Optimization of patient care team based on correlation of patient characteristics and care provider characteristics

• US 10,311,388 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2016
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merative US LP
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Olsen, Russell G., Pascali, Marina V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lam, Eliza A
• Application Number:
  US15/077,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20170278209A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/00 ICT specially adapted for the handling or processing of medical references
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/20 relating to practices or guidelines

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for matching patients with care providers. Patient information for a current patient, from at least one patient information source, is analyzed and a medical need of the current patient is determined. Patient information for a plurality of other patients associated with a plurality of care providers is analyzed and, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers, a measure of strength for a type of medical care corresponding to the at least one medical need is determined, based on results of the analysis of patient information for the plurality of other patients associated with the care provider. At least one care provider is selected for inclusion in a care team for the current patient based on the determined strengths of each care provider in the plurality of care providers. A care team data structure comprising information about the at least one care provider is output.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed in a data processing system, causes the data processing system to:

generate, by a personalized patient care plan creation and monitoring computing system, a personalized patient care plan for a current patient;

analyze, by the personalized patient care plan creation and monitoring computing system, current patient information for the current patient from at least one patient information source;

compare, by a needs identification engine of a personalized patient care team computing system, the current patient information to the personalized patient care plan to determine at least one medical need of the current patient, wherein the medical need indicates at least one failure of the current patient to perform one or more actions to adhere to requirements of the personalized patient care plan;

analyze, by the needs identification engine, patient information retrieved from a patient registry database, for a plurality of other patients associated with a plurality of care providers corresponding to entries in a practitioner registry database, with regard to compliance of the plurality of other patients in performing the one or more actions, to identify patients, in the plurality of other patients, that comply with performing the one or more actions associated with the at least one medical need of the current patient;

determine, by a practitioner strength evaluation engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers corresponding to entries in the practitioner registry database, a measure of strength for a type of medical care corresponding to the at least one medical need, based on results of the analysis of patient information for the plurality of other patients associated with the care provider, wherein the measure of strength indicates a strength of the care provider in causing patients in the plurality of patients to comply with the one or more actions associated with the at least one medical need of the current patient;

select, by a practitioner selection engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in a care team for the current patient based on the determined strengths of each care provider in the plurality of care providers;

update or create, by a care team update engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, a care team data structure comprising information about the at least one care provider in response to the selection of the at least one care provider; and

output, by a notification engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, a notification to a computing device associated with at least one of the selected at least one care provider or the current patient, a notification of the selection of the at least one care provider.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to determine, for a care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of medical care at least by calculating the measure of strength as a function of a number of patients that satisfy conditions of the type of care.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to determine, for a care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of care at least by calculating the measure of strength as a function of a degree of compliance, of each of a plurality of other patients associated with the care provider, with conditions of the type of care.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to select at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in a care team for the current patient at least by:

generating a ranked listing of care providers based on relative strengths of the care providers with regard to the medical need of the current patient; and

selecting the care provider from the ranked listing of care providers.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to select at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers at least by filtering the ranked listing of care providers based on at least one of demographics or preferences associated with the current patient and selecting the care provider from the filtered ranked listing of care providers.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to determine, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of medical care corresponding to the at least one medical need comprises determining for each care provider, and for each of a plurality of types of medical care, strength values indicating a relative strength of the care provider in providing the type of medical care.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the data processing system to output an alert notification to a communication device associated with the selected care provider indicating the current patient being added as a patient associated with the selected care provider and a reason for the addition of the current patient as a patient associated with the selected care provider.

18. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the at least one action is the current patient failing to respond to a communication attempt by a medical practitioner or performing an encounter with the medical practitioner.

19. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the practitioner strength evaluation engine to determine, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the care provider at least based on demographics of the current patient and demographics of the plurality of other patients associated with the care provider.

20. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable program further causes the practitioner selection engine to select at least one care provider at least by:

evaluating measures of strength of one or more care providers already assigned to the care team of the current patient; and

selecting the at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in the care team by balancing the measures of strength of the selected at least one care provider and the one or more care providers already assigned to the care team of the current patient.

8. An data processing system comprising:

a personalized patient care plan creation and monitoring computing system comprising at least one first processor and at least one first memory coupled to the at least one first processor and having first instructions that are executed by the processor to cause the personalized patient care plan computing system to;

generate, by a personalized patient care plan creation and monitoring computing system, apersonalized patient care plan for a current patient;

analyze, by the personalized patient care plan creation and monitoring computing system, current patient information for the current patient from at least one patient information source; and

a personalized patient care team computing system comprising at least one second processor and at least one second memory coupled to the at least one second processor and having second instructions that are executed by the processor to cause the personalized patient care team to;

compare, by a needs identification engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, the current patient information to the personalized patient care plan to determine at least one medical need of the current patient, wherein the medical need indicates at least one failure of the current patient to perform one or more actions to adhere to requirements of the personalized patient care plan;

analyze, by the needs identification engine, patient information retrieved from a patient registry database, for a plurality of other patients associated with a plurality of care providers corresponding to entries in a practitioner registry database, with regard to compliance of the plurality of other patients in performing the one or more actions, to identify patients, in the plurality of other patients, that comply with performing the one or more actions associated with the at least one medical need of the current patient;

determine, by a practitioner strength evaluation engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers corresponding to entries in the practitioner registry database, a measure of strength for a type of medical care corresponding to the at least one medical need, based on results of the analysis of patient information for the plurality of other patients associated with the care provider, wherein the measure of strength indicates a strength of the care provider in causing patients in the plurality of patients to comply with the one or more actions associated with the at least one medical need of the current patient;

select, by a practitioner selection engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in a care team for the current patient based on the determined strengths of each care provider in the plurality of care providers;

update or create, by a care team update engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, a care team data structure comprising information about the at least one care provider in response to the selection of the at least one care provider; and

output, by a notification engine of the personalized patient care team computing system, a notification to a computing device associated with at least one of the selected at least one care provider or the current patient, a notification of the selection of the at least one care provider.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the needs identification engine to determine, for a care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of medical care at least by calculating the measure of strength as a function of a number of patients that satisfy conditions of the type of care.

10. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the practitioner strength evaluation engine to determine, for a care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of care at least by calculating the measure of strength as a function of a degree of compliance, of each of a plurality of other patients associated with the care provider, with conditions of the type of care.

11. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the practitioner selection engine to select at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in a care team for the current patient at least by:

generating a ranked listing of care providers based on relative strengths of the care providers with regard to the medical need of the current patient; and

selecting the care provider from the ranked listing of care providers.

12. The data processing system of claim 11, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the practitioner selection engine to select at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers at least by filtering the ranked listing of care providers based on at least one of demographics or preferences associated with the current patient and selecting the care provider from the filtered ranked listing of care providers.

13. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the practitioner strength evaluation engine to determine, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the type of medical care corresponding to the at least one medical need comprises determining for each care provider, and for each of a plurality of types of medical care, strength values indicating a relative strength of the care provider in providing the type of medical care.

14. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the notification engine to output an alert notification to a communication device associated with the selected care provider indicating the current patient being added as a patient associated with the selected care provider and a reason for the addition of the current patient as a patient associated with the selected care provider.

15. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the at least one action is the current patient failing to respond to a communication attempt by a medical practitioner or performing an encounter with the medical practitioner.

16. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions executed by the at least one second processor further cause the practitioner strength evaluation engine to determine, for each care provider in the plurality of care providers, the measure of strength for the care provider at least based on demographics of the current patient and demographics of the plurality of other patients associated with the care provider.

17. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the second instructions further cause the practitioner selection engine to select at least one care provider at least by:

evaluating measures of strength of one or more care providers already assigned to the care team of the current patient; and

selecting the at least one care provider from the plurality of care providers for inclusion in the care team by balancing the measures of strength of the selected at least one care provider and the one or more care providers already assigned to the care team of the current patient.