Multi-path electronic prescription processing system

Abstract

An electronic prescription processing system which is capable of direct two-way electronic communication between the physician and the pharmacist, in one example, uses a multi-path clearinghouse between the physician's office practice management system and a pharmacy computer system. In one example, the multi path electronic prescription processing system allows a physician to create electronic prescriptions using an electronic signature, and using the multi-path clearinghouse, allow for interface with the pharmacy computer system such that an image of an electronic prescription and prescription information are directly auto-populated into an entry screen of the pharmacy computer system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic prescription processing system for at least one pharmacy system coupled to a network, the electronic processing system comprising:
 a clearinghouse coupled to the at least one pharmacy system by the network for providing two-way digital communications between the at least one pharmacy system and the clearinghouse, the clearinghouse connecting a plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system; and   the clearinghouse is electronically disposed between the plurality of physician office practice management systems and the at least one pharmacy system, such that the electronic prescription is transmitted via the clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system; and   wherein the clearinghouse includes a reply server, the reply server comprising a two-way digital communications protocol for correlating a query about the electronic prescription as submitted to the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system and for sending a message to the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems that transmitted the electronic prescription to the clearinghouse and for correlating the answer to the message from the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems with the query by the at least one pharmacy system, without speaking by telephone, such that the two-way digital communications protocol directs the answer to the at least one pharmacy system that sent the query.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein, the reply server of the clearinghouse includes a batch processor for automatically correlating a plurality of queries from one or more of the at least one pharmacy systems in a batch process using a single electronic transmission from the one of the plurality of physician office management systems. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the clearinghouse includes an alternative drug selection system for automatically providing one or more alternatives to a drug identified in an electronic prescription, when the electronic prescription is received by the clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician practice management systems; and the alternative drug selection system provides the one or more alternatives to the physician office practice management system for selection by the prescriber on a display of the physician office practice management system before the clearinghouse submits the electronic prescription to the at least one pharmacy. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the clearinghouse includes a verification system for verifying the identity and authority of the prescriber to enter the electronic prescription using an electronic signature, biometric data, a password or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 4 , wherein the verification system of the clearinghouse verifies the identity and authority of the prescriber to enter the electronic prescription using an electronic signature. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein clearinghouse correlates a single transmission from a prescriber operating in a batch mode to a plurality of queries from one or more of the at least one pharmacy systems. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , further comprising a biometric data reader, wherein the biometric data reader captures biometric data of a prescriber, and the electronic prescription processing system uses the biometric data of the prescriber to authenticate a prescription or a change to a prescription authorized by the prescriber. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , further comprising an interface system coupled to at least one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems such that the interface system couples the at least one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems to the clearinghouse, wherein two-way digital communications are established between the interface system and the clearinghouse. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the clearinghouse comprises a notification system arranged to provide a notification of an alternative pharmacy to the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems, if a drug or at least one acceptable alternative drug is not available from the at least one pharmacy system originally selected, but is available from the alternative pharmacy or if the drug or the at least one alternative drug is available at lower cost to the patient or the insurance plan at the alternative pharmacy, presenting the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems an option for selecting the alternative pharmacy, before transmitting the prescription to the one of the at least one pharmacy systems originally selected by the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the clearinghouse includes a timer and the timer triggers if the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems does not timely reply to the query. 
     
     
         11 . A method of processing an electronic prescription using an electronic prescription processing system comprising a clearinghouse coupled to the at least one pharmacy system by the network for providing two-way digital communications between the at least one pharmacy system and the clearinghouse, the clearinghouse connecting a plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system; and the clearinghouse is electronically disposed between the plurality of physician office practice management systems and the at least one pharmacy system, such that the electronic prescription is transmitted via the clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system; and wherein the clearinghouse includes a reply server, the reply server comprising a two-way digital communications protocol for correlating a query about the electronic prescription as submitted to the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system and for sending a message to the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems that transmitted the electronic prescription to the clearinghouse and for correlating the answer to the message from the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems with the query by the at least one pharmacy system, without speaking by telephone, such that the two-way digital communications protocol directs the answer to the at least one pharmacy system that sent the query, the method comprising:
 disposing, electronically, the clearinghouse between the plurality of physician office practice management systems and the at least one pharmacy system;   transmitting the electronic prescription via the clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system;   coupling the at least one pharmacy system to the clearinghouse, such that the image of the prescription is received via the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system together with auto-populated fields relating to the image of the prescription, such that the pharmacist is capable of verifying the auto-populated fields of the prescription; and   including a reply server at the clearinghouse for correlating a query about the electronic prescription as submitted to the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system, wherein correlating by the clearinghouse comprises the following steps:   receiving the query at the reply server as submitted to the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system;   sending a message to the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems from which the electronic prescription was transmitted in the step of transmitting;   correlating, at the clearinghouse, the query about the electronic prescription as submitted to the clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system and the answer to the query sent by the one of the plurality of physician practice management systems, without speaking by telephone, providing two-way digital communications using a two-way communication protocol for the pharmacist to electronically send the query to the clearinghouse about the prescription and for the at least one pharmacy system to receive from the reply server of the clearinghouse the answer to the query electronically sent by the one of the plurality of physician practice management systems, whereby the pharmacist or another pharmacist is notified of the receipt of the answer from the one of the plurality of physician practice management systems.   
     
     
         12 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 monitoring the time elapsed between the time that the query is made in the step of querying and receipt of the answer, if any; and   
       flagging the query as having a higher urgency if the answer is not timely received. 
     
     
         13 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 12 , wherein the step of flagging occurs if two hours is elapsed from the time that the query is made in the step of querying without receipt of the answer. 
     
     
         14 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 alerting, automatically, a prescribing prescriber of the query if the query is flagged as urgent.   
     
     
         15 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 14 , wherein the step of alerting includes an email sent by the clearinghouse to the prescribing prescriber, wherein the email is flagged as urgent. 
     
     
         16 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 15 , wherein the email flagged as urgent provides a selection of yes/no for responding to the query, and wherein selecting yes or no from the selection of the email sent by the clearinghouse automatically transmits a response from the reply server of the clearinghouse to the at least one pharmacy system via the two-way digital communications provided by the reply server of the clearinghouse.