Granted Patent B1

US 8,433,587 · App. 12/406,427 · Granted Apr 30, 2013

Inventor: Mark Cullen (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Remscripts, LLC

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A method of communicating a medical prescription from a mobile processing system, the method comprising:

receiving a first request to fulfill the medical prescription from the mobile processing system, the first request being formatted in an instant messaging protocol and including a mobile processing system identifier and a transaction identifier, the mobile processing system identifier being a phone number of the mobile processing system and the transaction identifier being in Common Short Code in the instant messaging protocol;

identifying a patient identifier that is associated with the mobile processing system identifier, the patient identifier being a patient name;

accessing a data structure that comprises a plurality of patient identifiers, a plurality of transactions associated with the plurality the patient identifiers, a plurality of transaction identifiers that are associated with the plurality of transactions, and a plurality of associations between each of the plurality of transactions and each of the plurality of transaction identifiers, each transaction being an interaction associated with a fulfillment of the medical prescription, each transaction identifier in the data structure being in the Common Short Code;

identifying, from the data structure, one or more transactions in the plurality of transactions that are associated with the transaction identifier included in the first request;

determining, based on the data structure, a patient-specific transaction from among the identified transactions, the patient-specific transaction being associated with the patient identifier corresponding to the mobile processing system identifier included in the first request; and

transmitting the patient-specific transaction in a second request to a pharmacy system, the pharmacy system configured to fulfill the medical prescription.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a message from the pharmacy system regarding a fulfillment of the medical prescription; and

transmitting the message to the mobile processing system, the message configured to be formatted in the instant messaging protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying patient information associated with the patient identifier; and

transmitting the patient information with the second request to the pharmacy system.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the patient information includes a store identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a third request from the pharmacy system to transmit a reminder to the mobile processing system, the reminder being a message to fulfill the medical prescription at a future date; and

transmitting the reminder to the mobile processing system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile processing system identifier is a phone number of the mobile processing system.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile processing system is a mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instant messaging protocol is a Short Message Service (SMS) protocol.

9. A non-transitory, machine-readable medium that stores instructions, which when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a message from a pharmacy system regarding a fulfillment of a medical prescription corresponding to a user;

accessing a user-specific schedule corresponding to the user, the user-specific schedule specifying at least one of a user-specified time and user-specified date when the message can be transmitted to a mobile processing system associated with the user; and

transmitting the message to the mobile processing system based on the user-specific schedule, the message configured to be formatted in an instant messaging protocol.

10. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the message is transmitted to the mobile processing system by way of an instant messaging aggregator, the instant messaging aggregator configured to format the message in the instant messaging protocol.

11. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when performed by the machine, cause the machine to perform operations further comprising formatting the message in the instant messaging protocol.

12. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the message is a confirmation that the medical prescription is to be fulfilled.

13. The non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the message is a notification that the medical prescription is ready for pickup.

14. A processing system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory in communication with the at least one processor, the memory being configured to store a request handler module that is executable by the at least one processor, the request handler module having instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising:

receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) request from a mobile phone to fulfill a medical prescription, the SMS request including a phone number of the mobile phone and a transaction identifier in Common Short Code in the instant messaging protocol;

identifying a patient identifier that is associated with the phone number;

accessing a data structure that is configured to store a plurality of patient identifiers, a plurality of transactions associated with the plurality of patient identifiers, a plurality of transaction identifiers, and a plurality of associations between each of the plurality of transactions and each of the plurality of transaction identifiers, each transaction identifier being in Common Short Code, each transaction defining a type of medical prescription to be fulfilled;

identifying, from the data structure, a match of the transaction identifier included in the SMS request with one of the plurality of transaction identifiers;

identifying, from the data structure, one or more transactions of the plurality of transactions that are associated with the one of the plurality of transaction identifiers, based on one or more of the plurality of associations between the one or more of the plurality of transactions and the one of the plurality of transaction identifiers;

determining, based on the data structure, a patient-specific transaction from among the identified transactions, the patient-specific transaction being associated with the patient identifier corresponding to the phone number included in the SMS request;

transmitting the patient-specific transaction in a request to a pharmacy system;

receiving a message from the pharmacy system regarding a fulfillment of the medical prescription; and

transmitting the message to the mobile phone by way of a SMS aggregator, the SMS aggregator configured to format the message in SMS.

15. The processing system of claim 14 , wherein the processing system is an application server.

16. The processing system of claim 14 , wherein the operation of identifying the patient identifier comprises:

accessing a data structure that is configured to store a plurality of patient identifiers, a plurality of phone numbers, and a plurality of associations between each of the plurality of patient identifiers and each of the plurality of phone numbers;

identifying a match of the phone number of the mobile phone with one of the plurality of phone numbers; and

identifying one of the plurality of patient identifiers that is associated with the one of the plurality of phone numbers based on one of the plurality of associations between the one of the plurality of patient identifiers and the one of the plurality of phone numbers.

17. The processing system of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a further request from the pharmacy system to transmit a reminder to the mobile phone, the reminder being a further message to fulfill the medical prescription at a future date;

identifying a schedule associated with the further request; and

transmitting the reminder to the mobile phone based on the schedule.

Assignments (8)

Continuity (1)