharmacists and facilitates insurance and financial transactions. The system has increased storage density and random access capabilities, allowing for easy access to any individual product at any time."

Problems solved by technology

Many people have experienced the frustration of a long wait at a pharmacy simply to have a common prescription filled or refilled.
There are numerous problems with the present system used for the dispensing of prescription medicines.
This introduces a series of potential errors.
Second, most prescriptions are produced without the aid of checking against a known database of allegories and interactions.
Third, it primarily relies upon hand-written scripts that must be translated by a pharmacist.
This injects a first level of translation error into the process, and often requires a pharmacist to verify a prescription with the prescribing doctor.
This adds additional time and delay to the prescription filling process.
Fourth, it requires patients to obtain scripts from their doctors and then travel to their pharmacy to have the prescription filled.
Once at the pharmacy, patients may be subjected to delays and human error caused by pharmacists rushing to meet the accumulated demand.
However, these attempts suffer from one or more of the following shortcomings.
Thus, these known systems lack such a secure method of patient identification and introduce multiple points for such a code to be lost or otherwise compromised.
Second, because a pharmacist need not be present in remote dispensing situations, a remote dispenser must include multiple, redundant verifications to ensure that the prescribed medication, and only the prescribed medication is, in fact, dispensed.
If a product is mislabeled at the repackaging pharmacy, a single level of verification will not determine that the product is mislabeled, greatly increasing the possibility that an incorrect product is dispensed.
Likewise, if a product package is improperly filled (quantity too high or too low), these known systems have no ability to determine this condition.
Third, the present systems lack coordination between the upstream pharmaceutical suppliers and the remote dispensing devices, such that an excessive amount of time and labor is required to restock the dispenser and verify that stocked drugs have not reached an expiration date, or have otherwise had their quality compromised (e.g., through a temperature transient).
Fourth, the present systems lack a secure method of transferring prescription medications from a repackaging pharmacy to a remote dispensing device and from a remote dispensing device to repackaging pharmacies.
Fifth, the known systems do not provide for a high density of product storage and the ability to randomly access any product contained in the inventory of the remote dispensing device.
Further, this lack of random access significantly limits the number of different products that can be stocked in a remote dispenser.

Method used

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  • Inventory control and prescription dispensing system
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  • Inventory control and prescription dispensing system

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0025]The following detailed description, which references and incorporates the Figures, describes and illustrates one or more specific embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are offered not to limit but only to exemplify and teach the invention, and are shown and described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Thus, where appropriate to avoid obscuring the invention, the description may omit certain information known to those skilled in the art.

[0026]The inventory control and prescription management and dispensing system of the present invention provides for the safe, secure, and convenient dispensing of prescription medications in a variety of non-traditional settings, while providing safeguards to ensure that the proper medication is dispensed to the proper person, and that the quality and efficacy of the medication has been preserved and maintained. It provides a secure system for transferring prescription medications between...

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PUM

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Abstract

A prescription dispensing system including a dispensing vault for storing for storing and dispensing prescriptions, with the vault further including RFID, bar code, and other means for verifying the content and internal location of pre-filled prescriptions; a customer interface that uses customer biometrics to ID a customer to ensure that prescriptions are only dispensed to the correct person; a patient registration system in communication with the central computer system for collecting insurance, doctor, biometric, and other information to facilitate transactions; transport container that integrates into the dispensing vault and provides secure transportation from a pharmaceutical manufacturer to the dispensing vault.

Description

PRIORITY OF INVENTION[0001]This is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 11 / 507,093, and claims priority of invention under 35 USC 119(e) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60 / 709,645 filed Aug. 19, 2005.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present invention concerns inventory control systems and dispensing systems for, in particular, prescription drugs.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The number of prescriptions filled each year by pharmacies in the United States is fast increasing. This puts additional demands on pharmacies and pharmacists to fill prescriptions in a timely manner. Many people have experienced the frustration of a long wait at a pharmacy simply to have a common prescription filled or refilled.[0004]There are numerous problems with the present system used for the dispensing of prescription medicines. First, current practices rely upon the memory of the prescription provider as to the pharmaceutical to be prescribed. This introduces a series of potential errors. Secon...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B65D55/02G08B13/14B65D85/00
CPCG06F19/3462G07F17/0092G07F11/62G07F9/02G16H40/67G16H20/13
Inventor DRAPER, LONNIE
Owner DRAPER LONNIE
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