Abstract:
A system and method facilitate alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions, such that each of the plurality of prescriptions requires a refill 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 prescribed medication regimen. The system and method facilitate the alignment of the refill dates while complying with one or more rules governing the adjudication of the prescriptions.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure generally relates to a process for aligning fill dates for a plurality of prescription medications. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Generally, customers fill prescription medication orders (hereinafter, “prescriptions”) on the day on which they are prescribed, or shortly thereafter. Because prescriptions may be written and filled at different times, and for different quantities of medication, it is common for a customer with multiple prescriptions to run out of the prescribed medications at varying times. Ordering and picking up refills for the various prescriptions at different times may be an inconvenience for a customer, for example, where the store location is not convenient, where a customer depends on others to pick up the prescription, or where a customer&#39;s schedule does not coincide with the pharmacy schedule. Additionally, many customers may be unable to remember multiple dates on which they must order or pick up prescription refills. This may affect the customer&#39;s health, as it may lead to missed or skipped doses of medication. Mail order and call-center-based services mitigate or alleviate some of these problems, but it is still incumbent on customers to remember to order the refills of their prescriptions. Various rules promulgated by third-parties, such as insurance companies or regulatory agencies, place restrictions on the periods during which a pharmacy may refill prescriptions or on the amount of medication that the pharmacy may dispense in a given time period, further complicating the situation. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     A disclosed method quickly and efficiently generates a prescription alignment plan, thereby enabling a system implementing the method to align the refill dates of a plurality of prescriptions associated with a customer, which alignment decreases the burden on the customer of remembering to refill each prescription, and decreases the frequency with which the customer must receive or pick up the various refilled prescriptions. 
     The disclosed method complies with applicable regulations, the rules of any third-party payors, and the individual prescriptions associated with the customer. A system implementing the method receives a selection of a plurality of eligible prescriptions to be aligned. For each selected prescription, the system determines how much of the prescribed medication the customer has or should have remaining. If adjudication rules apply to the prescription and/or the customer, the system also determines, for each prescription, a next adjudication date. The system determines an alignment adjudication date by selecting the latest of the next adjudication dates and, optionally, adding an adjudication window buffer to the latest of the next adjudication dates. The system determines the final alignment date, optionally adding additional time for processing of the aligned prescriptions. The system also calculates short-fill parameters for any prescriptions for which the customer would exhaust the amount of medication remaining prior to the calculated alignment date. The aligned prescriptions and, where necessary, short fills, are delivered to the customer prior to the alignment date. 
     In some embodiments, the method may include marking a prescription where the delivery of a required short fill for a medication cannot occur before the customer runs out of the medication and/or when the pharmacy cannot short fill a prescription. If a short fill is not possible the system acting in accordance with the method fills the prescription with a full fill and the method updates the alignment parameters accordingly. 
     In other embodiments, the method may include recalculating the amount of medication supplied to the customer in a short fill if the customer declines an alternate delivery method in an instance where the delivery of the short fill for a medication cannot occur before the customer runs out of medication using the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. A next adjudication date is calculated for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, and the latest of the calculated next adjudication dates is selected as a latest adjudication date. The method also includes calculating an alignment adjudication date and a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the prescribed medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription requiring a short fill, the method includes calculating a short-fill day supply, determining a date by which the customer will receive the short fill, and determining whether the customer will exhaust the remaining day supply of the prescribed medication before the date by which the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription. If the customer will receive the required short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the prescribed medication, the method includes calculating a short-fill quantity for the prescription. Additionally, the method includes marking any prescription for which a short fill is required, but for which the short fill is not possible. If none of the prescriptions are marked, the method includes filling and providing to the customer the short-fill quantity for any prescription requiring a short fill, adjudicating each of the selected prescriptions on or after the alignment adjudication date, filling each of the selected prescriptions, and providing each of the medications corresponding to the selected prescriptions to the customer by the final alignment date. If one or more of the prescriptions are marked, the method includes recalculating the next adjudication date for each of the selected prescriptions, selecting the recalculated next adjudication date that occurs on the latest date as the latest adjudication date, recalculating the alignment adjudication date, and recalculating the final alignment date. Also, if one or more prescriptions are marked the method further includes determining, with the recalculated adjudication dates, whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the recalculated final alignment date, recalculating the short-fill day supply for any prescription requiring a short fill, adjudicating each of the selected prescriptions on or after the recalculated alignment adjudication date, filling each of the prescriptions, and providing each of the medications corresponding to the selected prescriptions to the customer by the recalculated final alignment date. Calculating the final alignment date may include adding one or more days to the alignment adjudication date for processing the prescriptions and providing the medications to the customer. Calculating a next adjudication date may include determining a number of days corresponding to a percentage of a prescribed day supply for the medication. Determining a date by which the customer will receive the short fill for a prescription requiring a short fill may include adding one or more days to the next adjudication date for the prescription for processing the prescription and providing the medication to the customer. Providing each of the medications to the customer may include providing the medications to the customer by a shipping service or a postal service. In some embodiments, short fills are not adjudicated. In some embodiments, the customer comprises two or more people, and where the customer comprises two or more people, the two or more people may be members of the same family or may be members of the same household. Where the prescription is provided to the customer by a shipping service or a postal service, the method may include determining whether the customer will receive a required short fill for the prescription prior to exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication and, if not, requesting the customer to pick up the short fill of the prescription from a retail location, indicating the retail pickup of the short fill of the prescription if the customer agrees to retail pickup, and recalculating the short-fill day supply if the customer does not agree to retail pickup. Providing to the customer the short fill quantity for any prescription requiring a short fill may include providing the short fill to the customer by a preferred delivery method when, using the preferred delivery method, the customer will receive the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication, and evaluating an alternate delivery method where using the preferred delivery method would result in the customer exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication before receiving the short fill. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity for the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method may also include providing to the customer by the final alignment date each of the medications corresponding to the selected prescriptions. Calculating the final alignment date may include complying with at least one adjudication rule set by a third-party payor, which may include calculating a next adjudication date for each of the selected prescriptions, selecting the next adjudication date occurring on the latest date as a latest adjudication date, calculating an alignment adjudication date, and selecting the final alignment date using the alignment adjudication date. Selecting the final alignment date using the alignment adjudication date may include adding one or more days to the alignment adjudication date for processing the prescriptions and providing the medications to the customer. Calculating a next adjudication date may include determining a number of days corresponding to a percentage of a prescribed day supply for the medication. In some embodiments, filling and providing to the customer any required short fill comprises selecting one or more of the required short fills and providing the selected one or more short fills to the customer without adjudicating the one or more short fills. The one or more selected short fills may be selected because adjudicating the one or more selected short fills would delay the final alignment date. In some embodiments, short fills are not adjudicated. In some embodiments, the customer is two or more people, and in embodiments where the customer is two or more people, the two or more people are members of the same family or are members of the same household. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity for the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method also includes determining a date by which the customer will receive each required short fill, and using the date by which the customer will receive the required short fill to calculate one or both of the short-fill day supply and the short-fill quantity of the medication corresponding to the prescription if the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. Determining a date by which the customer will receive the short fill may include adding one or more days to the next adjudication date for the prescription for processing the prescription and providing the medication to the customer. Where providing prescriptions to the customer includes a method involving lead time, filling and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill quantity or the short-fill day supply, may include determining, for any prescription that requires a short fill, whether the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before the customer exhausts the remaining day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription. For any prescription for which the customer will not receive the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription, the method may include requesting the customer to pick up the short fill of the prescription from a retail location, marking the short fill of the prescription for retail pickup if the customer agrees to retail pickup, recalculating one or both of the short-fill day supply and the short-fill quantity if the customer does not agree to retail pickup, and determining whether any prescriptions are marked. Filling and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill quantity or the short-fill day supply for the prescription, may include delivering to the customer at a retail location any prescriptions marked for retail pickup. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity of the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method further includes determining a date by which the customer will receive each required short fill, and using the date by which the customer will receive the required short fill to calculate one or both of the short-fill quantity and the short-fill day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription if the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. Additionally, the method includes marking any prescription for which a short fill is required, but for which the customer cannot receive required the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. If one or more prescriptions are marked the method includes updating the next adjudication date for each of the selected prescriptions, recalculating the final alignment date, determining, with the recalculated adjudication dates, whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the recalculated final alignment date, and recalculating one or both of the short-fill day supply and the short-fill quantity for any prescription requiring a short fill. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity of the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method further includes determining a date by which the customer will receive each required short fill, and using the date by which the customer will receive the required short fill to calculate one or both of the short-fill quantity and the short-fill day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription if the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. Where providing prescriptions to the customer includes a method involving lead time, filling and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill quantity or the short-fill day supply, may include determining, for any prescription that requires a short fill, whether the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before the customer exhausts the remaining day supply of the medication. For any prescription for which the customer will not receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication, the method may include requesting the customer to pick up the short fill of the prescription from a retail location, marking the short fill of the prescription for retail pickup if the customer agrees to retail pickup, recalculating the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity if the customer does not agree to retail pickup, and determining whether any prescriptions are marked. The method also includes, for prescriptions marked for retail pickup, delivering the corresponding short fill to the customer at a retail location. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity for the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method further includes determining a date by which the customer will receive each required short fill, and using the date by which the customer will receive the required short fill to calculate one or both of the short-fill day supply and the short-fill quantity of the medication corresponding to the prescription if the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. The method also includes determining whether each short fill is possible using a preferred delivery method, and determining for each short fill that is possible with the preferred delivery method, whether the customer will receive the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. For each required short fill that is not possible using the preferred delivery method, and for each required short fill that is possible using the preferred delivery method but for which the customer will not receive the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication, the method includes determining whether the short fill is possible using an alternate delivery method. For any short fill that is not possible using the alternate delivery method, and for any short fill that the customer does not want to use the alternate delivery method, the method includes marking the short fill as not possible. For each required short fill that is possible by the alternate delivery method and for which the customer wants to use the alternate delivery method, the method includes determining whether the customer will receive the short fill before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. For each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, the method includes determining whether a short fill is required so that the customer does not exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date. For each prescription that requires a short fill, the method includes calculating one or both of a short-fill day supply and a short-fill quantity, filling the short fill based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity, and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill day supply or the short-fill quantity of the medication. The method also includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. The method further includes determining a date by which the customer will receive each required short fill, and using the date by which the customer will receive the required short fill to calculate one or both of the short-fill quantity and the short-fill day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription if the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication. Where providing prescriptions to the customer includes a first method involving lead time, filling and providing to the customer any required short fill, based on either the short-fill quantity or the short-fill day supply, may include determining, for any prescription that requires a short fill, whether the customer will receive the short fill for the prescription before the customer exhausts the remaining day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription. The method may also include evaluating an alternate method for providing the medications to the customer if using the first method involving lead time will result in the customer exhausting the remaining day supply of the medication corresponding to the prescription before receiving the short fill for the prescription. 
     In one embodiment, a system facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The system includes a network, a computer coupled to the network, and a database coupled to the computer. The system also includes an alignment engine for determining parameters associated with the alignment of the plurality of prescriptions. The alignment engine is configured to receive a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align. The alignment engine is further operative to calculate a final alignment date and a short-fill parameter. The alignment engine may be configured to determine a latest adjudication date from a plurality of calculated next adjudication dates, in compliance with a rule determined by a third-party payor or a regulatory agency. Additionally, the alignment engine may be configured to retrieve information from the database and calculate a parameter required to determine compliance with the rule determined by the third-party payor or the regulatory agency. The rule may be an adjudication rule, and calculating a parameter required to determine compliance with the rule may include calculating a percent-consumption period. Additionally, calculating a short-fill parameter may include calculating a short-fill day supply, calculating a short-fill quantity, or calculating a short-fill delivery date. 
     In one embodiment, a method facilitates alignment of refill dates associated with a plurality of prescriptions for a customer to a single alignment date. The method includes receiving a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align and determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, a remaining day supply indicative of a number of days of medication the customer has remaining. The method also includes calculating a final alignment date. The method also includes determining, for each of the plurality of selected prescriptions, whether the customer will exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the final alignment date, and filling and providing one intermediate fill of the medication for each of the selected prescriptions for which the customer will exhaust the remaining day supply of the medication before the alignment date. The method further includes filling each of the selected prescriptions. For each of the medications for which the one intermediate fill is provided, the one intermediate fill may be a short fill, a full fill, or an overfill. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates a block diagram of a computer network and system on which an exemplary prescription alignment system may operate in accordance with the described embodiments; 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates a block diagram of a computer server and computer terminals on which an exemplary prescription alignment system may operate in accordance with the described embodiments; 
         FIG. 1C  depicts exemplary data in a database depicted in either of  FIG. 1A  or  FIG. 1B , in accordance with the described embodiments; 
         FIG. 2A  illustrates an exemplary process for aligning the refill dates of a plurality of prescriptions to a calculated date in accordance with the described embodiments; 
         FIG. 2B  illustrates an exemplary process for aligning the refill dates of a plurality of prescriptions to an arbitrary date, in accordance with the described embodiments; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary process for finding a latest adjudication date in accordance with the exemplary process illustrated in  FIGS. 2A and 2B ; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary process for calculating a plurality of short-fill parameters in accordance with the exemplary process illustrated in  FIGS. 2A and 2B ; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary process for determining a short-fill delivery method in accordance with the exemplary process illustrated in  FIG. 4 ; and 
         FIG. 6  depicts a timeline illustrating the exemplary alignment of two prescriptions in accordance with the described embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIGS. 1A ,  1 B, and  1 C illustrate various aspects of an exemplary architecture implementing a prescription alignment system  100 . In particular,  FIG. 1A  illustrates a block diagram of the exemplary prescription alignment system  100 . The high-level architecture includes both hardware and software applications, as well as various data communications channels for communicating data between the various hardware and software components. The prescription alignment system  100  may be roughly divided into front-end components  102  and back-end components  104 . The front-end components  102  are primarily disposed within a retail network  110  including one or more pharmacies  112 . The pharmacies  112  may be located, by way of example rather than limitation, in separate geographic locations from each other, including different areas of the same city, different cities, or even different states. The front-end components  102  comprise a number of pharmacy workstations  128 . The pharmacy workstations  128  are local computers located in the various pharmacies  112  throughout the retail network  110  and executing various pharmacy management-related applications. Pharmacists and other pharmacy personnel, referred to collectively herein simply as “pharmacists” (not shown), use the pharmacy workstations  128  to access customer information, enter new prescriptions, access insurance and payment information and so forth. Each of the pharmacies  112  may be, for example, an in-store retail pharmacy, an on-line pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy, a long-term care pharmacy, a workplace/on-site pharmacy, or a specialty pharmacy. Retail network  110  may also include one or more warehouses or central-filling facilities  118 . The warehouses or central-filling facilities  118  may distribute medications to the various retail pharmacies  112  in the retail network  110 , or may distribute medications directly to customers. Of course, the pharmacy  112  may also be a stand-alone pharmacy  116  (i.e., not part of any retail network or chain). 
     As used herein, the term medication may be read to mean any substance that may be distributed by a pharmacy or by a pharmacist, including those substances that may be obtained without a prescription (i.e., “over the counter” substances such as vitamins). Thus, while the embodiments described herein contemplate the alignment of refills related to prescription medications, other substances (e.g., nutritional supplements, over-the-counter medications, etc.) may also be dispensed with one or more prescription medications. The refill of these other substances may likewise be aligned with one or more prescription medications. Of course, the methods described herein may also be used to align refills of two or more non-prescription substances with each other, even if none of the two or more non-prescription substances is aligned with a prescription medication. 
     Returning now to  FIG. 1A , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the front-end components  102  could also comprise a plurality of facility servers  126  and client device terminals  128 A disposed at the plurality of pharmacies  112 , instead of, or in addition to, a plurality of pharmacy workstations  128 . Each of the pharmacies  112  may include one or more facility servers  126  that may facilitate communications between the client device terminals  128 A and the back-end components  104  via a digital network  130 , described below, and may store information for a plurality of customers/employees/accounts/etc. associated with each facility. Of course, a local digital network  184  may also operatively connect each of the workstations  128  to the facility server  126 . Unless otherwise indicated, any discussion of the workstations  128  also refers to the facility servers  126  and the client device terminals  128 A, and vice versa. Moreover, environments other than the pharmacies  112 , such as the kiosks, call centers, and Internet interface terminals contemplated in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/781,926, entitled “System and Method of Prescription Alignment,” filed Jul. 23, 2007, may employ the workstations  128 , the client device terminals  128 A, and the servers  126 . As used herein, the term “pharmacy” refers to any of these points of contact (e.g., call centers, kiosks, Internet interface terminals, etc.) in addition to the retail pharmacies  112 , warehouses  116 , etc. described above. 
     The front-end components  102  communicate with the back-end components  104  via the digital network  130 . The digital network  130  may be a proprietary network, a secure public Internet, a virtual private network or some other type of network, such as dedicated access lines, plain ordinary telephone lines, satellite links, combinations of these, etc. Where the digital network  130  comprises the Internet, data communication may take place over the digital network  130  via an Internet communication protocol. The back-end components  104  include a prescription alignment central processing system  140 . The prescription alignment central processing system  140  may include one or more computer processors  162  adapted and configured to execute various software applications and components of the prescription alignment system  100 , in addition to other software applications, such as a medication management system. The central processing system  140  further includes a database  146 . The database  146  is adapted to store data related to the operation of the pharmacies  112  and the prescription alignment system  100 . The central processing system  140  may access data stored in the database  146  when executing various functions and tasks associated with the operation of the prescription alignment system  100 . 
     Although the prescription alignment system  100  is shown to include one prescription alignment central processing system  140  and four pharmacies  112 , it should be understood that different numbers of computers and pharmacies may be utilized. For example, the digital network  130  may interconnect the system  100  to a plurality of included central processing systems  140  and hundreds of included pharmacies  112  within the retail network  110 . According to the disclosed example, this configuration may provide several advantages, such as, for example, enabling near real-time uploads and downloads of information as well as periodic uploads and downloads of information. This provides for a primary backup of all the information generated in the process of updating and accumulating pharmacy data. Alternatively, some of the pharmacies  112 , such as the pharmacy  116 , may be separate from the digital network  130 , storing the necessary data locally on the facility server  126  and/or the workstations  128 . 
       FIG. 1A  also depicts one possible embodiment of the central processing system  140 . The central processing system  140  may have a controller  155  operatively connected to the database  146  via a link  156  connected to an input/output (I/O) circuit  166 . It should be noted that, while not shown, additional databases may be linked to the controller  155  in a known manner. 
     The controller  155  includes a program memory  160 , the processor  162  (may be called a microcontroller or a microprocessor), a random-access memory (RAM)  164 , and the input/output (I/O) circuit  166 , all of which are interconnected via an address/data bus  165 . It should be appreciated that although only one microprocessor  162  is shown, the controller  155  may include multiple microprocessors  162 . Similarly, the memory of the controller  155  may include multiple RAMs  164  and multiple program memories  160 . Although the I/O circuit  166  is shown as a single block, it should be appreciated that the I/O circuit  166  may include a number of different types of I/O circuits. The RAM(s)  164  and the program memories  160  may be implemented as semiconductor memories, magnetically readable memories, and/or optically readable memories, for example. A link  135  may operatively connect the controller  155  to the digital network  130  through the I/O circuit  166 . 
       FIG. 1B  depicts one possible embodiment of the front-end components  102  located in one or more of the pharmacies  112  from  FIG. 1A . Although the following description addresses the design of the pharmacies  112 , it should be understood that the design of one or more of the pharmacies  112  may be different than the design of others of the pharmacies  112 . Also, each of the pharmacies  112  may have various different structures and methods of operation. It should also be understood that while the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1B  illustrates some of the components and data connections that may be present in a pharmacy  112 , it does not illustrate all of the data connections that may be present in a pharmacy  112 . For exemplary purposes, one design of a pharmacy is described below, but it should be understood that numerous other designs may be utilized. 
     Each of the pharmacies  112  has one or more pharmacy workstations  128  and/or a facility server  126 . The digital network  184  operatively connects the facility server  126  to the plurality of workstations  128  and/or to the client device terminals  128 A. The digital network  184  may be a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or any other type of digital network readily known to those persons skilled in the art. The digital network  130  may operatively connect the facility server  126 , the workstations  128 , and/or the client device terminals  128 A to the central processing system  140 . 
     Each workstation  128 , client device terminal  128 A, or facility server  126  includes a controller  170 . Similar to the controller  155  from  FIG. 1A , the controller  170  includes a program memory  172 , a microcontroller or a microprocessor (MP)  174 , a random-access memory (RAM)  176 , and an input/output (I/O) circuit  180 , all of which are interconnected via an address/data bus  178 . In some embodiments, the controller  170  may also include, or otherwise be communicatively connected to, a database  182 . The database  182  (and/or the database  146  of  FIG. 1A ) includes data such as customer records  192 , insurer information records  194 , and other rules  199  and miscellaneous information  193  (as depicted in  FIG. 1C ). As discussed with reference to the controller  155 , it should be appreciated that although  FIG. 1B  depicts only one microprocessor  174 , the controller  170  may include multiple microprocessors  174 . Similarly, the memory of the controller  170  may include multiple RAMs  176  and multiple program memories  172 . Although the figure depicts the I/O circuit  180  as a single block, the I/O circuit  180  may include a number of different types of I/O circuits. The controller  170  may implement the RAM(s)  176  and the program memories  172  as semiconductor memories, magnetically readable memories, and/or optically readable memories, for example. 
     Either or both of the program memories  160  and  172  may also contain an alignment engine  171 , for execution within the processors  162  and  174 , respectively. The alignment engine  171  may perform the various tasks associated with the alignment method, and may be a single module  171 A or a plurality of modules  171 A. By way of example and not limitation, the alignment engine  171  or the modules  171 A within the alignment engine  171  may: receive a selection of a plurality of prescriptions to align; determine a latest adjudication date from a plurality of calculated adjudication dates; calculate parameters associated with a short-fill of a prescription, such as a short-fill day supply, a short-fill quantity, or a short-fill delivery date; calculate a final alignment date for a plurality of prescriptions; retrieve information from the database  182  (or the database  146 ); calculate a parameter, such as a percent-consumption period, required to determine compliance with a rule determined by a third-party payor or a regulatory agency; calculate adjudication dates associated with one or more prescriptions; adjudicate one or more prescriptions; fill prescriptions; cause prescriptions to be shipped to the customer or to a retail location; etc. Each of the modules  171 A may execute one or more of the various parts of the alignment method described below with reference to  FIGS. 2A and 2B . 
     In addition to the controller  170 , the workstations  128  and the client device terminals  128 A may further include a display  186  and a keyboard  190  as well as a variety of other input/output devices (not shown) such as a scanner, printer, mouse, touch screen, track pad, track ball, isopoint, voice recognition system, digital camera, etc. A pharmacy employee may sign on and occupy each workstation  128  or client device terminal  128 A to assist the pharmacy employee in performing his or her duties. Pharmacy employees may sign onto the workstation  128  or the client device terminal  128 A using any available technique, such as entering a user name and password. If a pharmacy employee signs on to the system using a client device terminal  128 A, the network  184  communicates this information to the facility server  126 , so that the controller  170  may identify which pharmacy employees are signed onto the system  100  and which workstation  128  or client device terminal  128 A the employee is signed onto. This may be useful for record keeping and/or monitoring the pharmacy employees&#39; productivity as well as in record-keeping. 
     Various software applications resident in the front-end components  102  and the back-end components  104  implement the prescription alignment methods, and provide various user interface means to allow users (i.e., pharmacists and/or customers) to access the system  100 . One or more of the front-end components  102  and/or the back-end components  104  may include a user-interface application  111  for allowing a user, such as the pharmacist or customer service representative, to input and view data associated with the system  100 . In one embodiment, the user-interface application  111  is a web browser client, and the facility server  126  or the central-processing system  140  implements a server application  113  for providing data to the user-interface application  111 . However, the user-interface application  111  may be any type of interface, including a proprietary interface, and may communicate with the facility server  126  or the central processing system  140  using any type of protocol including, but not limited to, file transfer protocol (FTP), telnet, hypertext-transfer protocol (HTTP), etc. Moreover, the user interface application  111  may be running on one of the workstations  128  in a pharmacy  112  (as when the pharmacist is accessing the system) or may be running on an Internet interface terminal (not shown) (as when a customer is requesting and configuring alignment of the customer&#39;s prescriptions). The information sent to the workstations  128  and to the client device terminals  128 A from the facility server  126  and/or the central processing system  140  includes data retrieved from the database  146  and/or the database  182 . The central processing system  140  and/or the facility server  126  may implement any known protocol compatible with the user-interface application  111  running on the workstations  128  and the client device terminals  128 A and adapted to the purpose of receiving and providing the necessary customer information via the digital network  130  and/or the digital network  184 . 
     For purposes of implementing the prescription alignment system  100 , the primary point of contact with the customer is through the pharmacy  112 . As used herein, the term “customer” may be, by way of example, a patient (i.e., the person named on the prescription), a guardian (e.g., the parent of a child named on the prescription), a care-giver (i.e., anyone who takes care of a patient or picks up the medication on the patient&#39;s behalf), etc. Moreover, the term “customer” is not limited to a single person, but may instead be any person or persons having a reason to align a group of prescriptions. For example, a customer could be a care-giver responsible for various patients, for which caregiver it would be convenient to align prescriptions for the various patients so as to avoid having to order and/or retrieve prescription refills on an overwhelming number of dates. Or, for example, a customer could be a family wherein multiple family members have prescriptions which, if aligned, would reduce the burden of ordering and/or retrieving the various medications prescribed to the family members. In any event, while the term “customer” is used interchangeably with the term “patient,” in this specification the term “customer” is used primarily so as to avoid confusion. Thus, a customer may be a patient (as where a person picks up his/her own prescriptions), but a customer may also be, by way of example, a parent picking up a prescription for a child (i.e., a guardian), a husband picking up a prescription for his wife, a home-care nurse picking up a prescription for one or more patients, a care facility director (or other personnel) picking up prescriptions for one or more patients, etc. Also, as mentioned above, the pharmacy  112  may be any of the channels through which the entity implementing the prescription alignment system  100  serves its pharmacy customers. Thus, the pharmacy  112  may be a retail pharmacy  112  in the customer&#39;s neighborhood (or any other drug store in a drug store chain), an on-line pharmacy or an on-line interface to a pharmacy  112  or to a retail network  110  (where the customer uses a web-browser to communicate with the server application  113 ), a phone/touchtone interface to a pharmacy  112  or to a retail network  110  (where the customer uses a phone service to communicate with the server application  113 ), a mail-order pharmacy, a central-filling facility, a specialty pharmacy, or any other type of pharmacy affiliated with the entity implementing the prescription alignment system  100 . In one embodiment, a pharmacist, other pharmacy staff, or a customer service representative (all referred to herein simply as “the pharmacist”) invokes the prescription alignment system  100  while interacting with a customer at a pharmacy  112  or over the telephone (e.g., from a retail pharmacy  112 , or a call center). The pharmacist will have access to one of the pharmacy workstations  128  or to one of the client device terminals  128 A and may invoke the prescription alignment system  100  when he or she fills the customer&#39;s prescription. In another embodiment, the customer invokes the prescription alignment system  100  (e.g., at a kiosk, via an Internet interface terminal, on a mail-in form, etc.). Alternatively, the prescription alignment system  100  may be invoked automatically for each new prescription entered (e.g., by reminding the pharmacist to ask whether the customer would like to align his or her prescriptions) or by a broader system, such as a medication management system. 
     As described above, one or both of the databases  146  and  182 , illustrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , respectively, include various information about the pharmacy&#39;s customers and the prescriptions filled by the pharmacy, as well as various business information including, but not limited to, information associated with third-party payors (e.g., insurance companies), employee information, and the like. FIG. C depicts some of the exemplary data that the system  100  may store on the databases  146  and  182 . The databases  146  and/or  182  contain a customer record  192  for every customer who purchases his/her medication at one of the pharmacies  112  (or via a call center, website, etc.). The customer record  192  contains important information about the customer and the various pharmacy services that have been invoked by, or on behalf of, the customer in a customer profile  195 . The customer profile  195  includes basic biographical information about the customer, such as a customer name  195 A, a customer address  195 B, a customer phone number  195 C, an insurance carrier  195 D associated with the customer, an insurance group number  195 E for the customer, an insurance ID number  195 F for the customer, a preferred delivery method  195 G, etc. Additionally, the customer profile  195  may include other information such as credit card information or other payment information, one or more customer e-mail addresses, user name and/or password information, online security question/answer information, etc. Of course, the customer record  192  may also include other or less information than that described. 
     The customer record  192  also includes prescription data  196  for each prescription filled by the pharmacy for the customer. The prescription data  196  generally include, but are not limited to: a name  196 A of the medication; an indication  196 B whether a generic may be substituted; a dose (i.e., pills per day)  196 C of the medication; a number of days of medication to be dispensed (also referred to herein as a “day supply” or a “prescribed day supply”)  196 D; a number of refills prescribed  196 E; a number of refills remaining  196 F; a prescription date  196 G; a prescribing physician  196 H; a phone number  196 I for the prescribing physician; a date on which the prescription was most recently adjudicated (also referred to herein as a “last adjudication date”)  196 J; a calculated date on which the prescription may next be adjudicated (also referred to herein as a “next adjudication date”)  196 K for the prescription; a remaining day supply  196 L for the prescription; and a percent-consumption period  196 O indicating the number of days it would take to consume the required minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B of the fill for the prescription). Of course, the prescription data  196  need not include all of the information above, such as when the system  100  determines some information (e.g., the next adjudication date  196 K) but does not store it, or stores it some place other than with the prescription data  196  in the database  146  or the database  182 . Moreover, the prescription data  196  may include additional information not mentioned above. 
     Additionally, the customer record  192  includes alignment information  197 . The alignment information  197  generally includes information related to the final alignment of the prescriptions, including, in part, a list of prescriptions selected for alignment  197 A, an alignment adjudication date  197 B, and a final alignment date  197 C. Additionally, the alignment information  197  includes, for each of the prescriptions selected for alignment, information  198  specific to the alignment of the prescription. For example, aligning the plurality of selected prescriptions may require adjusting the day supply for one fill for each of one or more of the selected prescriptions by, for example, dispensing more of the medication (“overfilling”) or less of the medication (“underfilling” or “short-filling”) such that the customer exhausts the supply of a first medication at the same time as the supply of a second medication. An underfilled prescription is referred to herein as a “short fill.” Each short fill may have an associated post short-fill next adjudication date  198 C, an associated short-fill day supply  198 D, indicating the number of days of medication dispensed, etc. The information  198  includes, for each prescription, a post-alignment day supply  198 A (indicating for the medication the day supply to be dispensed on or around the alignment adjudication date and, presumably, for each refill thereafter), an indication  198 B of whether the prescription requires a short-fill, the post short-fill next adjudication date  198 C, the short-fill day-supply  198 D, a short-fill quantity  198 E, a short-fill delivery date  198 F, and an indication  198 G of whether a short fill is possible. Of course, the alignment information  197 , including the information  198 , may, in some embodiments, include more or less information than described above. Additionally, the alignment information  197  may vary over time. For example, when a customer adds a new medication, the alignment information  197 , including the final alignment date  197 C, may change to accommodate the newly prescribed medication. Moreover, in some circumstances (e.g., where there are no applicable adjudication rules), it may be possible to deliver all of any required short-fills on the same date and, therefore, the short-fill delivery date  198 F for each required short fill could be the same. 
     The database  182  and/or the database  146  may also include rules related to the filling and/or re-filling of prescriptions. In particular, records  193  include generically applicable information related to the alignment process, described with reference to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , records  194  include rules promulgated by third-party payors (i.e., insurance companies), and records  199  include prescription limitations (i.e., limitations placed on a prescription by a physician or a drug manufacturer), and other rules (e.g., regulations related to specific drugs) that may place limitations on the when, and how often, a customer refills a prescription, or how much of the prescribed medication the customer receives. These limitations complicate the alignment process by constraining various aspects of the refill process and, in many instances, delay the final alignment date  197 C of prescription refills. 
     Third parties promulgate the majority of the rules discussed above, which rules relate specifically to the adjudication of the prescription (i.e., making a claim to the insurance company for the particular prescription) and, in particular, how often and when adjudication may occur. For example, a rule may state that sufficient time should have elapsed after adjudication for the customer to consume some percentage of the prescribed day supply. This “minimum percent-fill consumed” could be stored as a record  194 B in the database  182  or the database  146 . Thus, for a medication prescribed with a 30-day supply, 23 days must elapse after the adjudication for the prescription if the adjudication rules for the particular insurance company (i.e., the minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B) require that sufficient time elapse for the customer to consume 75% of the medication prior to adjudication the prescription again. The minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B may vary based on the prescribed medication, the filling pharmacy, the third-party payor, the medical facility, the prescribed day supply, the customer, etc. Alternatively, or additionally, adjudication rules promulgated by a third-party payor may require that a minimum number of days elapse between two adjudications for a particular prescription. This information may be stored in a record  194 A in the database  182  or the database  146 . Such an “adjudication blackout period”  194 A might, for example, require four, five, or even ten days between adjudications of a prescription. Another possible rule, promulgated by either a third-party payor or by a regulatory agency, may limit the amount of a medication (e.g., the number of tablets) dispensed to a customer by the pharmacy in a specific period of time. 
       FIG. 2A  illustrates an exemplary method  200  for efficiently aligning a plurality of prescription refill dates. The method  200  may begin when a user (e.g., the pharmacist, a call center operator, a customer accessing the service via the Internet, etc.) of the system  100  selects two or more prescriptions, which prescriptions&#39; refill dates the customer wants aligned (block  205 ). The prescriptions selected in block  205  typically correspond to a single patient and a single customer record  192 , and each selected prescription typically prescribes a maintenance medication (i.e., a medication taken regularly by the patient over an extended period of time). Of course, there is no reason that the selected prescriptions could not be for multiple patients (e.g., multiple patients under the care of a single caregiver, multiple family members, etc.) and it is conceivable that non-maintenance medications (including non-prescription medications) could be aligned with maintenance medications. 
     The system  100  determines the remaining day supply  196 L for each of the selected prescriptions (i.e., how many days the remaining medication will last) (block  210 ). In some embodiments, the system  100  determines the remaining day supply  196 L of each medication by calculating how much medication should remain, based on the last time the customer received a refill (or based on the last adjudication date  196 J), the current date, and the prescribed day supply  196 D. In other embodiments, the pharmacist asks the customer, for each selected prescription, how much of the medication remains. In any event, the system  100  may store the remaining day supply  196 L with the prescription data  196  in the customer record  192 . In most instances, the selected prescriptions will be prescriptions already filled by the customer at least once. However, it is possible for the selected prescriptions to include a newly-prescribed prescription. Where a newly-prescribed prescription is among the selected prescriptions, the remaining day supply  196 L for that prescription may be the prescribed day supply  196 D for that prescription if the prescription will be filled as prescribed. However, a newly-prescribed prescription may also be short-filled as part of the alignment process, in which case the remaining day supply  196 L could be set to zero for the purposes of the short-fill calculations described below. 
     Of course, a newly-prescribed prescription could also be aligned with a plurality of already-aligned prescriptions. That is, two or more previously-aligned prescriptions could be selected in addition to one or more newly-prescribed prescriptions with the goal of aligning all of the selected prescriptions to the same date. Alignment of the prescriptions could be accomplished by aligning all of the prescriptions to a new date by treating the previously-aligned prescriptions as though they had not been previously aligned. Alternatively, alignment of the prescriptions could be accomplished by maintaining the alignment parameters of the previously-aligned prescriptions, and aligning the new prescription(s) to the same date as the previously-aligned prescriptions. Of course, a short fill (and possibly a full fill) may be required for the new prescription prior to alignment of the new prescription with those previously aligned. 
     In any event, having determined, at block  210 , the remaining day supply  196 L for each of the selected prescriptions, the system  100  proceeds to determine the next adjudication date  196 K for each of the selected prescriptions, and then to determine the latest of those next adjudication dates among the selected prescriptions (block  215 ). 
     The latest of the next adjudication dates is the date on which a pharmacy could adjudicate all of the selected prescriptions and, in the absence of other considerations (e.g., adjudication blackout periods  194 A related to short fills, discussed below), the latest of the next adjudication dates determined at block  215  would be the alignment adjudication date  197 B (i.e., the date on which all of the prescriptions selected for alignment would be adjudicated). The customer would receive the selected prescriptions on the delivery date and would presumably consume the first of the medications one or more days after delivery (i.e., the final alignment date  197 C). 
     Unless otherwise specified, the term “delivery,” as used above and as used throughout this specification, refers to the customer&#39;s taking receipt of the prescribed medication(s). Thus, the prescribed medications may be delivered to the customer at the customer&#39;s home, work, or other provided address (e.g., where the medications are mailed, shipped, or couriered directly to the customer) or may be delivered to the customer at another location, such as a retail pharmacy  112  (e.g., where the medication is picked up by the customer). Throughout this specification, the terms “shipped,” “shipping,” and “ship” refer to any methods that may include a lead time including, but not limited to, mailing (e.g., via U.S. Post Office), shipping (e.g, via UPS or FedEx), etc. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary method  300  of finding the latest of the earliest next adjudication dates, the method  300  corresponding to the block  215  of  FIG. 2A . The method  300  starts with the plurality of prescriptions selected for alignment. For each prescription, the system  100  retrieves various information (block  310 ). The information retrieved in the block  310  includes the last adjudication date  196 J for the prescription, the prescribed day supply  196 D for the prescription, the adjudication blackout period  194 A, and the minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B prior to the next adjudication. Of course, the system  100  may retrieve the various information from one or more customer records  192 , or from various other records  194  or  199  in the database  146  or the database  182 , and the information may be stored on, and retrieved from, a local storage location or a remote storage location (such as the database  146  or the database  182 ) accessed via the digital network  130  or the digital network  184 . Moreover, the information retrieved in the block  310  may include more information or less information than described above. For example, an insurance company may not have an adjudication blackout period  194 A, in which case the block  310  would not include retrieving the adjudication blackout period  194 A. 
     Having retrieved the information in the block  310 , the system  100  determines a percent-consumption period  196 O (i.e., the number of days necessary for the customer to consume a required percentage of the current fill for the prescription, assuming, of course, that the customer does not skip any doses) (block  320 ). The block  320  illustrated in  FIG. 3  shows one method of determining the percent-consumption period  196 O. The number of days it takes to consume the required minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B of the fill for the prescription determines the percent-consumption period  196 O. For example, suppose a prescription prescribes a 30-day supply of a medication, and that a third-party payor requires that sufficient time elapse for the customer to consume 77% of the prescription before adjudicating the prescription for refill. 77% of 30 days is 23.1 days (i.e., 30*0.77=23.1). Rounding up, 24 days must elapse for the customer to have consumed 77% of the medication. In this case, the percent-consumption period  196 O is 24 days. In some cases, the rules may allow rounding down, in which case 23 days must elapse for the customer to have consumed 77% of the medication. 
     As described above, the various rules that third-parties promulgate may include not only a minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B, but may also include an “adjudication blackout period”  194 A (i.e., a rule requiring a minimum period of time between adjudications of a prescription). The larger of the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O will determine the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription. The system  100  calculates the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription using the last adjudication date  196 J and the larger of the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O (block  330 ). Using the method  300 , the system  100  calculates the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription by adding the larger of the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O (determined at block  320 ) to the last adjudication date  196 J. Continuing with the example above, if the last adjudication date  196 J for a prescription is July 1, the adjudication blackout period  194 A is 6 days, and the percent-consumption period  196 O, determined at block  320 , is 24 days, the next adjudication date  196 K on which adjudication for the prescription may occur is July 25 (24 days after the last adjudication on July 1). 
     When the system  100  has performed the operations illustrated in blocks  310  through  330  for each of the prescriptions, each of the prescriptions will have associated with the corresponding data  196  a next adjudication date  196 K (block  335 ). The system  100  then selects the latest of the next adjudication dates  196 K (block  340 ). Thus, if the next adjudication dates  196 K for three prescriptions were July 13, July 17, and July 20, the system  100  would select July 20 as the latest adjudication date. 
     Of course, in some instances, such as where a customer does not have insurance coverage for medication or where none of the medications are covered by a customer&#39;s insurance (e.g., the dispensed medications are all vitamins), there may be no rules applicable to the dispensed medications at all. In these instances, the adjudication rules (e.g., the adjudication blackout period  194 A or the minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B) may be set to zero, or the blocks calculating associated parameters (e.g., the block  320 ) may be omitted entirely. In other instances, such as when the pharmacy does not charge the customer for a short fill or when the customer pays cash for a short fill instead of billing his or her insurance company, the adjudication rules (e.g., the adjudication blackout period  194 A or the minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B) may be set to zero for the short fills (or the associated blocks omitted), but adjudication rules would still apply to the non-short-fill deliveries of medication. In still other instances, the system  100  may determine that one or more prescriptions requiring a short fill would, if the short fill were adjudicated, cause the final alignment date to be delayed (e.g., where the next adjudication date after the short fill adjudication would not provide sufficient time to deliver to the aligned medications to the customer before the calculated or selected alignment date). In these instances, the system  100  may select the prescription (or prescriptions, if there are more than one prescription, the short fill of which would delay the alignment date) and avoid the adjudication of the prescription (e.g., by providing the short fill to the customer for free, by charging the customer cash, etc.). 
     In some instances, though, the customer will exhaust his or her supply of one or more of the medications prescribed by the selected prescriptions prior to the latest adjudication date determined at block  215  or, in any event, prior to the final alignment date  197 C. In such an instance, the customer will require a refill of one or more of the selected medications before the final alignment date  197 C in order to avoid missing any doses and may receive a short fill that contains less than the prescribed day supply  196 D of the medication. Of course, filling the prescription, even with a short fill, may restart the adjudication period for that prescription and create a post short-fill next adjudication date  198 C for that prescription. In some cases (e.g., where the pharmacy does not charge the customer for the short fill or where the customer pays cash for the short fill instead of billing an insurance company), adjudication rules would not apply and, therefore, the adjudication period would not restart. In other cases, the post short-fill next adjudication date  198 C (i.e., the next adjudication date after the short fill) may not fall until after the latest adjudication date determined at block  215  (i.e., a post short-fill next adjudication date  198 C will be after the latest adjudication date). 
     Referring again to  FIG. 2A , the system  100 , employing method  200 , then addresses situations where the latest adjudication date determined at block  215  requires one or more short fills, which short fills may cause post short-fill next adjudication dates  198 C for the short-filled prescriptions to fall after the latest adjudication date (block  220 ). In some embodiments, the method  200  addresses this situation simply by determining an adjudication window buffer  193 B sufficient to ensure that all of the selected prescriptions may be adjudicated at some common point subsequent to the latest adjudication date determined at block  215 . For example, the adjudication window buffer  193 B may be set to three days, four days, five days, etc. In this manner, the adjudication window buffer  193 B allows sufficient time to elapse, after adjudication of a prescription for the purpose of a short fill, so that the prescription may be adjudicated again on whatever date is selected as the final alignment date. In other embodiments employing method  200 , the adjudication window buffer  193 B may not be utilized, in which case it may be set to zero days or the step may be excluded. 
     Using method  200 , the system  100  next determines an alignment adjudication date  197 B (block  225 ). The alignment adjudication date  197 B is the date on which the system  100  will adjudicate all of the selected prescriptions for the final alignment. In an embodiment employing a simple adjudication window buffer  193 B, the method  200  includes calculating the alignment adjudication date  197 B by adding the adjudication window buffer  193 B determined at block  220  to the latest adjudication date determined block  215 . 
     Regardless of the method by which the system  100  determines the alignment adjudication date  197 B, the alignment adjudication date  197 B is the date on which all of the selected prescriptions may be adjudicated and is not necessarily the final alignment date  197 C. This is because additional time related to the processing of the prescription may further delay the date on which the customer receives the prescribed medication. Adjudication of the prescription, filling the prescription, shipping the prescribed medication, and delivery time may all delay the date on which the customer receives the prescribed medication. For example, if the adjudication process takes place near the end of the business day, it may be too late to ship the prescribed medications, even if the pharmacy  112  or the central-filling facility  114  fills the prescriptions on the same day as adjudication. Once the pharmacy  112  or the central-filling facility  114  ships the selected prescriptions, the shipping process could take anywhere from one day to five days or more, depending on the carrier, the relative locations of the pharmacy  112  and the customer, the weather, and various other factors. Moreover, additional processes, such as printing blister packages for aligned prescription medications, may extend the time elapsing between adjudication of the prescription by the pharmacy  112  and delivery to the customer. 
     Alternatively, “delivery” of the prescriptions to the customer could be accomplished in person (i.e., the customer could pick the prescriptions up at a retail pharmacy). Thus, while some embodiments described herein contemplate delivery of prescriptions to the customer by some form of shipping or courier service, the term “deliver,” as used within this application, means to provide the medication to the customer. For example, the prescription alignment system  100  contemplated herein could also “deliver” prescriptions to a customer when the customer comes to the pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions. In such instances, various blocks of method  200  may be modified or omitted where necessary. Some of the necessary modifications and/or omissions are indicated, where appropriate, in the following paragraphs. 
     The system  100  then determines an alignment processing buffer  193 A, which accounts for the time consumed by the various events occurring between the alignment adjudication date  197 B and the final alignment date  197 C (block  230 ). For example, the system  100  (or the person or persons programming the system  100 ) may allot one day for adjudication of the prescription and printing of a blister pack, one day for filling and shipping the selected prescriptions to the customer, and two days for delivery. Or, for example, the system  100  may allot one day for adjudication of the prescription and printing of a blister pack, one day for filling and shipping the selected prescriptions to a retail pharmacy  112 , and two days for delivery to the customer (i.e., two days for the customer to pick up the prescription from the retail pharmacy  112 ). If desired, the system  100  may add additional time (e.g., one day, two days, etc.) as a buffer, to account for unexpected transportation delays and the like. Of course, each of these numbers may be any number selected to reflect the processes utilized in the particular system  100 . Thus, the alignment processing buffer  193 A is a variable and may be set depending on the patient, the prescription, the order, or other factors such as the method of delivery. For example, if the prescriptions are filled and delivered to the customer at a retail pharmacy  112  (i.e., if the customer picks up the prescriptions) the alignment processing buffer  193 A would not include time for shipping, but may account for delays by the customer in stopping at the retail pharmacy  112  to pick up the prescriptions. Alternatively, if the prescriptions are filled at a central-filling facility  114  and shipped to the pharmacy  112  for the customer to pick up, the alignment processing buffer  193 A could include the time for shipping. Some embodiments may require retrieving the alignment processing buffer  193 A from a storage location, such as the database  146  or the database  182  at the block  230 . Still other embodiments are envisioned which omit the block  230  entirely, such as, for example, embodiments in which the selected prescriptions are adjudicated, filled, and delivered to the customer in a single day, for example by filling the prescriptions at a retail pharmacy  112  and having the customer pick up the prescriptions or by delivering the prescriptions by courier. 
     The system  100  next determines the final alignment date  197 C (block  235 ). The final alignment date  197 C is the alignment adjudication date  197 B determined at block  225 , incremented by the alignment processing buffer  193 A (determined at block  230 ) and by a patient start buffer  193 D. The patient start buffer  193 D allows one or more days for the patient to begin consuming the medication. For example, in one embodiment, the patient start buffer  193 D is one day. The additional day accounts for the fact that the customer will likely not start consuming the medication until the day following delivery (by retail pick-up or shipping receipt) of the prescriptions. Of course, the additional day is not required and some embodiments may choose to set the final alignment date  197 C to the alignment adjudication date  197 B incremented by the alignment processing buffer  193 A, omitting the extra day. 
     Of course, the final alignment date  197 C could also be chosen arbitrarily. For example, a customer may choose to align a plurality of prescriptions such that the alignment or adjudication dates for the prescriptions fall on, around, or after a certain day of the month (e.g., after they get paid, on a day on which they have a personal assistant, etc.).  FIG. 2B  illustrates a method  202  for aligning the plurality of prescriptions to an arbitrary date, rather than to a calculated date, as accomplished by the method  200  depicted in  FIG. 2A . The system  100  initiates the method  202  in the same manner as the system  100  initiates the method  200 , and proceeds, in the same manner as in the method  200 , to select prescriptions to align (block  205 ), determine the day supply remaining  196 D for each prescription (block  210 ), find the latest adjudication date for each prescription (block  215 ), and set the adjudication window buffer  193 B (block  220 ). 
     However, after setting the adjudication window buffer  193 B (block  220 ), the system  100  proceeds in method  202  to determine the alignment processing buffer  193 A (block  230 ). Once the system  100  determines both the alignment processing buffer  193 A and the adjudication window buffer  193 B, the system  100  calculates the earliest final alignment date that the customer (or other user of the system  100 ) may select. The system  100  calculates the earliest final alignment date by adding to the latest adjudication date (determined at the block  215 ) a number of days equivalent to the sum of the adjudication window buffer  193 B, the alignment processing buffer  193 A, and the patient start buffer  193 D (block  232 ). For example, if the latest adjudication date for a plurality of selected prescriptions were August 19, and the alignment processing buffer  193 A, adjudication window buffer  193 B, and patient start buffer  193 D, were three days, five days, and one day, respectively, the earliest final alignment date that a customer or user could select would be August 28. Of course, circumstances may exist in which any of the various buffers  193 A,  193 B,  193 D, etc. may be set to zero. 
     After determining the earliest final alignment date (block  232 ), the system  100  receives a selection of a final alignment date  197 C (block  234 ). The final alignment date  197 C must be on or after the earliest final alignment date (determined at block  232 ). Once the system  100  has received the selection of a final alignment date  197 C (block  234 ), the system  100  calculates the alignment adjudication date  197 B (block  236 ) that will result in the selected final alignment date  197 C. The system  100  calculates the alignment adjudication date  197 B by subtracting from the selected final alignment date  197 C (received at block  234 ) a number of days equal to the alignment processing buffer  193 A plus the patient start buffer  193 D. 
     In any event, after the system  100  determines the final alignment date  197 C at block  235  of the method  200  (or at blocks  232 - 236  of the method  202 ), the system  100  calculates the parameters of any required short fills (block  240 ).  FIG. 4  illustrates a method  400 , corresponding to block  240  of the methods  200  and  202 , for determining the parameters of any short fills. The method  400  starts with the plurality of selected prescriptions. The method  400  determines, for each of the selected prescriptions, whether the prescription requires a short fill in order for the customer to have sufficient medication to last until the final alignment date  197 C without skipping or missing any doses (block  405 ). To determine whether a short fill is required for a selected prescription, the system  100  determines, based on the remaining day supply  196 L, whether the customer has sufficient medication to last until the final alignment date  197 C. For each prescription that does require a short fill, the system  100  calculates a short-fill day-supply  198 D for the prescription (i.e., how many days of medication must be supplied to provide the customer with sufficient medication to get to the final alignment date  197 C) (block  410 ). The system  100  determines the short-fill day-supply  198 D for the prescription by finding the difference between the remaining day supply  196 L (determined at block  210  of the method  200 ) and the number of days between the final alignment date  197 C (determined at block  235  of the method  200 ) and the current date. For example, if the final alignment date  197 C is July 28, and the current date is July 14, the number of days between the final alignment date  197 C and the current date is 14. If the method  200  determined that the customer has six days of medication left at block  210 , the short-fill day-supply  198 D for the prescription, calculated by the method  200  at block  410 , would be eight days. 
     Next, the system  100  determines whether a short-fill is possible and, if so, determines a short-fill delivery method  198 H and the short-fill delivery date  198 F for the prescription (block  415 ). The details of these determinations are described below with reference to  FIG. 5 . In any event, if the system determines at block  415  that a short fill is possible, the system  100  calculates the short-fill quantity  198 E (i.e., the number of pills to dispense in the short-fill) by multiplying the short-fill day-supply  198 D for the prescription (determined at block  410 ) by the prescribed dose (e.g., how many pills/day)  196 C for the prescription (block  470 ). The results of the calculations and determinations performed at blocks  410 ,  415 , and  470  are associated with each of the prescriptions. 
       FIG. 5  depicts the block  415  in greater detail. The system  100  retrieves the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method  195 G stored in the customer profile  195 , and determines whether the preferred delivery method (e.g., store pick-up, shipped to customer, etc.) can accommodate a short-fill for the medication (block  420 ). If the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method can accommodate a short-fill for the medication, the system  100  calculates the short-fill delivery date  198 F for that method by adding to the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription, the number of days indicated by the short-fill processing buffer  193 C (block  440 A). The short-fill processing buffer  193 C may, in some embodiments, be dependent on the particular delivery method employed, the patient, the prescription, the order, or any number of other factors. For example, the short-fill processing buffer may be longer if the delivery method includes shipping a prescription from a warehouse or a central-filling facility to a customer or to the pharmacy than it would be if the delivery method includes filling the prescription at a local store and having the customer pick it up from the store. 
     After calculating the short-fill delivery date  198 F (at block  440 A) the system  100  determines, based on the short-fill delivery date  198 F, whether the customer can receive the short fill before exhausting the supply of medication (block  445 A). If the short-fill delivery date  198 F indicates that the medication will arrive before the customer exhausts his or her supply of medication (as indicated by the remaining day supply  196 L) (i.e., if the current date incremented by the remaining day supply  196 L is later than the short-fill delivery date  198 F), then the system  100  stores the information and proceeds to calculate the short-fill quantity (block  470 ). If, on the other hand, the short-fill delivery date  198 F indicates that the medication will not arrive before the customer exhausts his or her supply of medication, the system  100  (or a pharmacist acting in accordance with the system  100 ) may inquire as to whether the customer prefers to skip doses and take delivery using the preferred method or try an alternative method (block  460 ). For example, if the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method  195 G is shipping, but shipping the short fill of the prescribed medication to the customer would result in the short fill arriving after the customer has exhausted the remaining day supply  196 L, the customer may be asked if he or she can take delivery of the short fill at a retail pharmacy location  112 . 
     If the customer prefers to take delivery using the preferred method, even if this means skipping doses, the system  100  recalculates the short-fill day supply  198 D by finding the difference between the final alignment date  197 C and the short-fill delivery date  198 F (block  465 ). If, on the other hand, the customer indicates at the block  460  a preference to try an alternative method for delivery or if, at the block  420 , short-fill is not possible using the preferred delivery method, the system  100  evaluates whether the short-fill is possible using an alternate delivery method (block  425 ). If the short-fill is not possible by an alternate delivery method, the system  100  creates an indication  198 G that the short-fill is not possible (block  455 ). Likewise, if the short-fill is possible using an alternate delivery method (block  425 ) but the customer refuses the alternate delivery method (block  430 ), the system  100  creates an indication  198 G that the short-fill is not possible (block  455 ). 
     If the short-fill is possible by an alternate delivery method (block  425 ) and the customer wants to accept delivery via the alternate method (block  430 ), the system  100  updates a short-fill delivery method  198 H (which would otherwise be the same as the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method  195 G) for the prescription (block  435 ). Next, the system  100  calculates the short-fill delivery date  198 F for the alternate delivery method by adding to the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription, the number of days indicated by the short-fill processing buffer  193 C (block  440 B). Of course, the short-fill processing buffer  193 C may be different for the alternate delivery method than for the preferred delivery method. 
     After calculating the short-fill delivery date  198 F for the alternate delivery method (at block  440 B), the system  100  determines, based on the short-fill delivery date  198 F, whether the customer can receive the short fill before exhausting his or her supply of medication (block  445 B). If the short-fill delivery date  198 F indicates that the medication will arrive before the customer exhausts the supply of medication (as indicated by the remaining day supply  196 L) (i.e., if the current date incremented by the remaining day supply  196 L is later than the short-fill delivery date  198 F), then the system  100  stores the information and proceeds to calculate the short-fill quantity (block  470 ). If, on the other hand, the short-fill delivery date  198 F indicates that the medication will not arrive before the customer exhausts the supply of medication, the system  100  (or a pharmacist acting in accordance with the system  100 ) may inquire as to whether the customer prefers to skip doses, taking delivery using either the preferred or alternate method (preferably the method resulting in the least number of missed doses), or recalculate the final alignment (block  450 ). If the customer prefers to skip doses, the system  100  recalculates the short-fill day supply  198 D by finding the difference between the final alignment date  197 C and the short-fill delivery date  198 F (block  465 ). If, on the other hand, the customer does not want to skip any doses, the system  100  creates the indication  198 G that a short fill is not possible for the prescription (block  455 ). 
     Of course, the system  100  need not, in all embodiments, offer an alternate delivery method or the opportunity to skip doses. In one embodiment, if the short-fill is not possible by the preferred delivery method, or if the short fill will not be delivered to the customer before the customer exhausts the supply of medication, the system  100  creates the indication  198 G that the short-fill is not possible. In another embodiment, the system  100  automatically attempts to fulfill a short fill by an alternate delivery method if the preferred method would result in the customer exhausting the supply of the medication before the short fill could be delivered by the customer&#39;s preferred method. Additionally, the system  100  may, in some embodiments, offer multiple alternate delivery methods. In such embodiments, the system may proceed, after determining that one alternate delivery method is not possible (block  425 ) or determining that the customer does not want the alternate delivery method (block  430 ) or determining that the customer does not want to skip doses (block  450 ), to try an additional alternate delivery method by determining whether delivery of the short fill is possible using yet another alternate delivery method (block  425 ). Where there are multiple alternate delivery methods available, the system  100 , in one embodiment, gives the patient the option of prioritizing the alternate delivery methods or, in any event, indicating a preference for one over another. In another embodiment, the system  100  prioritizes the alternate delivery methods. 
     In any event, after the system  100  calculates a short-fill delivery date  198 F and possibly a recalculated short-fill day supply  198 D (block  415 ), the system calculates a short-fill quantity  198 E as described above (block  470 ). If, at block  415 , the system  100  determines that the short-fill is not possible (indication  198 G), the system  100  may skip the step of calculating the short-fill quantity  198 E. 
     Referring once again to  FIG. 2A , after calculating the short-fill parameters (block  240 ) the system  100  determines whether the records  198  for any of the prescriptions contain an indication  198 G that the short-fill is not possible for that prescription (block  245 ). If none of the prescriptions are marked indicating that the short-fill is not possible, the system  100  saves the short-fill parameters  198 B- 198 H calculated at block  240  and the final alignment date  197 C calculated at block  235  (block  250 ). The system  100  directs the pharmacist to fill the prescriptions in accordance with the short fill parameters  198 B- 198 H and the final alignment date  197 C (block  255 ). 
     If the system  100  determines, at block  245 , that the records  198  for one or more of the prescriptions contain an indication  198 G that the short fill is not possible, control passes to a block  260 . As described above, a record  198  may include an indication  198 G that a prescription cannot be short-filled because the preferred method of delivery cannot accommodate short fills or because a short fill with the preferred method will not arrive before the patient exhausts the supply of the medication. There could be other reasons why a short fill is not possible as well. For example, a particular third-party payor may not allow short fills, or the filling pharmacy (or warehouse or central filling location) may be temporarily out of stock of the medication. Whatever the reason, when a prescription record  198  indicates that a short-fill is not possible, the pharmacy will dispense the prescribed day supply  196 D for the prescription. Of course, this means that the system  100  must recalculate the parameters calculated for the alignment process in the previous blocks of the method  200 . Thus, in one embodiment, at block  260  the system  100  updates the next adjudication dates  196 K for each of the prescriptions by adding the prescribed day supply  196 D for the prescription to the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription (determined at block  315  of the method  300 ), and control passes back to the block  210 . The system  100  proceeds through the blocks  210 - 255  using the updated information. In this embodiment, the system need only proceed through the blocks  210 - 255  one additional time. However, in an alternate embodiment, the system  100  updates the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription for which a short fill is not possible by adding the prescribed day supply  196 D for the prescription to the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription. The system  100  then proceeds through the blocks  210 - 255 , repeating the process if a short fill is not possible for another of the prescriptions. 
     In one embodiment, delivery of prescriptions using the alignment system  100  occurs primarily by shipping the medications directly to the customer from one of the retail locations  112  or from a warehouse or central-filling facility  114 , and the retail locations  112  may also deliver short fills related to prescription alignment to the customer by having the customer pick up the short fills of medication. This allows a customer to receive a short fill of a prescribed medication even where the short-fill delivery date  198 F for the primary delivery method (i.e., shipping the prescription to the customer) is later than the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription. In such an embodiment, the method  200  may omit blocks  245  and  260 , as there may be no reason to evaluate whether any of the short fill prescription records  198  include an indication  198 G that the short fill is not possible, and no reason to update the next adjudication dates  196 K for the prescriptions. Where blocks  245  and  260  are omitted, control passes directly from the block  240  to the block  255 , at which block the prescriptions requiring short fills are filled according to the short fill parameters  198 B- 198 H, and all of the selected prescriptions are filled according to the final alignment date  197 C. 
     In other alternate embodiments, there are no rules limiting the adjudication of the selected prescriptions (i.e., the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O are each zero). In these embodiments, the system  100  calculates the next adjudication date  196 K for each of the prescriptions at block  330 , and then determines the latest adjudication date among the selected prescriptions (at block  340 ). Of course, if the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O are each zero, then the next adjudication date  196 K may be any date, and in such a case the next adjudication date  196 K may be calculated using other information. For example, the next adjudication date  196 K may be calculated by determining when the customer will next need a refill of the medication. In any event, the latest adjudication date  196 K among the selected prescriptions is the alignment adjudication date  197 B, and the pharmacy  112  begins the process of adjudicating, filling, and shipping (or otherwise delivering) the prescription a number of days before the final alignment date  197 C. The number of days is preferably the same as the alignment processing buffer  193 A. 
     In yet other embodiments, the pharmacy may provide overfills of one or more medications in order to align the refill dates of the selected prescriptions. For example, if a calculated final alignment date for a group of selected prescriptions is far enough in the future, aligning the refill dates of the selected prescriptions may require one or more full fills of one or more of the other selected prescriptions, in addition to one or more short fills of the one or more of the other selected prescriptions. This would be the case where, for example, one of the selected prescriptions was recently filled with a 90-day supply, and the others of the selected prescriptions are each for 30-day supplies. Thus, as an alternative to providing one or more 30-day full fills and possibly a short fill for each of the selected prescriptions that has a 30-day supply, the pharmacy could provide an overfill for each of the prescriptions having the shorter prescribed day supply. An overfill may also be utilized to achieve the same result as the adjudication window buffer  193 B. 
     In some instances, the number of prescriptions selected for alignment and the timing of the various refills for the prescriptions may be such that the aligning all of the prescriptions would mandate a final alignment date that is at a relatively later date than desired. However, it may be possible that an earlier alignment date could be achieved while still accommodating alignment of a relatively high percentage (e.g., 90%) of the selected prescriptions, and then adding the remaining non-aligned prescriptions (e.g., the remaining 10%) to the alignment at a later date. 
       FIG. 6  depicts a timeline illustrating the exemplary alignment of two prescriptions in accordance with one embodiment described above. The timeline extends from June 13 of an arbitrary year to July 20 of the same year, and illustrates the various dates and periods associated with alignment of the two prescriptions, prescription A (depicted as “RX A”) and prescription B (depicted as “RX B”), each of the prescriptions A and B having a 30-day prescribed day supply  196 D. July 7 is the current date, as indicated on the timeline. The illustrated example assumes an adjudication blackout period  194 A of four days, and a minimum percent-fill consumed  194 B of 77%. 
     Alignment of the prescriptions A and B proceeds with reference to the methods  200 ,  300 , and  400 , depicted in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4  and  5 , respectively. Having selected the prescriptions A and B for alignment (at block  205 ), the system  100  determines the remaining day supply  196 L for each prescription (at block  210 ) by finding the difference between the current date (July 7) and the last adjudication date  196 J for the prescription. The timeline depicts that prescription A has a last adjudication date  196 J of June 16 (“RX A Last Adjudication”) and prescription B has a last adjudication date  196 J of June 13 (“RX B Last Adjudication”). On July 7, then, prescriptions A and B would have nine and six days of medication remaining, respectively (assuming that the last adjudication occurred on the same day as the last delivery and that the patient consumed the first dose on the same day (i.e, that the patient start buffer was zero)). 
     The system  100  proceeds to find the latest adjudication date (at block  215 ) for the two prescriptions A and B using the method  300 . For each prescription, the system  100  looks up the last adjudication date  196 J, the prescribed day supply  196 D, the adjudication blackout period  194 A (if there is one), and the minimum percent of the fill that must be consumed  194 B (if there is one) (at block  310 ). Table 1, below, summarizes the results of the method  300  at block  310 . 
                                                   TABLE 1                           RX A   RX B                           Last Adjudication Date (196J)   June 16   June 13           Prescribed Day Supply (196D)   30   30                Adjudication Blackout Period (194A)   4 days           Minimum Percent-Fill Consumed (194B)   77%                          FIG. 6  illustrates the last adjudication dates  196 J for each of the two prescriptions A and B and the prescribed day supply  196 D for each of the two prescriptions A and B.
 
     The system  100  uses the information retrieved above at block  310  and, in particular, the prescribed day supply  196 D and the minimum-percent fill consumed  194 B, to calculate the percent-consumption period  196 O (block  320 ). The system  100  calculates the percent-consumption period  196 O by multiplying the prescribed day supply  196 D by the minimum-percent fill consumed  194 B, and in this case rounding up to the next whole number. Of course, in the example depicted in  FIG. 6 , the percent-consumption periods  196 O for the Prescriptions A and B are the same—24 days.  FIG. 6  illustrates the period between the last adjudication date (which is assumed in this example to also be the same day that the customer started taking the medication) and when the minimum-percent fill consumed  194 B is reached for each prescription (“RX A/B 77% Consumed”). 
     After determining the percent-consumption periods  196 O, the system  100  calculates the next adjudication date  196 K for each prescription (at block  330 ) by incrementing the last adjudication date  196 J by the larger of the adjudication blackout period  194 A and the percent-consumption period  196 O for the prescription. In the example depicted in  FIG. 6 , the next adjudication dates  196 K for the Prescriptions A and B are July 10 and July 7, respectively (i.e., the respective last adjudication dates  196 J incremented by 24 (the larger of the adjudication blackout period  194 A (four days) and the percent-consumption period  196 O (24 days)). The timeline depicted in  FIG. 6  illustrates the next adjudication dates  196 K for each of the prescriptions A and B (“RX A/B Next Adjudication”). From the next adjudication dates  196 K for each of the prescriptions A and B—July 10 and July 7, respectively—the system selects the latest adjudication date (“Latest Adjudication Date”) (at block  340 , to complete block  215 ). 
     To determine the alignment adjudication date  197 B (at block  225 ), the system  100  determines the adjudication window buffer  193 B (at block  220 ), which may be a constant, stored in the system  100 , or may be variable depending upon, for example, the method used to deliver the prescribed medications to the customer. In any event, system  100  adds the adjudication window buffer  193 B to the latest adjudication date to find the alignment adjudication date  197 B. The adjudication window buffer  193 B depicted in  FIG. 6  (“Adjudication Window Buffer”) is four days, making the alignment adjudication date  197 B in  FIG. 6  (“Alignment Adjudication Date”) July 14. 
     The alignment processing buffer  193 A represents the time it takes to adjudicate, fill, ship and deliver the aligned prescriptions A and B. Like the adjudication window buffer  193 B, determining the alignment processing buffer  193 A (at block  230 ) typically requires looking up the value in the database  182  or the database  146 . In the example depicted in  FIG. 6 , the alignment processing buffer  193 A, depicted as the period “Alignment Processing Buffer,” is five days. The system  100  adds the combined total of the alignment processing buffer  193 A and the patient start buffer  193 D (one day in this example) to the alignment adjudication date  197 B to determine the final alignment date  197 C (at block  235 ). The final alignment date  197 C depicted in  FIG. 6  (“Alignment Date”) is July 20. Of course, the adjudication processing buffer  193 A may be any number, depending on the needs and/or circumstances of the system (e.g., how the prescription is delivered to the customer, etc.) or could be calculated for each prescription depending on various parameters (e.g., medication lead times, medication back-order status, warehousing considerations, shipping options selected, etc.). Moreover, the system may use a patient start buffer  193 D that is more than one day and the term “day” as used herein may refer to business days or all days, depending on the particular embodiment of the system  100 . 
     Once the system  100  determines the final alignment date  197 C (at block  235 ), the system  100  can determine the parameters of any necessary short fills (at block  240 ) using the method  400 . For each of the prescriptions A and B, the system  100  determines whether a short fill is necessary in order for the customer to have sufficient medication to reach the final alignment date  197 C without missing any doses (at block  405 ). In the example illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the prescriptions A and B have remaining day supplies  196 L of six days and nine days, respectively, and the final alignment date  197 C (“Alignment Date”) is 13 days from the current date. Thus, short fills are necessary for both of prescriptions A and B. 
     The system  100  proceeds to calculate the short-fill day-supply  198 D (at block  410 ) for each of the prescriptions A and B. The system  100  determines short-fill day supply  198 D, indicated in  FIG. 6  (“RX A/B S/F Day Supply”), by calculating the number of days between the current date and the final alignment date  197 C, and subtracting the remaining day supply  196 L.  FIG. 6  illustrates that the short-fill day-supply  198 D for prescription A is four days (July 15-19), and that the short-fill day-supply  198 D for prescription B is seven days (July 12-19). 
     The system  100  determines, for each required short fill, whether a short fill is possible and, if so, the short-fill delivery method  198 H and short-fill delivery date  198 F for the prescription (block  415 ). The example depicted in  FIG. 6  assumes that the customer&#39;s preferred delivery method  195 G is shipping the prescribed medication directly to the customer and that it is possible to deliver short fills for both Prescription A and Prescription B to the customer using that method (block  420 ). An estimated short-fill delivery date  198 F for each of the short fills is determined (at block  440 A) by incrementing the next adjudication date  196 K for the prescription by the short fill processing buffer  193 C for the prescription (e.g., by five days). The short-fill delivery dates  198 F are July 15 and July 12, respectively, for the short fills of prescriptions A and B, as indicated by the timeline in  FIG. 6  (“RX A/B S/F Delivery”). The current date plus the number of days indicated by the remaining day supply  196 L is later than the short-fill delivery date  198 F (block  445 A), so the system  100  proceeds to calculate a short-fill quantity  198 E for each of the prescriptions (block  470 ). The system  100  determines the short-fill quantity  198 E for each of the prescriptions A and B by multiplying the short-fill day-supply  198 D by the number of pills per day (the dose  196 C). The system  100  saves the short fill parameters  198 B- 198 H and final alignment date  197 C (at block  250 ) because none of the prescription records  198  include an indication  198 G that the short fill for the prescription is not possible (block  245 ). The prescriptions A and B would be filled according to the short fill parameters  198 B- 198 H and the final alignment date  197 C, and as depicted in  FIG. 6 . 
     Although the preceding text sets forth a detailed description of numerous embodiments, it should be understood that the legal scope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment, as describing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. One could implement numerous alternate embodiments, using either current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the following claims.