INTEGRATED PHARMACEUTICAL ACCOUNTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

Abstract of Disclosure An integrated suite of services for consumers, service providers and manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry is disclosed. The present invention utilizes one or more of the NCPDP standard formats and adopts the switch for an integrated system of, for example, instant adjudication of prescriptions, consumer data warehousing and/or incentive rewards for the consumer. A participating consumer with one card, can instantly purchase pharmaceuticals and charge the transaction to a credit card and earn and apply savings dollars redeemable for pharmaceutical purchases. For a participating service provider, instant adjudication and instant validation of consumer eligibility can be performed. Moreover, a service provider may receive messages related to the patient's medications. Significantly, data is recorded for consumers even when consumers make the pharmaceutical purchase with cash. The system includes a unique card issued to participating consumers. The card is adapted to encode conventional credit or debit card information specific to the participating consumer so that the consumer can consummate a transaction for the purchase of pharmaceuticals without possession of an additional credit card. The system further includes a host processor coupled to the point of sale at the service provider through a leased line or public switch network or the like. When a customer performs a pharmaceutical transaction at the point of sale of the service provider, the host processor coordinates any benefits and data with other prescription benefit management systems through messages transmitted and received from any primary or secondary carrier systems. The host processor further is adapted to facilitate real-time adjudication of claims and checks for any dangerous drug-to-drug interactions. The host processor additionally facilitates any financial processing including the accumulation and redemption of any bonus dollars earned by the consumer. Furthermore, since the card used by the consumer can be encoded with credit or debit card information, the host processor determines the desired payment method and performs the actual financial transaction. Even if the transaction at the point of sale is a cash purchase, the consumer may desire to use his unique card for the accrual of bonus dollars. Therefore, data concerning the transaction (i.e., pharmacy number, prescription number, etc.) can be recorded even for transactions conducted with cash.