System and software of enhanced pharmaceutical operations in long-term care facilities and related methods

A computer implemented method of remote pharmacy management of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the method comprising:

• scheduling on a computer one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein and being located at a patient care facility;
• dispensing of at least one medication of a plurality of medications stored in bulk on one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts located at a plurality of long term care facilities, the dispensing performed through the one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts according to patient specific prescription requirements;
• processing control data from a computer by each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts;
• individually retrieving, responsive to the control data, the at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk based on the schedule provided by the one or more computers;
• loading, responsive to the control data, the at least one medication into one of the plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages to thereby package the at least one medication in the one of the a plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages;
• dispensing, responsive to the control data, the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby dispense medication by authorized medical personnel after separating the container from the cart when having the packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein according to patient specific prescription requirements;, dispensed for authorized medical personnel to administer to patients;
• receiving by a computer dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;
• processing, on a computer the received, dispensing data received from each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;
• processing, on a computer, billing records including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities based on the received dispensing data, the billing data including a reimbursement provider;
• consolidating the billing data according to the reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for indicating medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider;
• and
• submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims from a computer to each respective reimbursement provider.

A One or more non-transitory computer readable media having tangibly embodied thereon computer readable pharmacy management program product stored on one or more tangible computer readable storage media code, the pharmacy management program product code comprising a set of instructions that when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform the following operations:

• scheduling one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication according to patient specific prescription requirements through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein;
• scheduling a dispensing of at least one medication of a plurality of medications stored in bulk on one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts located at a plurality of long term care facilities, the dispensing performed through the one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts according to patient specific prescription requirements;
• processing control data by each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts to individually retrieve the at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk, load the at least one medication into one of the a plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages, package the at least one medication, and dispense the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby have dispensed medication distributed by authorized medical personnel according to the patient specific prescription requirements after separating the container from the cart when having the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein;
• for distribution by authorized medical personnel according to the patient specific prescription requirements;
• receiving dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;
• processing the received dispensing data so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;
• processing separate billing record data including billing data for each of the plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities based on the received dispensing data, the billing data being indexed by a reimbursement provider;
• consolidating the billing data according to the reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for indicating medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider;
• and
• submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.

A One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media having tangibly embodied thereon computer readable pharmacy management program product stored on one or more tangible computer readable storage media code, the pharmacy management program product code comprising a set of instructions that when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform the following operations:

• scheduling one or more preselected time intervals for dispensing of at least one medication according to patient specific prescription requirements through each of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts having a plurality of different medications stored in bulk therein and being located at a different long term care facility;
• scheduling a dispensing of at least one medication of a plurality of medications stored in bulk on one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts located at a plurality of long term care facilities, the dispensing performed through the one of a plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts according to patient specific prescription requirements;
• controlling each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts to individually retrieve the at least one medication of the plurality of different medications stored in bulk, load the at least one medication into one of the a plurality of disposable individual patient dosing packages, package the at least one medication, and dispense the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages into a container associated with the cart to thereby have dispensed medication distributed by authorized medical personnel according to the patient specific prescription requirements after separating the container from the cart when having the loaded and packaged one of the plurality of individual patient dosing packages therein;
• for distribution by authorized medical personnel according to patient specific prescription requirements;
• receiving dispensing data including which at least one medication was actually dispensed to a patient;
• processing the received dispensing data so that only medication actually dispensed is to be billed;
• processing billing records based on medication dispensing data received from each of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts, the billing records including billing data for each of the a plurality of patients at each of the plurality of long-term care facilities, the billing data for each long-term care patient being indexed by a reimbursement provider;
• consolidating the billing data according to the reimbursement provider to thereby generate reimbursements from one or more reimbursement providers, the billing data also including billing data for indicating medications actually dispensed to a respective patient from at least one of the plurality of pharmaceutical storage and electronic dispensing carts so that only medication actually dispensed is billed to the reimbursement provider;
• and
• submitting separate consolidated reimbursement claims to each respective reimbursement provider.