Description:

Tele pharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present disclosure relates to tele pharmacy systems, more particularly, to remote monitoring platforms integrating tele pharmacist oversight, clinical analytics, and patient connectivity for heart failure management in rural areas.
Background
[0002] The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
[0003] Heart failure is a chronic condition characterized by impaired cardiac output, fluid retention, and recurrent hospitalizations. Effective management requires frequent monitoring of weight, blood pressure, medication adherence, and early recognition of decompensation symptoms. While pharmacological interventions including diuretics, beta-blockers, and ACE inhibitors reduce morbidity, patient outcomes depend heavily on continuous monitoring and adherence support. In rural areas, limited access to specialized cardiologists and pharmacists presents major challenges to care delivery. Patients often rely on primary care centers with limited resources, resulting in delayed interventions, poor medication optimization, and increased readmissions.
[0004] Conventional telemedicine systems have focused primarily on physician–patient interactions and vital sign monitoring. However, they often lack specialized pharmacotherapy oversight, which is critical for heart failure patients due to polypharmacy risks and narrow therapeutic indices. Pharmacist involvement is essential for medication reconciliation, drug interaction detection, and personalized counseling. Existing remote monitoring systems also face challenges in rural deployment due to poor internet connectivity, lack of data integration with electronic health records, and absence of asynchronous communication frameworks.
[0005] Prior solutions relying on smartphone apps or wearable sensors are limited by literacy requirements, inconsistent connectivity, and absence of culturally adapted educational content. Without pharmacist integration, such platforms fail to provide medication-specific interventions, which are crucial for managing complex regimens.
[0006] Accordingly, there is a need for a telepharmacy platform specifically designed for rural deployment, integrating real-time patient data acquisition, advanced analytics for decompensation risk prediction, pharmacist dashboards for drug optimization, and patient-facing modules for adherence support. The disclosed platform addresses these unmet needs by providing an integrated pharmacotherapy-focused telehealth framework optimized for heart failure patients in underserved rural areas.
Summary
[0007] The following presents a simplified summary of various aspects of this disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements nor delineate the scope of such aspects. Its purpose is to present some concepts of this disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
[0008] The following paragraphs provide additional support for the claims of the subject application.
[0009] The disclosure pertains to a tele pharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas is disclosed. The platform comprises a patient interface module configured to collect physiological data and self-reported symptoms through connected monitoring devices and digital applications. A data acquisition gateway transmits data to a centralized tele pharmacy server with low-bandwidth optimization for rural connectivity. A clinical analytics engine applies threshold detection, predictive modeling, and pharmacological algorithms to assess decompensation risks and medication safety. A tele pharmacist interface provides dashboards for remote review of adherence patterns, adverse reaction reports, and laboratory results.
[00010] The platform further includes a patient counselling module delivering multimedia education, medication reminders, and lifestyle guidance adapted to literacy levels. A caregiver integration module enables family members or community health workers to participate in monitoring. Secure data storage, interoperability with electronic health records, and regulatory audit trails ensure compliance and scalability.
[00011] The method of operation includes capturing patient physiological and self-reported data, transmitting through optimized gateways, processing via analytics engines, reviewing by tele pharmacists, and delivering feedback through patient counseling modules. Integration of monitoring, analytics, pharmacist oversight, and rural communication frameworks provides a comprehensive tele pharmacy solution for heart failure management.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[00012] The features and advantages of the present disclosure would be more clearly understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
[00013] FIG. 1 illustrates a deployment architecture diagram of the tele pharmacy platform showing integration of patient monitoring devices, rural communication gateways, cloud-based tele pharmacy servers, tele pharmacist dashboards, and patient counselling modules, in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure.
[00014] FIG. 2 illustrates a method flow diagram showing the operational process beginning with patient physiological data capture, proceeding through rural transmission gateways, analytics processing, pharmacist review, and delivery of personalized counselling and alerts, in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure.
[00015] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of the core tele pharmacy server showing internal functional modules including data ingestion, analytics engine, drug interaction models, alerting system, reporting dashboards, and interoperability interfaces with electronic health records, in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Detailed Description
[00016] In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. In the drawings, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to claim those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
[00017] The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and “at least one” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The use of the term “at least one” followed by a list of one or more items (for example, “at least one of A and B”) is to be construed to mean one item selected from the listed items (A or B) or any combination of two or more of the listed items (A and B), unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
[00018] Pursuant to the "Detailed Description" section herein, whenever an element is explicitly associated with a specific numeral for the first time, such association shall be deemed consistent and applicable throughout the entirety of the "Detailed Description" section, unless otherwise expressly stated or contradicted by the context.
[00019] The disclosed tele pharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas integrates hardware, software, and clinical workflows into a unified framework designed to address the unique challenges of underserved populations. The system provides real-time monitoring of patient conditions, predictive analytics for risk stratification, and pharmacist-driven interventions for medication optimization.
[00020] The operational flow begins with the patient interface module. Patients are provided with connected devices such as digital blood pressure cuffs, weight scales, and pulse oximeters. These devices transmit physiological data to a smartphone or tablet application designed with user-friendly interfaces. In low-literacy settings, the application may be voice-assisted, enabling patients to report symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, or edema without text entry. The module timestamps each measurement and encrypts the data for secure transfer.
[00021] The data acquisition gateway receives inputs from the patient interface and applies low-bandwidth optimization protocols. Store-and-forward mechanisms allow data packets to be transmitted asynchronously when connectivity is intermittent. Offline caching ensures that no data is lost during network outages. The gateway is configured for rural mobile networks, enabling transmission to centralized telepharmacy servers even in remote villages.
[00022] The centralized telepharmacy server receives the aggregated data and routes it into the clinical analytics engine. The analytics engine applies threshold rules, for example identifying when a patient’s weight increases by more than two kilograms in three days, which may indicate fluid retention. Machine learning models evaluate trends across multiple parameters, identifying early signals of decompensation. Predictive models generate hospitalization risk scores, enabling prioritization of patients requiring intervention. Pharmacological models evaluate potential drug interactions, dose appropriateness, and adherence patterns.
[00023] The telepharmacist interface presents results to remote pharmacists through dashboards. Each dashboard includes patient medication histories, adherence timelines, vital sign trends, and flagged alerts. Pharmacists can review flagged cases, recommend dosage adjustments, and identify potential interactions. Communication tools within the platform allow secure messaging or video consultations between pharmacists and patients. This pharmacist-led oversight differentiates the system from physician-centric telemedicine platforms by focusing on drug safety and adherence optimization.
[00024] The patient counseling module delivers personalized interventions back to patients. Multimedia educational content, including voice messages, animations, and culturally adapted infographics, supports patients with varying literacy levels. Reminders for medication timing are delivered via SMS or voice prompts, ensuring accessibility even without smartphones. Lifestyle guidance, including recommendations for fluid

restriction, salt reduction, and activity moderation, is integrated with pharmacological advice.
[00025] The rural connectivity framework ensures reliable operation in low-resource environments. SMS-based alerts notify caregivers and community health workers of urgent risks. Offline-to-online synchronization allows patient data to be collected by local health workers and uploaded when connectivity is restored. This hybrid approach ensures inclusivity in regions where infrastructure is unreliable.
[00026] In a first embodiment, the platform operates as a cloud-based centralized telepharmacy hub. All patient data from rural sites is transmitted to a single server where analytics and pharmacist review are performed. This embodiment benefits from centralized scalability and uniform oversight.
[00027] In a second embodiment, the platform is deployed as a hybrid system with local edge servers installed in regional health centers. Data are pre-processed locally, with high-risk alerts escalated to the central hub. This embodiment reduces latency and enables faster response times in acute scenarios.
[00028] In a third embodiment, the platform integrates community health workers. Local workers are equipped with tablets that synchronize with the telepharmacy system. They collect patient data, provide in-person counseling, and act as intermediaries for remote pharmacists. This embodiment enhances human support in rural contexts and improves adherence monitoring.
[00029] Operational flows are reiterated across scenarios. In a daily monitoring context, patients record weight, blood pressure, and symptoms, which are transmitted to the telepharmacy server. The analytics engine detects abnormalities, and pharmacists review cases within hours, ensuring rapid intervention. In a medication adherence context, the system logs pill intake confirmations and sends reminders, enabling longitudinal adherence tracking. In a risk stratification context, predictive algorithms analyze multi-week trends, generating early warnings for decompensation that prevent hospitalizations.
[00030] Technical benefits include continuous monitoring of vulnerable heart failure patients, integration of pharmacist expertise into telehealth ecosystems, and deployment in rural environments with poor connectivity. The system ensures safety through pharmacotherapy-focused oversight, scalability through cloud-based analytics, and inclusivity through offline-compatible patient interfaces.
[00031] Thus, the disclosed telepharmacy platform provides an adaptable, patient-centered, and pharmacist-led solution for managing heart failure in rural areas. By combining connected devices, analytics engines, telepharmacist dashboards, and patient counseling modules, the system transforms rural cardiac care by enabling real-time pharmacovigilance, adherence monitoring, and personalized intervention.
[00032] Figure 1 provides a deployment architecture diagram illustrating the distributed structure of the telepharmacy platform. At the periphery, patients in rural areas utilize connected devices such as digital weight scales, blood pressure monitors, and pulse oximeters linked to smartphones or voice-assisted hubs. These devices communicate through a rural connectivity gateway employing mobile networks, SMS fallback, and offline caching for unreliable environments. Data are transmitted to centralized cloud-based telepharmacy servers, where processing and analytics are performed. The servers connect to telepharmacist dashboards accessible from regional hospitals or urban centers, enabling pharmacists to review medication adherence, analyze alerts, and communicate with patients. Patient counseling modules integrated with the mobile application provide multimedia reminders, lifestyle education, and pharmacist feedback. This deployment architecture demonstrates the distributed yet unified nature of the system. Patient-facing devices, rural communication infrastructure, centralized servers, and professional dashboards operate in a coordinated manner. The technical benefit lies in scalability and resilience, ensuring that heart failure patients in resource-limited environments remain continuously monitored with pharmacist-led oversight.
[00033] Figure 2 illustrates a method flow diagram describing the sequential steps executed by the telepharmacy system. The flow begins with patient physiological data acquisition through connected devices and manual symptom reporting. Data are aggregated and transmitted by the rural communication gateway using bandwidth-optimized protocols. The telepharmacy server receives the data and directs it into the analytics engine, where threshold detection and predictive modeling identify anomalies or adherence deviations. Confirmed outputs are reviewed by telepharmacists through dashboards, where drug safety evaluations and personalized adjustments are performed. Finally, results are communicated back to the patient through alerts, reminders, and educational interventions delivered by the counseling module. This sequential representation clarifies temporal order and interdependence of tasks. The technical advantage of this arrangement is operational transparency, where each successive stage builds upon validated outputs of the previous stage, thereby ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and safety of clinical decisions.
[00034] Figure 3 illustrates a block diagram of the internal functional architecture of the telepharmacy server. Incoming data from rural gateways first enter the ingestion module, which anonymizes, standardizes, and validates patient records. The data flow proceeds to the analytics engine, which executes algorithms for anomaly detection and predictive risk scoring. Within the analytics engine resides the drug interaction and medication adherence sub-modules that evaluate pharmacological risks and dosing consistency. Outputs are forwarded to the alerting system, which stratifies severity and issues notifications to telepharmacists or caregivers. The reporting dashboards module generates dynamic visualizations for professional oversight. Finally, an interoperability interface connects the telepharmacy server with electronic health records and regulatory systems, ensuring compliance and continuity of care. This block structure emphasizes the modular yet integrated composition of the platform. Each subsystem executes a defined function, while the orchestrated interconnections ensure cohesive delivery of clinical decision support. The technical benefit arises from structured separation of roles, enabling both scalability of analytics and secure compliance with health data standards.
[00035] Operations in accordance with a variety of aspects of the disclosure is described above would not have to be performed in the precise order described. Rather, various steps can be handled in reverse order or simultaneously or not at all.
[00036] While several implementations have been described and illustrated herein, a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein may be utilized, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the implementations described herein. More generally, all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific implementations described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing implementations are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, implementations may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Implementations of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.
 

Claims
I/We Claim:
1. A telepharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas, comprising: a patient interface module configured to capture physiological data including weight, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation using connected monitoring devices; a data acquisition gateway configured to aggregate patient-generated data and transmit said data to a centralized telepharmacy server through secure communication protocols; a clinical analytics engine configured to process said patient data using threshold-based detection, predictive algorithms, and pharmacological models to identify decompensation risks; a telepharmacist interface configured to provide remote review of medication adherence, drug interactions, and adverse reaction reports; a patient counseling module configured to deliver personalized medication reminders, educational interventions, and lifestyle modification guidance; and a rural connectivity framework comprising low-bandwidth optimization, offline caching, and mobile network integration, wherein the platform supports continuous pharmacotherapy management for heart failure patients.
2. The platform of claim 1, wherein the patient interface module further comprises a smartphone application, tablet application, or voice-assisted device configured to collect self-reported symptoms including fatigue, dyspnea, and edema, thereby complementing physiological monitoring.
3. The platform of claim 1, wherein the clinical analytics engine further comprises machine learning models configured to predict hospitalization risk based on combined medication adherence patterns and real-time physiological data, thereby enabling pre-emptive intervention.
4. The platform of claim 1, wherein the telepharmacist interface comprises electronic dashboards displaying patient medication profiles, laboratory reports, adherence history, and flagged alerts, thereby facilitating medication optimization and adverse reaction prevention.
5. The platform of claim 1, wherein the rural connectivity framework comprises asynchronous communication features including SMS notifications, store-and-forward data packets, and offline-to-online synchronization, thereby ensuring functionality in low-connectivity environments.
6. The platform of claim 1, wherein the patient counseling module further comprises multimedia educational content including voice prompts, videos, and visual infographics, thereby enhancing comprehension for patients with varying literacy levels.
7. The platform of claim 1, wherein the telepharmacy server further comprises integration with electronic health records, cloud-based storage, and regulatory-compliant audit trails, thereby ensuring interoperability and data security.
8. The platform of claim 1, wherein the platform further comprises a caregiver integration module configured to allow family members or community health workers to access patient data and receive alerts, thereby enhancing adherence monitoring.
9. The platform of claim 1, wherein the clinical analytics engine further incorporates drug–disease interaction models to adjust recommendations for comorbidities including diabetes and hypertension, thereby enabling comprehensive pharmacotherapy management.
10. The platform of claim 1, wherein integration of patient monitoring devices, clinical analytics, telepharmacist oversight, personalized counseling, and rural connectivity optimization within a unified telepharmacy framework provides remote, real-time pharmacological support for heart failure patients in underserved rural regions

Tele pharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas
Abstract
A telepharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas is disclosed. The platform comprises a patient interface module configured to collect physiological data and self-reported symptoms, a data acquisition gateway optimized for low-bandwidth rural networks, and a centralized telepharmacy server. A clinical analytics engine applies predictive models to identify decompensation risks, while a telepharmacist interface provides dashboards for medication optimization, adherence tracking, and adverse reaction management. A patient counseling module delivers multimedia education and reminders, while caregiver integration enables family involvement. The platform further comprises interoperability with electronic health records and regulatory-compliant audit trails. Integration of monitoring devices, analytics, pharmacist oversight, and rural communication optimization within a unified framework enables real-time, remote pharmacotherapy support for heart failure patients in underserved areas..
Fig. 1
, Claims:Claims
I/We Claim:
1. A telepharmacy platform for remote monitoring of heart failure patients in rural areas, comprising: a patient interface module configured to capture physiological data including weight, heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation using connected monitoring devices; a data acquisition gateway configured to aggregate patient-generated data and transmit said data to a centralized telepharmacy server through secure communication protocols; a clinical analytics engine configured to process said patient data using threshold-based detection, predictive algorithms, and pharmacological models to identify decompensation risks; a telepharmacist interface configured to provide remote review of medication adherence, drug interactions, and adverse reaction reports; a patient counseling module configured to deliver personalized medication reminders, educational interventions, and lifestyle modification guidance; and a rural connectivity framework comprising low-bandwidth optimization, offline caching, and mobile network integration, wherein the platform supports continuous pharmacotherapy management for heart failure patients.
2. The platform of claim 1, wherein the patient interface module further comprises a smartphone application, tablet application, or voice-assisted device configured to collect self-reported symptoms including fatigue, dyspnea, and edema, thereby complementing physiological monitoring.
3. The platform of claim 1, wherein the clinical analytics engine further comprises machine learning models configured to predict hospitalization risk based on combined medication adherence patterns and real-time physiological data, thereby enabling pre-emptive intervention.
4. The platform of claim 1, wherein the telepharmacist interface comprises electronic dashboards displaying patient medication profiles, laboratory reports, adherence history, and flagged alerts, thereby facilitating medication optimization and adverse reaction prevention.
5. The platform of claim 1, wherein the rural connectivity framework comprises asynchronous communication features including SMS notifications, store-and-forward data packets, and offline-to-online synchronization, thereby ensuring functionality in low-connectivity environments.
6. The platform of claim 1, wherein the patient counseling module further comprises multimedia educational content including voice prompts, videos, and visual infographics, thereby enhancing comprehension for patients with varying literacy levels.
7. The platform of claim 1, wherein the telepharmacy server further comprises integration with electronic health records, cloud-based storage, and regulatory-compliant audit trails, thereby ensuring interoperability and data security.
8. The platform of claim 1, wherein the platform further comprises a caregiver integration module configured to allow family members or community health workers to access patient data and receive alerts, thereby enhancing adherence monitoring.
9. The platform of claim 1, wherein the clinical analytics engine further incorporates drug–disease interaction models to adjust recommendations for comorbidities including diabetes and hypertension, thereby enabling comprehensive pharmacotherapy management.
10. The platform of claim 1, wherein integration of patient monitoring devices, clinical analytics, telepharmacist oversight, personalized counseling, and rural connectivity optimization within a unified telepharmacy framework provides remote, real-time pharmacological support for heart failure patients in underserved rural regions