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.

1 . An electronic prescription processing system for at least one pharmacy system coupled to a network, the electronic processing system comprising:
 a multi-path clearinghouse coupled to the network and coupling over the network the at least one pharmacy system to a plurality of physician office practice management systems, each of the plurality of physician office practice management systems having at least one prescriber, wherein the multi-path clearinghouse automatically correlates any query initiated by one of the at least one pharmacy system, and directed to a specific one of the at least one prescriber of the plurality of physician office practice management systems, with an answer from the specific one of the at least one prescriber of the plurality of physician office practice management systems, when the specific one of the at least one prescriber of the plurality of physician office practice management systems answers the any query;   the multi-path clearinghouse comprises automated two-way digital communications between the at least one pharmacy system and any of the plurality of physician office practice management systems having access to the multi-path clearinghouse, wherein two-way digital communications is defined as comprising delivery of any electronic prescription from a specific prescriber of any of the plurality of physician office practice management systems directed to one of the at least one pharmacy system such that the multi-path clearinghouse directs the any electronic prescription to the one of the at least one pharmacy system and receipt of any query initiated by the one of the at least one pharmacy system about the any electronic prescription back to the specific prescriber via the multi-path clearinghouse such that, when the specific prescriber provides an immediate response to the any query of the one of the at least one pharmacy system using the any of the plurality of physician office practice management systems via the multi-path clearinghouse, the multi-path clearinghouse immediately directs the immediate response back to the at least one pharmacy system that initiated the any query; and   the multi-path clearinghouse is electronically arranged between the plurality of physician office practice management systems and the at least one pharmacy system, such that an electronic prescription is transmitted to the multi-path clearinghouse from any of the plurality of physician office practice management systems and is directed to any of the at least one pharmacy system; and   the automated two-way digital communications of the multi-path clearinghouse includes a reply server, and the reply server correlates the any query by any of the at least one pharmacy system about any electronic prescription transmitted through the multi-channel clearinghouse to the any of the at least one pharmacy system for any specific one of the at least one prescriber of the plurality of physician office practice management systems that originally transmitted the any electronic prescription to the multi-path clearinghouse, such that the reply server of the automated two-way digital communications of the multi-path clearinghouse automatically correlates an answer from the any specific one of the at least one prescriber to the any query by the any of the at least one pharmacy system and directs the answer back to the any of the at least one pharmacy system that originated the any query, without speaking by telephone, such that the two-way digital communications protocol directs the answer to the any of the at least one pharmacy system that sent the any query.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein, the reply server includes a batch processor for automatically correlating any of a plurality of queries from one or more of the at least one pharmacy system in a batch process using a single electronic transmission from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-path 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 multi-path clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems; and the alternative drug selection system provides the one or more alternatives to the plurality of physician office practice management systems for selection by the specific prescriber on a display of the one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems, the electronic prescription processing system awaiting selection of the one or more alternatives before the multi-path clearinghouse submits the electronic prescription to the at least one pharmacy system, wherein the electronic prescription processing system intercepts the electronic prescription and automatically queries the prescriber whether the alternative drug should be substituted before the multi-path clearinghouse submits the electronic prescription to the at least one pharmacy system. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-path clearinghouse includes a verification system for verifying the identity and authority of the specific 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 multi-path 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 the multi-path 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 system. 
     
     
         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 multi-path clearinghouse, wherein two-way digital communications are established between the interface system and the multi-path clearinghouse. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-path clearinghouse comprises a notification system arranged to provide a notification of an alternative pharmacy or a substitute prescription item to 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 or if the drug or the at least one alternative drug is available at lower cost to a patient or an insurance plan, the notification system presenting the plurality of physician office practice management systems an option for selecting the alternative pharmacy or a substitute prescription item, and waiting for a response before transmitting a prescription. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , wherein the multi-path clearinghouse includes a timer and the timer triggers if one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems does not timely reply to the any query. 
     
     
         11 . A method of processing an electronic prescription using the electronic prescription processing system of  claim 1 , the method comprising:
 coupling, over a network, a multi-path clearinghouse to at least one pharmacy system and to a plurality of physician office practice management systems, each of the plurality of physician office practice management systems having at least one prescriber;   receiving, at the multi-path clearinghouse, an electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber;   transmitting, from the multi-path clearinghouse, the electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber to one of the at least one pharmacy system;   receiving, at the multi-path clearinghouse, a query about the electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber from the one of the at least one pharmacy system;   automatically directing, using the multi-path clearinghouse, a message about the query about the electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber to the at least one prescriber;   receiving, at the multi-path clearinghouse, an answer as an immediate response from the prescriber relating to the query about the electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber;   automatically directing, using the multi-path clearinghouse, the answer from the prescriber relating to the query about the electronic prescription prescribed by the at least one prescriber to the one of the at least one pharmacy system;   wherein the multi-path clearinghouse facilitates automated two-way digital communications between the at least one pharmacy system and any of the at least one prescriber of each of the plurality of physician office practice management systems having access to the multi-path clearinghouse; and   arranging the multi-path clearinghouse electronically 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 multi-path clearinghouse from one of the plurality of physician office practice management systems to the at least one pharmacy system; and   wherein the multi-path clearinghouse includes a reply server, the reply server comprising a two-way digital communications protocol, correlating the query about the electronic prescription as submitted to the multi-path clearinghouse by the at least one pharmacy system using the two-way digital communications protocol, and   correlating, using the two-way digital communications protocol, the answer to the query 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 to the multi-path clearinghouse, without human intervention; and the answer providing an immediate response to the query.   
     
     
         12 . The method of processing an electronic prescription of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 monitoring a time elapsed between a 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, the at least one 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 multi-path 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 multi-path clearinghouse automatically transmits a response from the reply server of the multi-path clearinghouse to the at least one pharmacy system via the two-way digital communications provided by the reply server of the multi-path clearinghouse.