Abstract: An inventory management system provided by an inventory management service provider senses removal of medical items from inventory to be dispensed to a patient. The system processes billing information to identify the patient's medical insurance provider, to identify a medical item supplier that is the preferred biller for the patient's medical insurance provider, and to determine whether the inventory management service provider is the identified preferred biller. If the inventory management service provider is the preferred biller, the system generates an invoice from the inventory management service provider to bill the patient's medical insurance provider.

Abstract: An inventory management system manages information related to items, such as implants, used during a medical surgical procedure. The inventory management system includes an inventory management computer and an item inventory database. The inventory management computer executes an inventory management application to process item usage information. The item usage information includes item identification information and quantity information for each item used during performance of the medical surgical procedure. The inventory management application associates the item usage information with a particular surgical case at a particular customer surgical facility. The inventory management computer receives the item usage information from a customer computer at the customer surgical facility via a wide area network, such as the Internet.