Medication management systems and methods for health and health related facilities

A method for providing a configurable canister with a memory thereon, the method comprising:

• storing a first dataset in a data storage (i) separate from the memory and (ii) not in the memory, the first dataset comprising medication information identifying at least a type of medication to be stored in the configurable canister for dispensing by an automated dispensing machine (ADM) in communication with the data storage;
• storing a second dataset in the data storage (i) separate from the memory and (ii) not in the memory, the second dataset comprising a code corresponding to a structural configuration of the configurable canister, the structural configuration of the configurable canister corresponding to attributes of the type of medication to be stored in the configurable canister for dispensing by the ADM;
• configuring the configurable canister in accordance with the structural configuration, wherein at least the type of medication in the first dataset is associated with the structural configuration in the second dataset and the association is stored in the data storage (i) separate from the memory and (ii) not in the memory;
• identifying, from the memory of the configurable canister, data representing a canister identifier stored thereon;
• storing, in the data storage, the canister identifier that was read from the memory of the configurable canister;
• associating, in the data storage, (a) the canister identifier, (b) the structural configuration, and (c) the type of medication;
• storing the association of (a) the canister identifier, (b) the structural configuration, and (c) the type of medication in the data storage;
• and
• providing the canister identifier from the memory of the configurable canister, wherein the canister identifier is configured to be read from the memory of the configurable canister by the ADM, and wherein the ADM is configured to retrieve the type of medication in response to the identifying the canister identifier.

A configurable canister management system comprising:

• a configurable canister comprising a memory,
• wherein the memory is configured to communicate with a data storage and stores a canister identifier comprising (i) first data identifying the configurable canister, and (ii) second data corresponding to a number of times that the configurable canister has been attached to a filling station and filled with one or more medications,
• wherein the filling station is communicably coupled with the data storage, and
• wherein the data storage stores third data identifying a structural configuration of the configurable canister and associates the structural configuration with (i) the one or more medications and (ii) the canister identifier.

A method of filling and deploying a configurable canister with a medication, the method comprising:

• connecting the configurable canister to a filling station, wherein the configurable canister comprises:
• a main body for housing and releasing a plurality of medication comprising a plurality of individually provided medication;
• a memory coupled to the filling station and containing (i) canister information for identifying the configurable canister, and (ii) a fill for tracking a number of times the configurable canister is filled with the medication;
• reading, by the filling station, the canister information;
• writing, to a data storage, an update associated with the canister information, the update comprising data corresponding to a medication identifying code of the medication for filling into the configurable canister;
• disconnecting the configurable canister from the filling station and connecting the configurable canister to an automated dispensing machine (ADM);
• reading the canister information from the configurable canister;
• and
• retrieving, from the data storage, additional data associated with the canister information, the additional data comprising the medication identifying code of the medication in the configurable canister.

A method of configuring configurable canisters to dispense a medication, the method comprising:

• providing, by a filling station to a data storage, a medication identifying code of the medication for filling into a configurable canister;
• retrieving, from the data storage, a canister configuration corresponding to the configurable canister indicated to be compatible with attributes of the medication associated with the medication identifying code;
• retrieving a set of canister identifiers, each canister identifier of the set of canister identifiers is associated with an unavailable configurable canister that (i) is presently unavailable and (ii) has another canister configuration that is available for use with the filling station;
• in response to retrieving no available configurable canister associated with the set of canister identifiers, retrieving a part list associated with at least one medication identifying code corresponding to at least the canister configuration compatible with the attributes of the medication;
• in response to retrieving the part list, providing data corresponding to human-readable instructions for changing at least one part of at least one unavailable configurable canister associated with the set of canister identifiers, wherein providing the data causes the at least one unavailable configurable canister to have a new canister configuration corresponding to compatibility with the attributes of the medication;
• reading, by the filling station, a canister identifier of the at least one unavailable configurable canister having the new canister configuration;
• and
• storing the canister identifier to additional data associated with the new canister configuration to document that the at least one unavailable configurable canister having the new canister configuration is now compatible with the attributes of the medication.