AUTOMATED METHOD FOR FILLING DRUG PRESCRIPTIONS

An automated prescription filling system which assists the physician in providing a prescription and/or assists he pharmacist in filling a prescription in which the physician enters prescription information into his/her computer by which a bar coded prescription may be printed out. The prescription printed out includes a bar code containing all pertinent information including drug specification, dose strength, taking instructions, physician identification as well as corresponding human-readable typed information. The patient takes the prescription into the pharmacy and the pharmacist fills the prescription either in the conventional fashion since the prescription contains all the necessary information in typed form, or the pharmacist scans the bar code(s) and the prescription is automatically entered into pharmacy computer. The pharmacist then selects the matching drug from the shelf container and scans the NDC (National Drug Code) bar-code on the container. The system confirms a match between the NDC and the prescription and then permits issue of the prescription, printing out a vial label.