Patent ID: 8543417

Claim:
A system for dispensing controlled substances and collection data associated with the controlled substances, comprising: a dispensing unit housing the controlled substances in respective storage compartments; a data collection service that receives information associated with the controlled substances; an application server configured to provide an interface to the information associated with the controlled substances, wherein the dispensing unit is configured to store, monitor and dispense the controlled substances as samples, wherein the dispensing unit monitors the numbers of pharmaceutical samples within respective storage compartments in the pharmaceutical dispensing unit, wherein the dispensing unit generates a prescription for a dispensed controlled substance, wherein the prescription is provided separately from the dispensed controlled substance, the prescription being used to obtain additional controlled substance at a time subsequent to the dispensing of the controlled substance and at a fulfillment site other the dispensing unit, wherein the prescription and the dispensed controlled substance are uniquely identified, wherein a filled prescription at the fulfillment site is matched to the uniquely identified prescription to create a sample/prescription pair, and wherein the sample/prescription pair is tracked to determine a return on investment (ROI), and communicates pharmaceutical samples information to a data aggregator, the pharmaceutical samples information including dispensed pharmaceutical samples, medical provider information, and generated prescriptions; and a representative device configured to access the information associated with the controlled substances through a local application running on the device, wherein the representative device is further configured to notify a representative if a number of a particular pharmaceutical sample is below a predetermined threshold or if a characteristic of the particular pharmaceutical sample reaches a second predetermined threshold.