412 results about "Drugs prescriptions" patented technology

Neural networks are constructed (programmed), trained on historical data, and used to predict any of (1) optimal patient dosage of a single drug, (2) optimal patient dosage of one drug in respect of the patient's concurrent usage of another drug, (3a) optimal patient drug dosage in respect of diverse patient characteristics, (3b) sensitivity of recommended patient drug dosage to the patient characteristics, (4a) expected outcome versus patient drug dosage, (4b) sensitivity of the expected outcome to variant drug dosage(s), (5) expected outcome(s) from drug dosage(s) other than the projected optimal dosage. Both human and economic costs of both optimal and sub-optimal drug therapies may be extrapolated from the exercise of various optimized and trained neural networks. Heretofore little recognized sensitivities-such as, for example, patient race in the administration of psychotropic drugs-are made manifest. Individual prescribing physicians employing deviant patterns of drug therapy may be recognized. Although not intended to prescribe drugs, nor even to set prescription drug dosage, the neural networks are very sophisticated and authoritative "helps" to physicians, and to physician reviewers, in answering "what if" questions.

A metered dose inhaler including a mechanism for agitating the medicament formulation prior to its separation in a measured dose, for administration to a mammal, including a human. The separated dose is a homogeneous mixture of prescribed medicine in a fluid carrier.

The drug compliance monitoring system provides a patient with a portable medication dispenser programmed with medication-taking data. The dispenser alerts the patient to take a dose of medication and gathers compliance data relating to the medication-taking data. The compliance data is accessible to a physician, or other caregiver, etc., via a network database.

A method of dispensing a prescription drug to a customer includes receiving a prescription for a particular customer from an authorized medical professional, choosing from an inventory of drugs a prescription drug to fill the prescription, creating a finished prescription by filling the prescription with the chosen prescription drug, and placing the finished prescription in a dispenser. The dispenser is connected to a computer, which identifies the finished prescription and controls the dispenser to dispense the finished prescription to the particular customer.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a benefits contract includes an agreement to provide a plurality of benefits for at least one person. The agreement provides for an account including a plurality of units. Each unit is associated with multiple benefits. For example each unit may be associated with multiple benefits such as life insurance, health insurance, supplemental health insurance, long-term care insurance, short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, prescription drug insurance, a plurality of income payments, a withdrawal benefit, an annuity, a property and casualty benefit, or other similar benefits. The agreement is such that a person associated with the benefits contract may choose to exercise a particular unit, or fraction thereof, to receive only one of the three or more benefits; and such that the benefits account (or plurality of units) may be purchased tax-free using funds from a tax-deferred retirement account.

A prescription drug storage and dispensing arrangement allows prescriptions stored, as they are filled, in a cabinet for customer pickup. The prescriptions are placed into receptacles such as pharmacy envelopes and placed on carriers, e.g., hanger bars, that are transported on a conveyor within the cabinet. The conveyor brings one carrier at a time to an access opening for loading or retrieving of a pharmacy envelope. In one embodiment the hanger bars are rods with spaced annular recesses defining bag positions. Scissors-action arms may be used to suspend the hanger rods from the conveyor webs. The identity of each pharmacy envelope and the location of the respective bar on said conveyor and the bag position are stored in a computer, with information identifying the customer order. When the customer arrives to pick up the prescription, the customer data is entered and the conveyor automatically moves to position the respective hanger bar at the access opening. A laser and mirror arrangement can be used to identify the specific bag location. This arrangement has applications for other customer orders or merchandise. Another embodiment has carrier trays for dispensing punch cards.

A medication dispensing device comprising a housing having an enclosure configured to provide direct access to a current medication container storing medication to be dispensed. The device includes a plurality of bins, each bin configured to receive and store therein a medication container within a bin seat. Additionally, the device includes a scale assembly, within the housing, configured to automatically lift the medication container from the bin seat, weigh the medication container at least once and lower the medication container into the bin seat during a weighing cycle.

The subject invention provides systems and methods for monitoring prescription medications. In particular, systems and methods are provided for monitoring patient compliance with a given prescribed regimen as well as monitoring the origins of a prescription drug. The subject invention provides a central computer and a portable device, wherein the portable device includes at least one sensor for detecting a target marker. The target marker of the invention represents either the presence of a specific prescribed medication or identify the proper origins of a medication.

The disclosed system (System) was created to address many issues related the difficulty of maintaining control of pharmaceutical samples. By leveraging state of art technologies the System revolutionizes the way pharmaceutical companies disburse and track all samples to both the pharmaceutical sales representative and the licensed practitioner. With the advent of handheld computing and wireless technologies, the system process also leverages inventory management and bar code scanning, thus creating an overall process that addresses many needs.

Unfilled prescriptions are submitted to a registry comprising pre-qualified pharmacies for a “reverse auction” in which the pharmacies bid for the opportunity to fill the prescription. The pharmacies are allowed to bid based on price and / or offering ancillary services. The auction may also be used to bid on supplying specified pharmaceutical cognitive services. The method may also include obtaining cost comparisons with generic substitutes or similar alternative pharmaceutical products. The system may further comprise automatically requesting a review by the prescriber for a list of similar substitutes or prior-authorization for third-party payers. The winner of the reverse auction is selected by the customer.

The drug compliance monitoring system provides a patient with a portable medication dispenser programmed with medication-taking data. The dispenser alerts the patient to take a dose of medication and gathers compliance data relating to the medication-taking data. The compliance data is accessible to a physician, or other caregiver, etc., via a network database.

An integrated health savings account system which provides electronic (real-time or batch) interconnection between a health plan claims administrator and an individual healthcare spending account. An accountholder presents an identification card to a healthcare provider or pharmacy in order to receive treatment or obtain prescription drugs. A claim for reimbursement of healthcare expenses is sent to a health plan claims administrator (healthcare) or a pharmacy benefits manager (prescription drugs) for adjudication and determination of any deductibles. The adjudicated claim is sent to an individual healthcare spending account custodian / trustee for automatic determination of whether the remaining funds in the accountholder's individual healthcare spending account can cover the proposed claim. An indication of whether the amount of funds can cover the claim (in whole or in part) is transmitted back to the claims administrator or pharmacy benefits manager, and, if requested, the actual funds are transmitted in real-time or as part of a batch process. The individual healthcare spending account may be integrated with an investment account whereby an accountholder may invest excess funds (i.e., over a predefined minimum balance), for example, in mutual funds.

A patient care management system for assisting a physician in monitoring drug use by a patient. The system receives drug dispensation data for a drug, on the basis of which the system determines drug supply availability data. The drug supply availability data is indicative of periods of time during which the drug was available in non-duplicate supply, or in oversupply, or in insufficient supply. The periods of time are displayed with respect to a common time base. Each degree of supply availability is visually displayed via a graphical user interface using, e.g., a color coded scheme, so as to be distinguishable by a user. This allows a physician to rapidly assess over-consumption or compliance problems. Plural drugs may be monitored on a single display screen. The system may also be adapted to allow an prescribing physician to assess refill compliance, hospitalization periods and prescription drug costs.

A prescription drug monitoring / dispensing device ensures prescription medication housed within is taken only as directed, and not abused or sold on the streets. The device serves as an intricately guarded casing that may only dispense the preprogrammed dosage amounts at preset times, as directed by a prescribing physician. The device may include a housing having a biometric finger scanner and a display screen in communication therewith, a loading tube capable of holding a pill therein, a rotating hub in communication with the loading tube, a rotating disc in communication with the loading tube, and an exit port capable of dispensing the pill out from the housing.

An automatic prescription drug dispenser including a remote dispenser, a prescription entry system, and a communications network. The remote dispenser transmits and receives information from the communications network and dispenses prescription drugs to the patient. The prescription entry system transmits and receives information from the communications network and provides an input system for the doctor to electronically enter individual prescriptions for each patient. The communications network coordinates communications between the doctor, insurance carrier, and the remote dispenser. The remote dispenser stores, retrieves, and labels prescription drug and over-the-counter products directly to patients through a remote automated vending machine, a remote dispenser, a prescription entry system, and a communications network.

Systems and methods for tracking prescription drug inventory of a pharmacy at a switch. Embodiments of the invention include receiving, at a switch, a prescription claim transaction from a pharmacy system, where the prescription claim transaction indicates an amount of a drug, and transmitting the prescription claim transaction to a payer system for adjudication. An adjudicated response for the prescription claim is then received from the payer system, and an inventory amount associated with the drug maintained by the switch is updated by the switch. When a determination is made that the inventory amount has met a threshold value, a message is transmitting indicating that the inventory amount has met the threshold value. In some embodiments of the invention the message is sent to the pharmacy or directly to a supplier as part of an order for additional inventory of the drug.

Techniques for reducing non-compliance of medication use are described. The techniques involve generating and storing an identifier for a specific dosage instance of a specific patient, and creating a package that includes a mechanism for conveying the identifier. Once the package is created, a set of one or more medications that are prescribed to be taken by the specific patient at the specific dosage instance are placed in the package. The set of medications within the package in a manner that prevents the identifier from being perceived from the mechanism until the package is opened. Once opened, the identifier is perceived and communicated back to an automated compliance system.

The present invention is directed to community based managed health kiosks and prescription drug dispensing systems, and more particularly to facilitating automated drug dispensement by a kiosk system following authorization by a remotely located health care professional monitoring a patient via the kiosk system.

A system and method for control of prescription drug packaging and dispensing machines located in an in-patient health care facility including centralized control and enhanced communication between system components. Delay and errors in processing item data in the prescription dispensing system are reduced by using concise ID data incorporated into each canister memory chip and storing canister contents data elsewhere. Canisters are configured in a pharmacy using interchangeable parts. Data being processed is synchronized by a combination of user tokens (who), data identifiers (what), and unique Ids for the entities in the system (where). The foregoing combination enables substantial efficiency improvements and error reduction.

An automated system and method for filing prescription drug claims which includes a point of service terminal which accepts a payment system access card for payment for a purchase of a service and / or product by a customer, where at least part of the purchase is reimbursable by a third party payor. The point of service terminal creates a purchase transaction and during the transaction electronically captures pertinent claim information including a claim authorization or approval number. The point of service terminal uses the pertinent claim information to update a claim records database. The claim records database is accessed by the third party payor and the pertinent claim information is validated. The applicable reimbursement amount, which is determined by the third party payor, is issued as a credit to the customer payment card account or a customer bank account or as a check.

The disclosed method and system may be used for creating advanced protection means for various categories of documents (e.g. bank notes, identity documents, certificates, checks, diploma, travel documents, tickets) and valuable products (e.g optical disks, CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, prescription drugs, products with affixed labels, watches) hereinafter called “secure items”. Secure items are authenticated by shape level lines. The shape level lines become apparent when superposing a base layer comprising sets of lines and a revealing layer comprising a line grating. One of the two layers is a modified layer which embeds a shape elevation profile generated from an initial, preferably bilevel, motif shape image (e.g. typographic characters, words of text, symbols, logo, ornament). In the case of an authentic document, the outline of the revealed shape level lines are visual offset lines of the boundaries of the initial bilevel motif shape image. In addition, the intensities, respectively colors of the revealed shape level lines are the same as the intensities, respectively colors of the lines forming the base layer sets of lines. By modifying the relative superposition phase of the revealing layer on top of the base layer or vice-versa (e.g. by a translation or a rotation), one may observe shape level lines moving dynamically between the initial bilevel motif shape boundaries and shape foreground centers, respectively background centers, thereby growing and shrinking. In the case that these characteristic features are present, the secure item is accepted as authentic. Otherwise the item is rejected as suspect. Pairs of base and revealing layers may be individualized by applying to both the base and the revealing layer a geometric transformation. Thanks to the availability of a large number of geometric transformations and transformation parameters, one may create documents having their own individualized document protection. The invention also proposes a computing and delivery system operable for delivering base and revealing layers according to security document or valuable product information content. The system may automatically generate upon request an individually protected secure item and its corresponding authentication means.

A method of dispensing a prescription drug to a customer includes receiving a prescription for a particular customer from an authorized medical professional, choosing from an inventory of drugs a prescription drug to fill the prescription, creating a finished prescription by filling the prescription with the chosen prescription drug, and placing the finished prescription in a dispenser. The dispenser is connected to a computer, which identifies the finished prescription and controls the dispenser to dispense the finished prescription to the particular customer.

One embodiment of the present invention relates to systems and methods for detecting harmful and / or hazardous ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction, interfere with the effectiveness of a prescription drug, exacerbate symptoms associated with a chronic illness, and / or cause another undesired reaction.

A system for managing administration of prescription drugs supplied by a medication supplier to a health care facility, comprising a central application server site for maintaining Medical Administration Records (MARs) pertaining to residents in the health care facility and having data communication paths to the medication supplier and the health care facility, and a plurality of portable devices for use in the health care facility for accessing and displaying the MARs at point of care of the residents and initiating order of the prescription drugs from the pharmacy via the central server site.

While a pharmacist may know of other medications approved by the FDA for the same medical condition, the pharmacist typically does not know what the therapeutically equivalent dose of those products is when compared to the originally prescribed item In addition to this lack of equivalent dosage information, the pharmacist also is unable to determine if any of those other FDA approved items will save the consumer any money. Accordingly, embodiments of the invention can provide pharmacists and / or consumers with equivalent dosage information as well as pricing information for the equivalent dosage. Accordingly, based at least in part on this information, consumers may have an incentive to and may decide to purchase to another prescription drug, thereby shifting market share to a preferred prescription drug or pharmaceutical manufacturer or provider.

A system and method for determining an updated disease classification code for a patient within a managed care population consisting of (i) a patient condition processing unit for receiving a plurality of patient-related data, (ii) a diagnosis repository database coupled to the patient condition processing unit for storing a preestablished disease classification code for the patient, and (iii) a disease classification code application tool designed to convert medical chart data of the patient into an observed disease classification code for the patient wherein the observed disease classification code is forwarded to the patient condition processing unit and stored in a diagnosis repository database as the updated disease classification code. The updated disease classification code can then be forwarded to the treating physician, reimbursement agency, or any other agency requiring such data. The patient-related data can consist of analog or electronic information relating to patient descriptions, including diagnosis, symptoms, exacerbations and treatment made by the treating physician, patient enrollment data, patient enrollment data, laboratory data, prescription drug data, insurance claims data, data from a diagnostic medial device (such as a heart monitor), etc.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for automating insurance underwriting by integrating information from multiple online databases and creating decision making advice useful to insurance underwriters. One system includes a client, database, and server. The client allows an underwriter to enter applicant information, enter customized risk modifiers, and receive an underwriting decision. The database provides additional applicant information. This information can include one or more of prescription drug history, credit history, motor vehicle records, and geocentric mortality risk. The server obtains the applicant information, calculates the applicant's risk, makes an underwriting decision. Another system calculates a prescription drug risk for an applicant from pharmacy benefits management data, drug risk category data, and application data. Another system calculates a geocentric mortality risk for an applicant from census data, mortality data, credit information, and application data. Preset external modifiers are added to systems and methods of calculating risk in order to allow the underwriter to customize the risk results.

An apparatus, a method, and a computer program product are provided. The apparatus includes at least one memory including computer program code, and at least one processor. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to receive a request to generate a prior authorization form for a prescription drug, and select the prior authorization form from a plurality of prior authorization forms based on the request. The prior authorization form is selected based on at least one of a user search result and a standardized transaction. The at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to transmit the selected prior authorization form to a user so that the user can complete and submit the prior authorization form to the health plan and receive a determination on the request.

The present invention relates to methods and systems for automated processing and assessment of an insurance disclosure. One embodiment of the invention can comprise an automated disclosure processing application engine. The automated disclosure processing application engine can be adapted to receive health care-related information. Health care-related information, also known as a “disclosure,” can include, but is not limited to, a medical claim, a precertification notice, prescription drug history, or any other information related to a medical or insurance claim for reimbursement or payment. Health care-related information can be received at any time, such as in real time, a predefined basis, daily, or on a less or more frequent basis. Health care-related information can be stored in a database, such as a AWAC® database. A portion of the health care-related information can be compared to at least one financial parameter. A portion of the health care-related information can also be compared to at least one clinical parameter. An output can be generated based in part on either the comparison with at least the financial parameter or the clinical parameter.