Patent ID: 9740830
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: B65B,G06Q,G16H

Claim:
1. A method to facilitate enhanced use of two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines for use with two or more corresponding long-term care facilities when in communication with a communications network and one or more remote long-term care facility pharmacy management servers, the method comprising: positioning two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines each to be located at one of two or more corresponding different long-term care facilities, each of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines also being positioned to package medications stored in each of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines into a plurality of disposable patient dosing packages, each of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines also being remote from, and in communication with, one or more long-term care facility pharmacy management servers associated with a long-term care facility remote pharmacy via a communications network, each of the two or more corresponding different long-term care facilities also being remote from the long-term care facility remote pharmacy, the one or more long-term care facility pharmacy management servers including non-transitory, tangible memory medium to store long-term care facility management computer programs, the long-term care facility management computer programs being operable on the one or more long-term care servers to perform the following steps: receiving one or more patient medication prescription orders, and selectively remote controlling functional operations of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines; the long-term care facility management computer programs also being configured and operable to perform the steps of: electronically verifying, at the long-term care facility remote pharmacy, the one or more patient medication prescription orders when positioned in communication with the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines, electronically comparing the one or more patient medication prescription orders with one or more of a patient medication profile, a patient diagnosis profile, and a drug interaction profile, determining, responsive to the one or more patient medication prescription orders, whether one or more drug conflicts exist; transmitting package and dispense instructions to one of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines via the communications network when no drug conflicts exist to thereby initiate packaging and dispensing of one or more disposable patient dosing packages at the one of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines; and packaging and dispensing, responsive to the transmitted package and dispense instructions, one or more individual doses of disposable patient dosing packages at the one of the two or more pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing machines.