Patent ID: 8009040

Claim:
A medication dispensing system, comprising: a. at least one medication storage hopper configured to store a medication therein; b. a medication dispensing mechanism, configured to dispense an amount of the medication specified by a medication prescription to a predetermined location at a time specified by the medication prescription in a response to a dispensing instruction signal; c. a user interface that includes a patient notification mechanism and d. a processor, in communication with a global computer network, that is configured to: i. store the medication prescription; ii. issue the dispensing instruction signal to the medication dispensing mechanism at the time specified by the medication prescription, wherein the dispensing instruction signal instructs the medication dispensing mechanism to dispense the amount of the medication specified by the medication prescription; iii. cause the patient notification mechanism to issue an alert once the amount of the medication has been dispensed to the predetermined location; iv. maintain a count of how many units of the medication are stored in the hopper; and v. notify a remote computer when the count indicates that fewer than a predetermined number of units of the medication remain in the hopper; wherein the user interface includes a mechanism for a patient to acknowledge receipt of the amount of medication that has been dispensed and wherein the processor causes the notification mechanism to cease the alert when the patient has acknowledged receipt of the amount of medication that has been dispensed; and wherein the processor is further configured to send a signal via the global computer network to an individual other than the patient when the patient has failed to acknowledge receipt of the amount of medication within a predetermined amount of time after the alert has been issued by the patient notification mechanism.